Day 14 - 2 Thessalonians 3:11-18

11 Yet we hear that some of you are living idle lives, refusing to work and meddling in other people’s business. 12 We command such people and urge them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and work to earn their own living. 13 As for the rest of you, dear brothers and sisters, never get tired of doing good.

14 Take note of those who refuse to obey what we say in this letter. Stay away from them so they will be ashamed. 15 Don’t think of them as enemies, but warn them as you would a brother or sister.

16 Now may the Lord of peace himself give you his peace at all times and in every situation. The Lord be with you all.

17 HERE IS MY GREETING IN MY OWN HANDWRITING—PAUL. I DO THIS IN ALL MY LETTERS TO PROVE THEY ARE FROM ME.

18 May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

Terrie's Comments:

Settle down and work to earn your own living... never get tired of doing good... don't think of those who aren't doing what is right as enemies, but help them get back on track by warning them as you would a brother or sister.  

It is probably best to not think of anyone as our enemies so we continue in Love for everyone.  It is true that there are some that oppose the gospel that we preach, but they are still humans that will spend eternity somewhere. At the very least we should have compassion on them because Jesus died for everyone and his desire is to see lives changed.  Speak the truth in love... if you don't speak the truth then you are hating them because the truth is what sets people free and gives eternal life.  I am sure that Paul, who at one point was an enemy to Christians, would agree that Jesus wants everyone to come to a knowledge of the saving grace of Himself!

Tori's Comments:

"never get tired of doing good" This includes that work we do for the glory of God. I have noticed as my work days have gotten longer, in order to keep up with the heavy load of schoolwork, that there is a peace that comes after a long day's work. And I try to remember God's peace and joy as I begin to feel overwhelmed, as that's definitely something God's been convicting me about of late.


We are finished "Thinking Through Thessalonians"  Tomorrow we begin "Seeing Through the Dim with Tim!"



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 13 - 2 Thessalonians 3:1-10

Finally, dear brothers and sisters, we ask you to pray for us. Pray that the Lord’s message will spread rapidly and be honored wherever it goes, just as when it came to you. 2 Pray, too, that we will be rescued from wicked and evil people, for not everyone is a believer. 3 But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one. 4 And we are confident in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we commanded you. 5 May the Lord lead your hearts into a full understanding and expression of the love of God and the patient endurance that comes from Christ.

6 And now, dear brothers and sisters, we give you this command in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ: Stay away from all believers who live idle lives and don’t follow the tradition they received from us. 7 For you know that you ought to imitate us. We were not idle when we were with you. 8 We never accepted food from anyone without paying for it. We worked hard day and night so we would not be a burden to any of you. 9 We certainly had the right to ask you to feed us, but we wanted to give you an example to follow. 10 Even while we were with you, we gave you this command: “Those unwilling to work will not get to eat.”

Tori's Comments:

Verse 5 is a beautiful hope to have for others...and myself. To fully understand God's love is something I'm not completely sure is possible. I forget so easily, and I myself put limits on how much I think He could love me, and I do this without realizing just how wrong it is, just how evil it is to do it. 

"idle lives" I think we should be constantly thinking that if Jesus came back at that moment, is our current situation what we would want God to find us in?

Terrie's Comments:

" Pray that the Lord’s message will spread rapidly and be honored wherever it goes, just as when it came to you.  Pray, too, that we will be rescued from wicked and evil people, for not everyone is a believer."

Paul addresses something that is very real ... his desire is that the Lord's message will spread rapidly and be honored but at the same time he knows that not everyone believes.  Our God is able to give us favor with man and rescue us from wicked and evil people who want to destroy the message of Jesus Christ.  Are we bold enough in our prayers to pray both... that the message will be honored and that we will be rescued from evil, knowing that not everyone will believe.

5 May the Lord lead your hearts into a full understanding and expression of the love of God and the patient endurance that comes from Christ.

Once our hearts have a full understanding of the love of God... and are overflowing in expressing the love of God, and we experience the patient endurance that comes from Christ... we will be able to serve others and spread the gospel message without hesitation because it will flow out of a place of perfect love that comes from God alone.

Finally he ends this passage by talking about not being idle.  Christians are called to be people of action.  We are to be doers of the word not hearers only.  Our actions show what we really believe.  Just as our words are an out pouring of what is in our hearts already.  You can study the Bible your whole life but if you never do what it says you will never see fruit and if you don't have any fruit then I would question if you really did believe what you had been studying.  We are not saved through our words and actions but our words and actions will be transformed as we renew our minds in God's word.  


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 12 - 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17

13 As for us, we can’t help but thank God for you, dear brothers and sisters loved by the Lord. We are always thankful that God chose you to be among the first to experience salvation—a salvation that came through the Spirit who makes you holy and through your belief in the truth. 14 He called you to salvation when we told you the Good News; now you can share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

15 With all these things in mind, dear brothers and sisters, stand firm and keep a strong grip on the teaching we passed on to you both in person and by letter.

16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope, 17 comfort you and strengthen you in every good thing you do and say.

Tori's Comments:

Cling to the truth and stay strong. Even when the devil is throwing everything he has at you. Cling to what you know is true. Cling to God's promises.

Terrie's Comments:

I would love to have been there to hear what they had passed on in person.  I am hoping that there is an instant re-play button when we get to heaven so that we can go back and see what actually unfolded and the messages that were preached.  

In this passage we can glean more ways to pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ.

