This is the Truth Network. Forever thy word is settled in heaven. Psalm 119, verse 89. I'm Stu Everson. Welcome to this special Wednesday in the Word Leader podcast, where we prepare and equip our leaders of this special Bible study outreach breakfast.
Every week to teach through the scriptures. Thirteen Dario locations. There's a men's group meeting and several of the Locations host the women on Thursday morning. Stay tuned. Be encouraged as we jump into this week's Wednesday in the Word.
You can tell a lot about someone's spiritual depth in their walk with the Lord. From how they pray. from the kind of prayer requests they give and from the things they pray for. And we have a beautiful prayer of Paul at the end of 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, which we covered last time. This week, as we turn the corner in chapter 3.
Paul asked them, To pray for him. Dr. Horne, it's a really neat insight, isn't it, into the heart of the great Apostle Paul? It's a reminder that no matter who you are, And no matter how long you have served the Lord or how deep your ministry has been for the Lord and how impactful, everybody needs prayer. It's humbling, isn't it, to recognize that even the great apostle who had the kind of access and the kind of spirit empowerment that we would all long to have.
Would humble himself and ask believers who were less mature than him, less consistent in their walk with God. In the faith, knew a lot less about the theology that he was writing to them to pray for him. And so that ought to be a great lesson to all of us that it doesn't matter who we are or how long we've been a believer or how high we are in the work of God or even how low we are in the work of God. We all need prayer. And that's exactly what we find here.
The Apostle Paul, as you said earlier, has been praying for them. And we saw that prayer for them in chapter one, and again in chapter two. We sense his heart for them. And now he comes to them and he asks them for four things. He's going to pray.
That they would join him and pray with him about four important things. And I think those are the things. that we need to talk about as we look at this text. Mm. Yes, sir.
And you know, it's interesting that Paul has been praying for them a lot, as you mentioned. Dr. Horne, but it's also really interesting. That You step back and think, hey, who do I want to pray for me? Like, who do I call every morning on my way to Wednesday in the Word?
I've got three or four folks. Who you've been on this list before, who I call and say, Hey, will you just give me a quick prayer? He'd say, Yeah, amen, amen. And it's really. It's just God is so good and he's so faithful.
But, but you know, you think about, hey. Dr. Horn, I think I'd love to have This church in Thessalonica in my prayer corner, wouldn't you? The way you're love and their faith, their labor of love, their deep faith in the world. Yeah, no question.
No question about that. They're witness under fire. And so no question.
So Paul's really kind of, you know, in a sense, he is a weapon of prayer at the end of chapter two.
Now he's weaponizing them. In these first five verses, which I thought, why are we just doing five verses? But then I just look at just verse one. And I'm like, there is a lot in here, Dr. Horn.
Take us through. maybe the structure of this and kind of how our teachers break down these These wonderful verses, because obviously there's specific prayer requests, as you mentioned, and then there's this extolling of God's faithfulness and how that ties in. And then an exhortation, and then he kind of starts off and do a prayer for them again. But how do you break this down and help our teachers kind of get their arms around this as they kind of take us through the text?
Well, there are three direct things that Paul prays and asks them to pray for. And then there's one indirect thing that that's why I say there are four things Paul is going to bring to the surface that we ought to be praying for. And the first of them Is what he starts off with. He says, Finally, brothers, and the idea there is not like, okay, this is the last thing I gotta say to you. We're wrapping up, and so start putting your Bibles up.
And packing up so you can get out early. This is the culmination of the letter. In other words, he's getting to the heart of what he's gonna ask them. Because, as you well know, this church. that was so powerful in its beginning has been deceived.
And many of them have come under the deception of the enemy through a false apostle or a false letter that has come into their midst. And some of them have been swept away by that error into disobedient behavior. And so he's going to ask them to do a really, really hard thing when we get to verse six and the end of the chapter.
So he's getting to the crux. of what where he's going like he's been making the case this is what This is what happened to you. This is why it happened to you. This is what I told you when I was with you. This is the truth I taught you.
And now I got to bring a really hard thing to the table.
Sometimes when we come to the word of God, God has to bring a really hard thing to the table in terms of our own walk with him, our own life with him, right? And he always gets the ground ready.
