If you asked a random selection of people today what acts would be the most helpful to aid someone, how high up the list do you think prayer would be? If we sampled a random selection of churchgoers, how much different would prayer rank? If we asked Paul, he would have it right at the top of the list. Paul was a big fan of prayer to the Living God, and his letters frequently contain powerful prayers for his recipients.
In Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, we come across another of Paul’s powerful prayers. It reveals Paul’s view on the power of God, the progress of a Christian’s life, and the goal to which every Christian proceeds. Like Paul, our prayers can demonstrate our trust in God’s power to overcome our sin, draw us to God, and propel us kingdomward.
Paul’s prayer for the Thessalonians sprang out of the positive report that he had received from Timothy of their state. Far from succumbing to temptation as he feared, the Thessalonians held Paul dearly and his teaching even closer. This revelation caused Paul to express his thankfulness to God for their continued faithfulness.
Paul’s prayer demonstrated the high view that he had for the effectiveness of prayer for the Thessalonian church. Paul prayed “Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you” (v.11).
The first thing we should note is that Paul’s prayer is distinctly trinitarian. Paul prayed to both God the Father and Jesus (God the Son) in this prayer. Paul understood that Jesus was truly human, and truly divine. Because Jesus was divine, we can direct our prayers to him!
What this prayer also demonstrates is that Paul viewed God (and Jesus’!) as powerful and masterful over events. Paul deeply desired to make his way back to Thessalonica, to encourage the congregation there again. He prayed this wish to God, in the expectation that if God willed it, then it would happen.
Paul’s high view of the effectiveness of prayer, and the power of God, is also reflected in the two other prayer points that Paul raised heavenward for the Thessalonians.
Secondly, Paul prayed “may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you” (v.12). Paul wanted the Lord Jesus to pour out a love in that congregation for each other, not in terms of feelings but in terms of a reflection of their own lives being grounded in God’s love for them.
Because they had received richly of God’s love, Paul wanted that love to overflow into each others’ lives. In a world of self-gratification and selfish gain (often euphemistically mischaracterised today as “self-love”), their care for each other in seeking each other’s gain would reflect God’s love and heal many of the wounds they bore from their own pasts. This care was not just restricted to their congregation though, but “for all”, because others needed to hear the Good News too.
But this outpouring of love had a goal in mind, “so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father” (v.13). The outpouring of love was not the selfish, sin-loving love of this world, but the love which cleanses and purifies us, and makes us ever more like Jesus. A love which equips us for service in God’s Kingdom, now and in the future.
This is not a sinless perfection, because we cannot achieve that in this life, but a godly life which reflects the holy and blameless declaration which God has made about us because of Jesus’ sinless perfection and sacrifice for us.
The future-looking nature of this love is found in the final part of Paul’s prayer, because the declaration of blamelessness “at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints” (v.13). What is declared now, and by God’s power made more the case in our lives, will be finally the case when Jesus finally puts an end to this present evil age.
Thus Paul’s prayer recognised God’s power to accomplish what Paul was not able to, God’s power to pour out true love in their lives, and God’s power to cleanse the Thessalonians finally of all sin. A pastoral prayer for progress in their lives.
And what a prayer for us all, too! This passage encourages us to remember God’s power and control over all things. Far from writing prayer off as ineffectual, prayer can, if it is God’s will, cause what is not possible for us in our own strength to happen!
Paul’s prayer also reminds us of God’s power in declaring us holy through Christ, pouring Christ’s love into our lives so that we share that love with each other and the world, and working in our lives to make us more like Christ until his Christ’s return to consummate his reign in righteousness.
This powerful example of prayer from Paul teaches us the importance and the power of prayer in our daily walk. Let’s all pray with the same conviction!
