SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/29/2014
9:42 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The Pastor’s Compassion for his People
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
1Thessaloians 3:2b-4
Message of the
verses: “to strengthen and encourage
you as to your faith, 3 so that no one would be disturbed by these afflictions;
for you yourselves know that we have been destined for this. 4 For indeed when
we were with you, we kept telling you in advance that we were going to suffer
affliction; and so it came to pass, as you know.”
There are many things packed into this short portion of
Scripture. First of all I want to think
about Timothy, for it was Timothy that Paul sent back to Thessalonica in order
to strengthen the believers faith and to encourage them in the Lord. Timothy became a believer during Paul’s
second missionary trip and Paul saw something in him that he wanted to take him
along on the journey. Timothy was Paul’s
son in the faith and I am sure that this was a great privilege and joy for
Timothy to be part of Paul’s men who went with Paul to spread the gospel. Dr. Wiersbe calls both Timothy and Titus
Paul’s “special agents.”
It was Paul’s practice to go back to the churches that he
began to see how they were getting along and how they were growing in the Lord,
but Paul could not go back to Thessalonica because of the effort of Satan to
stop him, so he sent Timothy. We saw in
the last section that Timothy was a minister, and this word comes from the root
word that “deacon” comes from. We also
saw that Timothy was a person who was a worker with God, but he also was a
worker with Paul also as he was a good team player. Yes Timothy was the right person to go to the
Thessalonians to strengthen their faith and also to encourage these
believers. I remember a few years back
that I was listening to a series of messages from Dr. David Jeremiah on the
subject of encouragement and he stated in one of those messages that when we
encourage someone it is like pouring courage into them. This was part of Timothy’s assignment that he
was sent onto accomplish. The word faith
is seen five times in chapter three, (vs. 2, 5, 6, 7). John MacArthur writes “This is not the faith (cf. Jude 3) that is the body
of gospel truths, but the Thessalonians’ belief
in it.”
Now Paul writes about persecution in this section also
and he writes that he told them that both he and they would have persecution,
and we have mentioned this subject before, but worth repeating here since Paul
writes more about the subject. Jesus
also said that persecution would come upon those who believed in Him and thus
it came upon those at Thessalonica. Paul
wanted to prepare them for this so that when it came they would be ready for
it, and this was one of the reasons that he sent Timothy to them to see how
they were doing. MacArthur
writes: “Paul knew they faced and could
be disturbed by certain afflictions (pressure, tests of faith in
suffering). The verb rendered would be
disturbed (sainesthai) originally
designated the wagging of a dog’s tail, but through the years it came to mean,
‘to allure, fascinate, flatter, or beguile.’
When a dog wags its tail, it often does so to draw attention to itself
and gain something it wants. Hence saino, the root verb of sainesthai, latter referred to a person
who tried to flatter or beguile other people.
Paul did not want
anyone to lure the Thessalonians away from the truth in that manner, because
they had been made vulnerable by persecution and suffering.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: We have had the
privilege to live in a country that has not experienced persecution up until
now, but when we look on the horizon we can see that it is not too far
off. My prayer is that I will stand true to my Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ in the event this happens in my lifetime.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Be jealous for my Lord.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Judges.”
Today’s Bible
question: “What relationship was Rebekah
to Laban?”
Answer in our next SD.
4/29/2014 10:38 AM
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