So that's what's been going on here. And so, as Paul approaches this culminating theme that he's going to ask them to bring their life into conformity to, he takes the first five verses before he gets there to set it up for prayer. And so he asks for four things. Number one, pray. that the the word of god would have powerful success And he uses this really colorful way of saying it.
Pray that the word of the Lord. the word from God, the word about the Lord. May speed ahead and be honored as happened among you. In other words, pray that the word of God that I've been called to preach and teach. would have powerful success in the life of the hearer.
And he means by this two things, that it would speed ahead. The idea there is that it would overcome any obstacle in its way. The idea behind the word that is used there is the imagery of an marathon. You know, Paul is in Macedonia, the original marathon. uh occurred there.
And so there is this. marathon this race that a soldier would run to bring news or to bring instruction from the commanding officer to the front line or from the front line back to headquarters or back to the home base and oftentimes they would run it under military opposition they were they were on wartime uh footing and they were running through hostile territory And that's the image that the word of God is speeding down a pathway that is full of hostility. and pray that it would overcome any obstacle in the way. And so think about the fact that in the book of Romans, Paul has been talking about the fact that we have an inner enemy who is always hostile to God, always hostile to his word, always resistant to it. And Paul says when the word of God is preached or taught or read or sung or prayed, it has to go down that pathway.
So pray that the word of God would speed ahead and overcome any external obstacle or any internal obstacle that would come against it. And that it would be received with honor. And what he means by this is that it would be received for what it really is. Not just a beautiful speech by this stranger that came in to town talking like nobody's talked here before. It's wonderful.
It's powerful. It's amazing. but that people would recognize That this word about this Lord is actually from the true and living God of heaven. And it bears its authority comes from that God and its power comes from that God. And so that it would be honored for what it really is.
That's super instructive. Paul says, when you pray for me, Don't pray for my safety. Don't pray for my ease. Don't pray for wealth and comfort. Pray, first and foremost, that the word of God that I've called to preach and teach would have powerful success.
Now, that's a really important prayer, right? Pray. For us, pray that it would have success in our life and that it would be honored. By us and through us, as the word of God. You know, when I stand up on Sunday to preach, or when we enable people to teach this word in the Bible studies.
The first place it has to hit is in ourselves. Right.
So before we even open our mouth to pray or put pen to paper or. Finger to keyboard, our prayer ought to be: Lord, whatever you're doing in this text, whatever you put in this passage, the first place it needs to go is in my own heart. And it's got to traverse hostile territory through my flesh.
So please overcome those obstacles. and help me to receive it with joy for what it really is the word of the king The word of truth, the word of authority, the word with power. that can actually change me. And so that's the first thing Paul prays for. What a powerful thing to pray.
Right.
Pray that no matter what happens to me and no matter what circumstances I have to bring it under, that this word would overcome any obstacle, internal and external, and that it would be received for what it really is, the word of God and not men, just like it was received by you the very first time it came. And so let me go back to chapter one and let's just read that because I think it's so powerful. Paul said in verse 4 of chapter 1 in 1 Thessalonians. We know That our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power. and in the Holy Spirit with full conviction.
You know what kind of men we prove to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction with the joy. of the Holy Spirit so that you became examples to all the believers in Macedonia. Anakea.
So, when Paul says, pray that the word of God would be received with honor, the way it happened when it came to you, that's what he's talking about. that you would receive this word with joy. and that it would be so transformative in your life that you would become the prototype for what it's supposed to do in your community.
Now, Stu, what would happen if that happened every Wednesday at our Bible studies? Oh yeah.
Well, that that's what I heard someone say about the Chinese church that If you are not immediately winning souls in helping plant churches right after you're saved. Then they consider you an infertile Christian, a fruitless Christian. This is incredible. I mean, this is a very powerful prayer. Yes.
I was shocked. Yeah, so that's the first thing I would say, that we ought to pray for the powerful success of God's word, and it needs to start in my life. I've used this illustration many, many times. You know when Um When I was a kid, I used to go to my aunt's house and you would see on the wall of those old time houses. And some of our listeners would remember this from their kidhood, or maybe they saw it at their grandmother's house.
