By Pastor Doug Cox
In last Sunday’s message from 2nd Thessalonians, I shared 5 things the apostle Paul told the church to do if they wanted to be strong spiritually. I’m assuming, because you are reading this article that you are interested, so here are those things.
 
First, we are to make the decision to stand firm. Paul tells his readers to “…stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle.” (2 Thessalonians 2:15) This is important since we live in a world that is constantly undermining Biblical principles and practices. The world tells us the Bible is outdated and uninspired, that marriage and church attendance is unimportant that all preachers want is your money and on goes the list of things they use to try to undermine our faith. We must stand fast.
 
Second, we are to “be encouraged.” The scripture is full of many encouraging truths about how God sees us. 2 Thessalonians 2:13 tells us that Paul and his coworkers in Christ were bound to give thanks to God always because “…God from the beginning chose you (them/us) for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.” It should be encouraging to you that even if you may be stumbling in your faith right now it is no surprise to God. He chose you from the beginning.
 
Think of the beauty of that. Before you and I were ever born, God knew we would all stumble and so He made provision for us. That provision is Christ. Ephesians 1:4 says “…He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.” Did you catch that? “He chose us (you/me) in Him.” Jesus is our ark of safety. He is the Mediator between God and men. He is our Advocate. When we mess up, we go to God through Him. (See 1 John 1:9) Jesus took our sin and tasted death for everyone, so we can receive eternal life through Him. It is so encouraging to be in Christ!
 
The last three keys are pray hard, work hard and walk in God’s love and peace. It will do us all good to examine ourselves in these areas. Are my prayers consistent and heartfelt. Am I praying over areas of darkness that need penetrated? Am I praying for those who are under the sway of deception and lost? There are many areas that need prayer, the question is, am I praying?
 
We should be willing to work hard for the Lord. It’s one thing to work hard at your job for a paycheck, and quite another to work hard spiritually. Working hard spiritually is foreign to many in modern day Christianity. We like our spirituality to be comfortable, like a lazy river float trip, not a turbulent river ride where you have to paddle.
 
Paul commended the Thessalonian church for their unceasing “…work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father.” (1 Thessalonians 1:3) Friends, we are living in turbulent spiritual waters and Jesus is the captain of the salvation ship. He wants us to pray hard, work hard walk in love. If we will do these things, we will be strong spiritually and make a difference in our world and God will be glorified.