Slices
Prepare
Remember how you came to faith. Thank the Lord for helping you to grow in faith.
Bible passage
1 Paul, Silas and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
2 Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thanksgiving and prayer
3 We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing. 4 Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.
5 All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. 6 God is just: he will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7 and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. 8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might 10 on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marvelled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.
11 With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith. 12 We pray this so 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.
Explore
The opening of 2 Thessalonians is very similar to that of 1 Thessalonians. Note the importance Paul gives to God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. He prays for the Thessalonians to know grace and peace.
Paul gives thanks for the Thessalonians (vs 3,4). He refers to the persecutions and trials they are enduring (v 4). Look at these verses. Identify what Paul gives thanks for and what he boasts about.
Paul again writes about the second coming of Jesus (vs 5–10). His focus is on what Jesus will do. Paul encourages the Thessalonians in two ways. In the short term (v 5), they should be encouraged that God trusts them to remain faithful to him, even in trials and suffering. Long term (vs 6–10), Paul reminds them that God is just. Those who do not obey Jesus will be shut out from God’s presence. Read verses 6–9 again and notice the detail of Paul’s description. Verse 10 is the peak of Paul’s encouragement. Imagine how the Thessalonians would have felt when they heard verse 10.
In verses 11 and 12, Paul prays for the Thessalonians. He prays that God’s power would continue to work in them so that their desire to do good, prompted by their faith, would bear fruit.
Respond
Pray Paul’s prayer for yourself, saying ‘me’ instead of ‘you’. Now pray the passage again, for your church.
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Ezekiel 40,41; 1 John 1
Pray for Scripture Union
Please pray for the Mission Events team as they make the final preparations for opening the holiday bookings for 2025. Please pray that the process will go smoothly, and that children and young people will be excited about the camps and holidays that are planned for the year ahead and will book in good numbers.
