“We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers…“
for you all,
The Gospel team gave thanks not only for the honourable believers at Thessalonica, but for all believers at that church. We do not have to approve of Christians to pray for them. They do not have to answer to us before we can pray for them. God simply calls us to pray for “all” Christians. Thank God that they came to Christ. Thank God for any contribution they make to the cause of Christ.
making mention of you in our prayers
The word “prayers” signifies invocation. This is a more general term than the term “petition.” Paul is saying that he makes mention of them in prayer. He calls people by name in prayer. This is the only good - gossip on your knees!Paul loved God’s people enough to pray specifically for them by name. Prayer takes memory. How many fellow Christians do you remember in prayer? Paul says in the next verse – “remembering without ceasing….”
Principle:
Thanksgiving is the capacity to appreciate what God is doing in our lives.
Application:
God is the author of all that is good. Thanksgiving is the capacity to appreciate God’s goodness to us - even the disagreeable things that happen to us. We come to realize that everything that God allows to come into our lives, He does for our good (Romans 8:28).
When we give thanks, we give something to God. We can give money to God, but we owe Him thanks as well.
“…giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ…” (Ephesians 5:20).”…giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light” (Colossians 1:12).
“And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” (Colossians 3:17).
Do you daily thank God for your salvation? Your health. Your church and your pastor who feed you the Word of God? Thank God for each believer you know who is a walking representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. Granted, not everyone represents Him well, but there is some semblance of Christ in them. There are so many places where there is divine dearth; there is no witness, no vitality, no evangelism and no momentum. We need every witness we can find.
Thank God for every movement of evangelism in the world. Do you thank God for anyone besides your husband or wife or children? Of course, it is easier to thank God for some than for others, but this passage says to give thanks for “all” Christians. How many people do you pray for? Apart from your family, for whom do you pray? Do you pray for those who are advancing the cause of Christ?
The church at Thessalonica was born out of affliction. Out of the crucible of affliction came strong churches.
Paul had a prayer list – do you?
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