Pam's Perambulation

1 From Paul, Silas, and Timothy.

To the church in Thessalonica, the people of God our Father and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

² I pray that God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ will be kind to you and will bless you with peace!

When Christ Returns

³ My dear friends, we always have good reason to thank God for you, because your faith in God and your love for each other keep growing all the time. ⁴ That’s why we brag about you to all of God’s churches. We tell them how patient you are and how you keep on having faith, even though you are going through a lot of trouble and suffering.

¹¹ God chose you, and we keep praying that God will make you worthy of being his people. We pray for God’s power to help you do all the good things that you hope to do and that your faith makes you want to do. ¹² Then, because God and our Lord Jesus Christ are so kind, you will bring honour to the name of our Lord Jesus, and he will bring honour to you.

These verses are quite personal ones – greetings, prayers, thanking God for them and encouragement.

The Thessalonians are going through trouble and suffering.  How many of us are familiar with that!  We all have struggles and difficulties.  Some of us would never dream of letting others know, some are more open – but the reality is that we rarely know the truth of what is going on in someone else’s life.

But the author (and there is some dispute over who that was – but personally, I don’t think that effects the message) wants them to know that they are being prayed for, and what an example they are in the way they are dealing with what is happening.

This makes me wonder how much we pray for our fellow Christians.  How much do we support them and encourage them?  How do we enable them to live with the realities of their life, whether we know what they are or not.

I find this expression of prayerful concern a challenge to me – to pray for others – not just those whose needs I know about, but others too – those whose troubles and stresses I know little of; to encourage them, let them know how much difference they make in my life – and to allow others to do the same for me.

Song: Can I Pray for You

Thank you Lord
for all those around me
who show me you,
those who are faithful
to you
and to me,
and show your love.

I bring to you
those with their struggles and troubles;
those I am aware of
and those I will never know;
those I hear
and those I miss;
those broadcast
and those hidden.
Lord
though I may never know
what others are carrying,
thank you
that you do.
May I be faithful in remembering.