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from
Timothy's Encouraging Report
1 Thessalonians 3.9-13
Good News Translation (GNT)
9 Now we can give thanks to our God for you.
We thank him for the joy we have in his
presence because of you.
10 Day and night we ask him with all our heart to
let us see you personally and supply what is
needed in your faith.
11 May our God and Father himself and our Lord
Jesus prepare the way for us to come to you!
12 May the Lord make your love for one another
and for all people grow more and more and
become as great as our love for you.
13 In this way he will strengthen you, and you will
be perfect and holy in the presence of our God
and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with
all who belong to him. [a]
Footnotes
1 Thessalonians 3:13 all who belong to him;
or all his angels.
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Commentary taken from from the
'word-on-the-web' supplied by the
Scripture Union'
1 Thessalonians 3.9-13
Worrying can be a great stimulus to praying.
Good news, however, leads to thankfulness and greater confidence in prayer.
With the news brought by Timothy, Paul's anxiety is removed and he has evidence that the work in Thessalonica is solidly grounded.
Paul's emotional engagement with their situation flows through into his enjoyment of God himself in prayer.
This news does not lessen Paul's desire to see these believers again, but now it is with a renewed direction of what he can do to help them further in their Christian growth.
Accurate information can give content to our general prayers for people distant from us, but, if it is not coupled with the emotional engagement that is demonstrated in Paul, it can lead to shopping-list praying.
Paul's prayers for the churches he has planted have many common themes working through them.
He is concerned that love should characterise all their dealings with each other and other people.
In this he is echoing the command of Jesus to his disciples
(John 13:34,35; 15:12).
The comment by Tertullian around AD 200 that outsiders noted how much Christians loved each other is an indication of the recognition that love is to characterise Christians and to be a major part of our witness to the world.
Can the same be said about us today?
Repeatedly Paul looks forward to the day when Jesus comes again.
He expects to glory in the presence of God because of the Thessalonians
(1 Thessalonians 2:19); he prays that they may be holy and blameless on that day;
he expects to see judgement falling on those who oppose the message
(1 Thessalonians 2:16).
Most Western Christians today do not have this perspective at the front of our thoughts.
But the knowledge that at the last day all wrongs will be righted and the wicked punished keeps us focused on gospel proclamation.
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