Praying with Paul- Going through Hard Times
Praying with Paul • Sermon • Submitted
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Intro:
11 Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power,
12 that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Tonight, we will continue [Praying with Paul]. The subject of my message is, [Going through Hard Times].
When I was in elementary school, we played the game telephone. The teacher would start with a simple phrase. Something like, we are having spaghetti for lunch.
Then each child would whisper it to the person next to them. At the end of the line, normally the message was vastly different.
Sometimes the message changed because people did not understand what they person whispered to them.
Then there were times the message changed because someone in the middle made up a new message. How do I know that happened? I’ll let you decide if I ever helped make up a new message.
Regardless, at the end of the line, the message was skewed, misunderstood, and far from the original.
This is what happened between 1 and 2 Thessalonians. Paul spoke to them on the importance of being ready for the coming of the Lord.
Somehow they confused the message and stopped working and started waiting for His coming. A few months after writing his first letter to the Thessalonians, he wrote to them again.
As I read this first chapter, I noticed the words:
patience
persecutions
tribulations
judgment
work
And I thought about what happens when we go through hard times. Remember, we are focused on Paul’s prayer life and how he prayed for the early church.
They went through hard times and we too face difficulties. What do we do when we go through hard times?
Hard times are inevitable, but when we pray, they will not break us, they will make us.
Prayer changes our perspective on hard times. Instead of giving up, we will see that hard times open the door for us to [Grow in God], [Give to God], and [Glorify God].
Let’s begin
1. Grow in God
1. Grow in God
3 For our exhortation did not come from error or uncleanness, nor was it in deceit.
4 But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts.
Paul could not help but thank God. Thanking God and praying to God are eternally intertwined. When we pray without thanksgiving we end up providing a to-do list to the one who deserves all of our praise.
Why did Paul thank God for the Thessalonians?
They were growing and flourishing in their faith and love for each other. This was important to note, especially since Paul’s visit with them was cut short.
The seeds that were planted during his brief time with them continued to grow.
That is the exciting part about growing in God. It is a wonderful feeling to see how far we have come in the Lord. But here is the strange part.
Growing in God, it is often accompanied with persecutions, hardships, and suffering.
Paul thanked God for their growth, but he also told other churches about their faithfulness in spite of their difficulties.
Why do difficulties and growth often go together?
I think back to when I was a teenager and would have growing pains. My legs would hurt as I grew. It also brought on other problems, my clothes and shoes stopped fitting.
But, to get to the height I am right now, I needed to grow. Which may not seem like a big deal, but having a brother who has been at least six foot since kindergarten, and I am still not six foot yet, the growing pains were worth it all.
We have to keep in mind, that difficulties do not mean that God is upset with us. He is always there no matter what. Regardless of what we face, He stands ready to help us grow and mature in Him.
If this is the case, what is our motivation to grow in God. When we start to grow in Him and the enemy attacks, we will learn to...
2. Give it to God
2. Give it to God
5 which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer;
6 since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you,
Paul acknowledged the attacks they endured were real, but God will use them to make them worthy of His Kingdom. He was in the process of refining them and making them more like Him.
But what about those who seem to be the source of our problem?
Let me first say that the ultimate source is ALWAYS Satan:
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Therefore, we should never hate a person, we should remember who is the source of our problems, the enemy. God will repay with tribulation those who persecute us.
We must give the situation to God and trust Him. When we do this, He will give us rest.
7 and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels,
8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We must continuously give our hardships and difficulties to the Lord. He will give us rest and strength.
But what about those who did not surrender to Jesus? They will experience the fires of God’s judgment.
When I read that my first instinct is to think— well those who have caused me problems and made me suffer, they should endure that punishment.
But I notice something. The more we give our hardships to God, the more we grow in Him. When we grow in Him, we will grow in His love for others.
What should God’s love make us do?
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
I notice when I am going through a hard time and I pray for the person who is involved, God begins to put a love in my heart for them.
Giving God our hardships is the only way we can make it through.
When we grow in God, the enemy will attack, but we can and should give the situation to God in prayer. For one day we will forever...
3. Glorify God
3. Glorify God
9 These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,
10 when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed.
11 Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power,
12 that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is a real eternity for each person. Those who reject God and refuse to obey Him will spend eternity outside of the presence of Lord.
But what about us?
There is a day when Jesus will return and when He does, we will give Him all glory, honor, and power, worshipping Him for eternity.
So Paul prayed, that God enable the Thessalonians to live a life worthy of His calling.
What do we mean by worthy of His calling.
God has saved us and we are on our way to heaven. But in the meantime, from earth to glory, Paul wants our lives to reflect Jesus in our dealings with each other and our relationship with Him.
At different times in my life, I have done something that was not quite right and have had mentors say, you’re better than that.
Those few words make me think, I want to live a life that glorifies God.
He also prayed that God would give them the power to accomplish all that He has called them to do.
When we live a life that strives to do our best and depends on the power of the Spirit, then we are glorifying God.
Then there will come a day when we spend eternity with Him, praising and glorifying Him forever.
We must keep eternity in view if we are to have any hope of making it every day.
The Thessalonians stopped everything because they believed the Lord would come right then. Paul corrected that, but he did not want them to swing in the opposite direction.
They were not to get so consumed with everything in this life that they forget about eternity.
But remembering they will one day glorify God forever, will make them want to glorify God every day in their lifestyle and actions.
Close:
Personally, I do not like discussing hard times. I prefer to be a positive person. I like to see the best in people. I want to stay optimistic.
BUT, I realize hardships do come. What then do we do when we go through hard times?
We have to decide, I will not let my hard time stop me from growing in the Lord.
Then, whoever or however the enemy chooses to attack us, we give the person or the situation to God.
And we always remember we will spend eternity glorifying God, so we should start by glorifying Him in our actions.
5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
When we face hard times, we must ALWAYS remember, if we are rooted and grounded in Jesus, we will grow in Him, giving all to Him, living a life that glorifies Him.
With Jesus, we can grow through any hardship and glorify God by giving Him everything.
So let’s go deeper in the Lord and draw closer to Him.