Day 3 - 1 Thessalonians 2:13-20

13 Therefore, we never stop thanking God that when you received his message from us, you didn’t think of our words as mere human ideas. You accepted what we said as the very word of God—which, of course, it is. And this word continues to work in you who believe.

14 And then, dear brothers and sisters, you suffered persecution from your own countrymen. In this way, you imitated the believers in God’s churches in Judea who, because of their belief in Christ Jesus, suffered from their own people, the Jews. 15 For some of the Jews killed the prophets, and some even killed the Lord Jesus. Now they have persecuted us, too. They fail to please God and work against all humanity 16 as they try to keep us from preaching the Good News of salvation to the Gentiles. By doing this, they continue to pile up their sins. But the anger of God has caught up with them at last.

17 Dear brothers and sisters, after we were separated from you for a little while (though our hearts never left you), we tried very hard to come back because of our intense longing to see you again. 18 We wanted very much to come to you, and I, Paul, tried again and again, but Satan prevented us. 19 After all, what gives us hope and joy, and what will be our proud reward and crown as we stand before our Lord Jesus when he returns? It is you! 20 Yes, you are our pride and joy.

Terrie's Comments:

I can relate to Paul when he is talking about being thankful that the Thessalonians accepted his message as if it was direct from God and not just mere human ideas.  I am thankful when I am given a word for someone from the Holy Spirit and it ministers to them.  Because it is from God that word is able to live on and continue to work in those who believe that it is from God.  I am humbled and so thankful that God chooses to use human vessels in this way.

Ok I am going to go personal here and a little sentimental!  I do have an intense longing to see Tori again!   Tori gives me hope and joy each time I see her.  It is an honor to work with Tori and to mentor her!  She my passionate sister in Jesus Christ and I can't wait to see her again soon :-) 

Tori's Comments:

How do the Thessalonians have such a prized spot in Paul's heart? Interesting.

Suffering in this world is temporary. Praising God is eternal.

Take our personal comments or leave them. We would love to hear what stood out to you about today`s passage and how it encouraged you. Tell us in the comments below!

Day 2 - 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12

You yourselves know, dear brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not a failure. 2 You know how badly we had been treated at Philippi just before we came to you and how much we suffered there. Yet our God gave us the courage to declare his Good News to you boldly, in spite of great opposition. 3 So you can see we were not preaching with any deceit or impure motives or trickery.

4 For we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts. 5 Never once did we try to win you with flattery, as you well know. And God is our witness that we were not pretending to be your friends just to get your money! 6 As for human praise, we have never sought it from you or anyone else.

7 As apostles of Christ we certainly had a right to make some demands of you, but instead we were like children among you. Or we were like a mother feeding and caring for her own children. 8 We loved you so much that we shared with you not only God’s Good News but our own lives, too.

9 Don’t you remember, dear brothers and sisters, how hard we worked among you? Night and day we toiled to earn a living so that we would not be a burden to any of you as we preached God’s Good News to you. 10 You yourselves are our witnesses—and so is God—that we were devout and honest and faultless toward all of you believers. 11 And you know that we treated each of you as a father treats his own children. 12 We pleaded with you, encouraged you, and urged you to live your lives in a way that God would consider worthy. For he called you to share in his Kingdom and glory.

Tori's Comments:

"God gave us the courage" I need to trust He will provide for my needs.

"Our purpose is to please God and not people." This is so easy to forget.  Human praise? Who needs it? My Father, the creator of stars and fireflies, loves me. Me. That's enough.

We're supposed to share both the Good News AND our lives. I think sometimes this gets wonky. Just going to Sunday service isn't sharing your life. Celebrating our victory, encouraging each other in Christ, selflessly listening to each other.... that's sharing our life. It's not mine anymore, anyways. My life belongs to Christ now.

Terrie's Comments:

"God gave us courage"  I am noticing over and over again how much God provides for us.  We can have courage an boldness in the face of opposition while telling people about Jesus because God gives us courage to do so.

"Our purpose is to please God not people"  I LOVE this... that we know what our purpose is and it is not impossible because of what Jesus did it is almost impossible not to please God when we place our faith in Jesus Christ as our savior and Lord.  

When you love people you share the good news of Jesus Christ with them as well as your own lives with them.

When we are mentoring we plead, encourage and urge people to live their lives the way God would consider worthy.  Because God has called us to share in his Kingdom and His glory!

This is one day when I am glad that I discipline myself to write my comments on the passage before reading Tori's comments.  We both picked out the same parts of the passage to comment on... That is awesome :-) 





Take our personal comments or leave them. We would love to hear what stood out to you about today`s passage and how it encouraged you. Tell us in the comments below!

The Forgotten Freedom

Written by Tori

It wasn't too long ago that I felt the weight of the world on my shoulders. But as a Christian, why I should feel the weight of the world, of all things, was beyond me.

It could be construed as anxiety, stress, or a number of things we seem to brush off as normal. That somehow if you had prepared better, or just were better, you wouldn't be so worried, stressed, or insecure.

Of course, I was going by my worldly diagnosis, and it wasn't long after that a random thought hit me.

Who told me I had to always be reaching for someone different than I was? Since when did the world's approval begin to mean so much to me?

And it did. I hadn't realized it, but that need was like a leech sucking life and joy from me with every insecure taunt the devil threw at me.

With this new revelation came a new perspective.

God doesn't ask us to be the most beautiful, the cleverest, the strongest... He doesn't require us to be liked by everyone.

He requires us to love.

To love and recognize we are loved. We need to realize just how much God pours out His love and mercy, and we in turn just need to pour it out on others. That's all.

Don't feel the need to be witty. To be brilliant. To be the best.

Feel the need to love. 

Because that's who you are. That's who God has made you to be.

That's all. 

"For we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts." -1 Thessalonians 2:4