04 - Praying with Paul

How often do you hear people say, when talking about what happens to them when they die...'well I have done loads of good things, in fact I dont think I have ever done anything bad at all'. They give lots of money of charity, serve the local community in some various way and do loads of other stuff which they believe should surely secure them a place in heaven. Not to say all these good things our hypothetical person does, are in fact bad, not at all, but in the context of eternity they mean very little...it is an issue of the soul we are dealing with here. In thinking this way our hypothetical person neglects the very core and essential component of what it means to live and in fact reach heaven...the HEART.

Paul prays from the Christians in Thessalonica that they may accomplish all the good works their faith promotes them to do. That the good works they do flow from a HEART which loves Jesus Christ, and longs to please him. If they are not done out of the heart, in eternitys eyes they mean nothing. Paul makes it clear the honus of the good works is very much placed on them, in the fact that they are something THEY do as a result of THEIR faith. However they are not something they do alone; they are empowered by the spirit of the Living God only in this way will they be truly fruitful and sucessful. Indeed Psalm 127 makes it very clear, 'unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labour in vain.'

Paul is assuming therefore, as we spoke about in the third post in this series...an inner transformation in taking place in the hearts of the Thessalonian believers. They are not interested in doing the things they once did before they knew Christ Jesus, but now they have a new set of goals and aims...these a result of their faith. Paul doesn't describe how this should actually work out in practise, but we can infer it means any good work done, not out of the sake of doing good works, but out of faith, empowered by the indwelling Spirit of Christ

Take a moment to reflect on your own life; are you indeed doing any good work for the sake of Jesus Christ or are you concerned with principally your own aims and ambitions? If you are doing good things, are they done out of love for Jesus Christ and love for other people, or they done to seek some other sort of reward? Finally, are you relying on your own strength and will power to accomplish your good works or do you pray this prayer of Paul...that God would give you the power?