The old walls that had wallpaper. Remember the old wallpapered walls? Oh, yeah. And every once in a while you'd kind of look over there and you'd see that there was a piece of wallpaper that had started to peel up from the wall And And how you responded to that said a lot about you, right?
Some dudes were like, oh man, God, you have answered my prayer. This means a trip to Home Depot. I'm headed out because if you're really gracious, there'll probably be some wood rod under there and I'll get to buy a sawzall or I'll get to buy a new tool and my wife won't be able to complain about it because actually I'm going to be, you know, I'm going to be breaking out a bunch of tools and it's going to be a great, great day. Right.
And then there's other guys like me, and we're like, uh, and we lick it and stick it back down and hope nobody notices. And I use that illustration because when the word of God comes into our life. We can either lick and sort of glue back down what's been exposed and just cover it up and hope it doesn't show up again, or we can let the Holy Spirit do the work that he's wanting to do. And oftentimes it means he's going to get in there and dig around and make sure any wood rot that's in our soul is going to come out. And that's why this prayer is so important.
Pray that the word of God would have powerful success.
So that's the first thing. The next thing it follows on that, and it's natural because as soon as the Word of God begins to do its transforming work. in the life of a believer, somebody starts paying attention. There's a spiritual enemy that starts paying attention. It's like, whoa, hang on a second.
I don't have a problem if you go to church. I don't even have a problem if you sing the songs. I don't even have a problem if you sit there and say amen to the sermon. I have a problem if that word starts changing you. That's when I have a problem.
So, if you just do your church thing and you show up and you check out in your head, or you know, you do your, you decide, hey, I'm not going to church today. I'll just, I'll just watch online. And then halfway through, you're like, you know, I really think I need some honey. For this tea, or I'd like to get some syrup for these pancakes, or I'm really hungry for eggs. I'll just make a little couple eggs, and it'll be 10 minutes of the sermon, and I'll be back.
Satan doesn't mind any of that. But when you're zoned into the Word of God and the Word of God is zoning in on you. And week after week, you're growing and you're changing and you're confessing your sin and you're mortifying your flesh and you're understanding God's word and you're becoming a growing disciple. Satan shows up. And he's going to do anything he can to stop that.
And so the next thing that Paul prays for is that there would be protection. For the work that the word is doing. And you can see that in verse 2, and that we may be delivered. from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith, but the Lord is faithful.
He will establish. And he will guard you against the evil one.
So immediately, you know, in Paul's day, and certainly in our own day, that when the Word of God begins its work, and we begin to flourish. And the power of the Spirit of God begins to change us, Satan is going to come and he's going to use any thing he can to tear down that work. and stop the progress so he could use a person in our life He could use a gospel enemy. He could use a family member. He could use somebody at our church who rubs us the wrong way.
He could use this circumstance to come against us. And we typically see the person that comes against us at the enemy, but Paul's saying, wait a minute, behind that person is the real enemy. The real enemy that you should be asking God to deliver you from is not that person. In fact, he may want you to love that person. He may want you to show that person that you're not going to give up no matter what they do to you.
You overcome evil by doing good, right? That's how you do that. But don't forget, behind that person is an evil one. And we all know who he is. And he is going to use a Paul.
A Saul of Tarsus to stone a Stephen of Jerusalem, right? He's going to do that. But he can use a Stephen of Jerusalem. In his dying prayer. To prick the heart of a Saul of Tarsus, who then becomes the Paul who writes this letter.
Right.
And so this is an amazing reality that that as we sense the word of God working in our life, Whereas the word of God begins to flow from us, like it did the Thessalonians, Paul says. Don't be surprised if a false apostle doesn't show up with some false teaching to teach you. Don't be surprised, right? Don't be surprised if somebody comes against you and persecutes you with hatred, hateful speech, or takes away your material belongings, or throws you out of your house, or kicks you out of your job, or exiles you out of the city because they believe that all the calamities of the city are there because you're preaching against the gods of the city. Don't be surprised if they drag you into an arena.
and take away your life. But pray. That the work that the word is doing will be protected from that evil one while all that's happening to you. It isn't just about protecting me, it's about protecting the work. that the word is doing.
