1 Thessalonians 3:11-13

Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you, ¹² and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, ¹³ so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

One of the many distinguishing points in Christianity is the outward focus away from self and onto others. As a child, I remember being in a Sunday evening class for young school-age children called the ‘Baptist Training Union’ (BTU). I remember my grandmother being our teacher at that time, and it was competitive and fun. We memorized weekly Bible verses and the books of the Bible in order. We also competed in Bible Drills, a fun way to quickly learn how to look up and find Bible Verses in the Bible – the first one to find the verse gets to read it out loud and wins a point. During Christmas time one year, we made Christmas cards for our families and for the elderly church members. On the front of the card we wrote the letters JOY and decorated it for the season. Each letter had its special message: J – is for Jesus as First; O – is for others who are next; Y – is for you who is last! That message is what my generation was taught in church: Jesus and others come first in your life. Today’s generation, however, as a whole, seems to be churchless and their focus for the past couple of decades has always been on themselves. For example, selfies, social media platforms, and ‘it’s all about me’ is the new jargon that makes the older generation sad as grandchildren, who are so wrapped up with themselves, do not come and visit grandma and grandpa anymore.

In this passage, we see the Apostle’s Paul’s prayer of supplication and its focus on the believers in Thessalonians. After all, this is a church letter addressed to them as said in 1 Thessalonians 1:1. Paul’s message to the Thessalonians is to encourage and increase their faith in light of the persecution they are experiencing. So wouldn’t it be natural for the Apostle to include a prayer of intercession on their behalf? The flow of this letter would properly included such a prayer. In verse 10, just one verse before this prayer, Paul tells the Thessalonian believers that “as we [Paul, Silas, and Timothy] pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith?” So Paul, demonstrating his love to them, not in word only but in deeds also, begins to pray specifically for them. When given a prayer request or a tragic story from a friend or family member, how often do we hear, or maybe we also are guilty and will say, ‘My thoughts and prayers are with you?” And that is the end of that. A Christian, like Paul, however, must take this opportune time and start praying. Therefore, how we should address tragic news? We are to place our hands on our friends or family members’ shoulder, bow our heads and begin to pray for them. That is what Paul is doing here. Instead of just telling them he will pray for them, Paul is actually praying and they are reading Paul’s prayer of intercession being lifted up to God. James 5:16b says, “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”

The key point to prayers of supplication, is that they are focused on others. In this prayer, Paul is asking God and Father himself and the Lord Jesus Christ, to be with them [Paul, Silas, and Timothy] so they may come and visit the Thessalonians. It is important to Paul to be with them. Paul is their spiritual father and they are mere babes in Christ. Yet, God has nor forsaken them during their time of affliction. The words of Christ say, ‘And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age’ (Matthew 28:20b). Christ’s words are a comfort to the believer. Paul wants to be present with them so he can comfort them face to face. But until then, Paul prays that their love for others may increase and abound. During affliction, we are in pain. So naturally, our thoughts become centered on our pain and we pray for deliverance.

[As a parenthetical thought, it is okay to pray for ourselves. James 4:2b says, “You do not have because you do not ask God.” In 2 Corinthians 12, the Apostle Paul prayed three times for God to remove the ‘thorn in his flesh.’ Yet, Paul concluded by saying in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, “But he said to me, “My grace is enough for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” So then, I will boast most gladly about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may reside in me. ¹⁰ Therefore I am content with weaknesses, with insults, with troubles, with persecutions and difficulties for the sake of Christ, for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.”]

With wisdom, Paul is reminding them to love and take care of each other, which is truly important in the gospel message. As they love one another, Paul prays that God will establish their hearts blameless in their journey towards holiness. That is the ultimate goal of all believers. That is the blessed prayer of supplication we should pray for all believers. Ephesians 5:1 says, “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.”