"I thank can't help but thank God for all all you who are loved by God and chose to experience salvation through the Holy Spirit, who makes you all holy through your belief in the truth."

"I pray that my dear brothers and sisters will stand firm and keep a strong grip on what they have learned through the Holy Spirit and the servants of Jesus Christ who are preaching to them"

"May the Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope, comfort them and strengthen them in every good thing they do and say."  

AMEN

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 11 - 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12

1 Now, dear brothers and sisters, let us clarify some things about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and how we will be gathered to meet him. 2 Don’t be so easily shaken or alarmed by those who say that the day of the Lord has already begun. Don’t believe them, even if they claim to have had a spiritual vision, a revelation, or a letter supposedly from us. 3 Don’t be fooled by what they say. For that day will not come until there is a great rebellion against God and the man of lawlessness is revealed—the one who brings destruction. 4 He will exalt himself and defy everything that people call god and every object of worship. He will even sit in the temple of God, claiming that he himself is God.

5 Don’t you remember that I told you about all this when I was with you? 6 And you know what is holding him back, for he can be revealed only when his time comes. 7 For this lawlessness is already at work secretly, and it will remain secret until the one who is holding it back steps out of the way. 8 Then the man of lawlessness will be revealed, but the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by the splendor of his coming.

9 This man will come to do the work of Satan with counterfeit power and signs and miracles. 10 He will use every kind of evil deception to fool those on their way to destruction, because they refuse to love and accept the truth that would save them. 11 So God will cause them to be greatly deceived, and they will believe these lies. 12 Then they will be condemned for enjoying evil rather than believing the truth.

Terrie's Comments:

This seems like a dooms day message.  Dig a little and you will find hope however.  Just as the world was created by the words that proceeded from the mouth of God the end will come and evil will be destroyed the same way.  With the breath of his mouth and the splendor of the coming of Jesus Christ.  

In order for someone to refuse to love and accept truth it must first be presented to them.  I always want to ere on the side of God and the truth rather than defending the world and it's logic no matter how much "sense" it makes to everyone around me.  

I am glad that I am an ambassador for Jesus Christ and choose to believe the truth.  May God in his mercy and grace keep me from "enjoying evil" rather than believing the truth He gives us.

Tori's Comments:

I think, with "the end is nigh" constantly making an appearance on my Facebook feed currently, that we should remember first and foremost that we are citizens of heaven. That we need not worry, that if we are faithful and do not fall asleep while we're supposed to be on guard, that we will be under that eternal blessing.



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!

Thinking through Thessalonians! - Day 1 - 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

This letter is from Paul, Silas, and Timothy.

We are writing to the church in Thessalonica, to you who belong to God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

May God give you grace and peace.

2 We always thank God for all of you and pray for you constantly. 3 As we pray to our God and Father about you, we think of your faithful work, your loving deeds, and the enduring hope you have because of our Lord Jesus Christ.

4 We know, dear brothers and sisters, that God loves you and has chosen you to be his own people. 5 For when we brought you the Good News, it was not only with words but also with power, for the Holy Spirit gave you full assurance that what we said was true. And you know of our concern for you from the way we lived when we were with you. 6 So you received the message with joy from the Holy Spirit in spite of the severe suffering it brought you. In this way, you imitated both us and the Lord. 7 As a result, you have become an example to all the believers in Greece—throughout both Macedonia and Achaia.

8 And now the word of the Lord is ringing out from you to people everywhere, even beyond Macedonia and Achaia, for wherever we go we find people telling us about your faith in God. We don’t need to tell them about it, 9 for they keep talking about the wonderful welcome you gave us and how you turned away from idols to serve the living and true God. 10 And they speak of how you are looking forward to the coming of God’s Son from heaven—Jesus, whom God raised from the dead. He is the one who has rescued us from the terrors of the coming judgment.

Terrie's Comments:

After the Thessalonians heard the good news they took action.  They turned away from idols in their lives... they didn't just cut back or spend more time with God than with their idols, they turned away from them.  They realized that serving the one true God meant serving Him only.  They were living in the Hope of Jesus Christ coming back and to their heavenly home.  

They also couldn't stop talking about this hope.  They were excited about the good news of Jesus Christ who saved them from the "terrors" of the coming judgement.  They talked so much about it that Paul didn't have to say anything because people were telling him about the Thessalonians and the good news before Paul could open his mouth.  These people were changed... inside and outside... They were looking forward to the second coming of Jesus Christ and everyone around them knew it!

So what does my faith look like?  Am I so excited about the second coming of Christ and everything he has done for me that those around me hear about it?  Do people even notice that I am a follower of Jesus Christ?  Do I display that hope in my life?

This past Sunday in my Sunday school class I brought a box of chocolates to class.  We were talking about God caring about what you are like on the inside (your thoughts, feelings etc) just as much as what you are like on the outside (your actions).  A chocolate needs to taste good on the inside and the outside to be delicious.  If a chocolate doesn't taste good on the inside then it isn't enjoyable to eat... if a chocolate doesn't taste good on the outside then it isn't enjoyable to eat.  For a chocolate to be delicious and truly enjoyed it needs to be good on the inside and the outside.  God cares that our insides are transformed so our outsides are an overflow of what is going on in our hearts and minds.  God wants to refine us on the inside so we are delicious and attractive to the world around us inside and out.




Tori's Comments:

"We always thank God for you and pray for you constantly." Do I pray like this? 

"ringing out from you to people everywhere" The word of God is infectious. It should be spreading. Do I notice that in my own life? 

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