Praying Prayers of Paul for the Church You Love
ll Thessalonians 1:11-12
This week, take this prayer of the Apostle Paul and use it as a prompt to pray for North Wake.
To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. ~ ll Thessalonians 1:11-12
Meditation For Preparation
Written by Scotty Smith. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/scotty-smith/hopes-fruit-the-worship-of-god/
Read: Revelation 22
Hope's Fruit: The Worship of God
The angel said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place.” 7 “Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book.” 8 I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me. 9 But he said to me, “Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers the prophets and of all who keep the words of this book. Worship God!” Revelation 22:6-9
This is our last gospel-sanity devo on John’s vision of the future of heaven — the headwaters of living hope. So what is our primary take-a-way from this series of reflections on the outrageously glorious life we will enjoy in the new heaven and new earth? No doubt we could offer truckloads of responses to that question, but let’s at least consider John’s response — that of a persecuted octogenarian pastor exiled on the rocky isle of Patmos.
After John heard and saw this mind-boggling heart-enriching fulfillment of God’s Story of redemption and restoration, he fell down in humble joyful adoration. Granted, John needed the angel who was the agent of this revelation to redirect the focus of his worship away from himself to God, but we get the point: We too should be deeply and doxologically encouraged by this blessed hope. Things aren’t just gonna be alright, they are gonna “ROCK,” forever and ever! I can offer no better concluding words, admonition or application to this series of reflections on our future than these from the Apostle Paul. Let’s join him in living like heaven is a real place.
Romans 8:18-23 – I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.