ETERNAL ENCOURAGEMENT PRAYER
2 Thessalonians 2:15-17 CSB
15 So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold to the traditions you were taught, whether by what we said or what we wrote.
16 May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal encouragement and good hope by grace, 17 encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good work and word.
Even though Paul shares difficult subjects with the church at Thessalonica, there is always a note of hope and encouragement.
In our verses for today, Paul is charging the believers to stand firm and hold to the traditions they were taught. When we think of traditions, we typically think of turkey at Thanksgiving or opening presents on Christmas Eve. But Paul was referring to the teachings and commands that were given to the young church. The key word that reveals this is the word taught. Paul was not commanding this church to keep Jewish traditions, but rather the teachings about Christ that he had communicated verbally and in his letters. The message was clear: to not waver from what they had been taught but to stand firm.
And then we can see Paul’s hope and prayer for the church. That the Lord Jesus and the Father God, who has loved us. What a great phrase. Don’t forget that the Lord Jesus and God, who is our Father, have loved us. We can get so used to saying that God loves us and God is love that we tend to overlook just how powerful and encouraging that truth is. Paul reminded the church that they were a loved bunch. And God not only loves but has given eternal encouragement and good hope by grace. That had to be good news to this church, and it is still good news to us today. We are loved, and God has given us that same eternal encouragement. Eternal means His encouragement to us does not have a shelf life. His grace, the undeserved favor and power of God on our behalf, encourages us today, tomorrow, and for eternity.
And that same grace of God gives us a good hope; a good positive favorable expectation. Because of His grace to us we can look at the future favorably. I am not seeing any doom and gloom in the grace of God toward us. God’s love, combined with God’s grace, is there to encourage us and to help us expect good to come our way.
God offers His grace and love, but His encouragement does not stop there. God also will encourage our hearts and strengthen us in every good word and work. So, He loves us. He gives us hope and eternal encouragement by His grace. And God will encourage our hearts and strengthen us so that we can be effective in our words and work for Him.
APPLICATION & PRAYER
As with all the Word of God, we have to mix faith with what we hear. We can read about God’s love and grace and be blessed. We can hear that He will encourage our hearts and strengthen us and consider that a nice thought. Or we can actively believe that this is what God will do in our lives and in the lives of those we are praying for.
This is a great prayer to pray for loved ones and other believers.
Lord, I know you love ___________ (fill in the blank). I know You have given them eternal encouragement and good hope by Your grace. I pray that You will encourage their hearts and strengthen them in every good word and work. Amen