Prioritized Living and Praying

Series: STEADFAST

“Prioritized Living and Praying”

2 Thessalonians 1:11-12

1 Peter 3:12 “… the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are attentive to their prayer.”

Two parallel truths about prayer…

Believers

Believers to

“Therefore” connects the praying back to the context of pain and suffering and persecution because of their Christianity. Therefore, believers need prayer and believers need to pray especially for those in affliction, facing discouragement, and/or being tempted to “throw in the towel.”

Luke 22:31–32 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.”

James 4:2b–3 You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

verse 11… Therefore, we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of goodness and the work of faith with power.

Three requests you can pray for other believers (as well as for yourself!)

Pray that their (and your!) would be

“that our God would count you worthy of this calling” (11b)

1 Thessalonians 2:11-12… “Like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

Revelation 3:4 Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.

Ephesians 4:1 I…urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called…

Ephesians 4:2–3 [We are to be practicing] humility and gentleness, patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Colossians 1:10, we are exhorted to “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.”

Pray that their (and your!) would be

11b: may [God] fulfill every resolve for good… (ESV); may [God] bring to fruition your every desire for goodness (NIV); the good things your faith prompts you to do…

Pray that their (and your!) would be

11c: “that our God may…fulfill…[your] every work of faith by his power” (ESV)

11c: “that by his power [God] may bring to fruition…your every deed prompted by faith” (NIV)

11c: “May [God] give you the power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do” (NLT)

Ephesians 2:8-10 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

12a: …so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him…

1 Peter 4:11 If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised/glorified through Jesus Christ.

12b: “According to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.”