Pray for Me

February 23

In Thessalonians 3:1, Paul says something that most of us can relate to. Here he asks the believers of Thessalonica to, “Pray for me that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified in me…” Any one of us could pray that prayer. We long to lift Jesus up in our lives but we know we must be strengthened by prayer in order to do it.

Paul acknowledges in the second verse of chapter three what many who preach the gospel of Christ have discovered and his prayer request includes that this concern as well be placed before the Lord. He says, “…that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men, for all men have not faith.”

The Apostle to the Gentiles recognizes that his encounters with unbelievers may be fraught with danger because in their determination to thwart the Gospel, they often resort to unreasonable violence. In their wicked resistance to the truth of the Lord’s plan of salvation, they see themselves as totally right in using thuggish behavior against those who share the message of salvation.

Paul establishes in his own mind and shares with us his conclusion, “The Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one,” II Thessalonians 3:3. Here we see the bottom line of the matter—our security rests not with us, but with God. Like Paul, we may be assured that if we are on His mission, we will have His protection as long as it is His good pleasure to keep us in life.