January 22, 2008

• JMac - Praying for the Right Things

    Praying for the Right Things

  2 Thessalonians 1:11

  "To this end also we pray for you always that our God may count you worthy of your calling and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power in order that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ."

  Paul makes three requests for his readers- worthiness, fulfillment and powerful service.  Paul introduces his resource:  prayer. He did not turn to human ingenuity or to some program, but to God. Just as obedience is an element in which God works His sovereign purposes of salvation and sanctification, so prayer is a human element by which that purpose is effected. That is a mystery which is not understood but is believed. 

  Job 42:2 says, "I know that Thou canst do all things and that no purpose of Thine can be thwarted." In Proverbs 16:33 the writer says, "Men cast lots but every decision is from the Lord."  Isaiah 46:9 says, "I am God and there is no other, I am God and there's no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying My purpose will be established and I will accomplish all My good pleasure." And then at the end of verse 11, "I have planned it and I will do it."

  Prayer is the heart's longing to unite with the holy purposes of God for their accomplishment. God is after a worthy life, a fulfilled life, a powerful life. True prayer is learning to think God's thoughts after Him, learning to desire God's desires with Him, learning to love what He loves and hate what He hates.

  First of all, Paul prays for worthiness, that God will enable his readers to deserve the name they bear. God saves the unworthy and makes them worthy in a positional sense because God made them worthy by grace. They didn't earn it, and they couldn't do anything worthy enough to keep it. But God gives a worthiness that is in Christ when He declares one righteous and cloaks him in the righteousness of Christ. In the practical sense Paul says "I'm praying that God will make you worthy."  God wants to make you more worthy, and He does it through suffering that peels away the flesh, drives you to Himself and brings spiritual maturity.  See also Ephesians 4:1, Philippians 1:27.

  The second request is for goodness. "God, please accomplish in their lives everything they desire when what they desire is good by Your definition."  The one who has the completely good agenda is God. "I want their prayers to be answered but only if they're good by Your definition."  See also Psalm 21, Psalm 37. Will God give you everything your heart desires?  If you are delighting in Him, then your desires are His desires. God wants to give you the desire of your heart as long as the desire of your heart which you ask for is a desire that you've learned by listening and you know His mind and His will. See Psalm 145:16 and Psalm 90:14.

  The third request is a prayer for their power.  They had a real saving faith and it showed up, it worked. It produced fruit. He says, "I thank God for your work of faith." But what he's praying for now is, "I am asking God to make that work of faith powerful." He understood salvation by grace through faith alone, but he also understood that a salvation by grace through faith alone produced works. "For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works," Ephesians 2:10, "which God has before ordained that we should walk in them." He understood that. True saving faith is going to produce works. But he said, "I want those works to be powerful." All of this happens when we let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly until it dominates our hearts. 

  Lastly, the reason for this prayer.  "In order that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and you in Him..." The purpose isn't for you, the purpose is for the Lord, in order that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and you in Him.

  • 05:09
  • 1 Comment