Free Bible Commentary
“2 Thessalonians 1:11-12”
Categories: 2 Thessalonians“To this end also we pray for you always, that our God will count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
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Paul and his companions had a special prayer for the Christians in Thessalonica. They had been truly converted to the Lord and their young faith had weathered the storms of persecutions and tribulations, and that was very encouraging. But they still had a long way to go and a tough row to hoe, and they needed God’s strength and perseverance to help them stay faithful to the very end. The prayer is as follows:
“That our God will count you worthy of your calling” (verse 11). God calls us to live a life of holiness and sanctification through the Gospel of Jesus Christ (2:14), and it is God alone who can count us worthy of our calling. But it is up to us to conduct ourselves in a worthy manner. If we live our lives to please and glorify the Lord, He will present us “without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24).
That our God will “fulfill every desire for goodness” (verse 11). We need to try our very hardest to do the good will of God. But, no matter how earnestly we endeavor to do the right things, we will always come up short if we try to do it alone without the help of the Lord who created us. Paul exhorts us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling in Philippians 2:12. But he goes on in verse 13 to tell us that, “it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” God would never leave us alone to do this because He knows we cannot do it alone.
“And the work of faith with power” (verse 11). Biblical faith always requires works of obedience (Ephesians 2:10; James 2:18). As we have seen earlier in this chapter, it is never enough to just believe the Gospel. We also must obey the Gospel (1:8). Jesus is the author of eternal salvation to everyone who obeys Him (Hebrews 5:8-9), and God will always assist us with His mighty “power” when we try to do what is good and right in His sight.
When we serve the Lord in holiness, and we allow Him to work His power within us, only then can we bring glory to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ by our lives of faith (verse 12). There is no better way to live the life that God has blessed us with.
Please read 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 for tomorrow. We will likely spend a few days on this passage.
Have a blessed day!
- Louie Taylor
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