And I think that's really important. For us to pick up on, right?
So pray for the powerful success of God's word and pray for protection. Of the work that the word is doing in me and through me. That's the second major thing Paul prays for.
Well Yeah, the Christian life is not a playground, it's a battlefield. And these two things, I hope our teachers will lock in here and our pastors also that benefit from this podcast. In God's faithfulness. Verse 3. He both establishes us, and that's the idea carried over from chapter two: you know, the prayer of Paul that God would comfort and establish you.
So he establishes us, and then he also guards you. And so there's an establishment, a rooting. God roots us. in Christ. We're rooted and built up in Him.
But then he protects us. Because this is war. I just wonder how many of our prairie quests Dr. Horn, I think of so many Sunday school classes I've been in. I've been perpetrator number one in this.
Where I fill the chalkboard. with or the dry erase board with prayer request about everyone's health issues and And everyone's, you know, and I'm not saying we shouldn't pray for those things. But You know, my my dear, sweet 95-year-old grandma. is going to go into heaven soon and she's going to have brand new hips in heaven. But what where are the prayer requests on our on our chalkboard?
of the people that are on their way to hell. that have great shoulders, arms, legs, hips. healthy hearts. But they have no Jesus. And Paul takes us a little deeper.
He doesn't ask for, he no doubt had all kinds of pain. He no doubt, the guy was striped and beaten and persecuted. And he was even beat up in Thessalonica or before that and then run out of town and goes to Corinth and has all kinds of problems there. He's mocked in Athens and he's put in jail in Philippi before Thessaloniki. And yet he doesn't say one thing about pray that I don't get staph infection on these stripes that are still blistering my back.
He's praying for the warfare. And so, yeah, so, but then he keeps going. I mean, this thing doesn't end there. Keep rolling, brother. The other aspects of this.
So the third thing that I see in the text, so pray for the powerful discussion, God's word. Pray for protection over the work that the Word is doing. But thirdly, pray. For continual obedience to the will of God. And you kind of see that in the exhortation in verse 3, but the Lord is faithful.
He will establish you. He will guard you. And then in verse 4, we have confidence in the Lord. The Lord is the one that's going to do this, right? It's not you that's going to do this, it's the Lord that's going to do this.
We have confidence in the Lord about you. There's something about you. that we know God is going to strengthen. And and we're praying to that end.
So this is the third thing. Pray. Ongoing obedience in the life of the people to the will of God that is being produced by the word that is at work, right?
So pray for ongoing obedience to the will of God. Pray. And bosses, we have confidence that you are doing right now. And we'll do in the future, the things that we command. There there is Apostolic truth.
that demands authoritative response. Right, whenever you have apostolic truths. that comes into your life. God expects An obedient response to whatever that apostolic truth says. No matter how big or how small, when apostolic truth enters the picture.
God expects and demands of me a certain response. and a certain posture and its obedience. And the thing is. These believers have been doing that. The whole book of First Thessalonians is the story of their amazing obedience.
To a God they had never met before. They couldn't see with their eyes and they couldn't hear with their physical ears. And a total stranger who looks like he got caught up in about 17 different avalanches. who can barely walk, his body is battered and bruised. By the time he gets to Thessalonica, he's still recovering from the beatings that he got up in Philippi.
And he's saying, hey. If you want the good life. Look at me, I found it. And everybody's going, are you kidding me? If we believe what you believe, we're going to end up like you.
And this whole crew of people there. Render that kind of stunning obedience, and they have been rendering it for the whole book. And Paul says to them, I am confident. I'm confident that God has enabled that obedience in you. Any obedience that we render to the Lord's due is an obedience that God enables.
You know, praise God, this is not. This is not because of me. But praise God, for 40 years, I've been faithful to my wife. And all the years of traveling, I've been faithful to my life. I can't claim credit for that.
God enabled that obedience in me. Right, the minute I get proud about that, the minute I think I did that. Passes Take heed lest you fall. If you think you stand, take heed lest you fall, right? The obedience in our marriages, the obediences we render to the Lord as a pastor, the obediences we render to the Lord as an individual Christian are all enabled by the Spirit.
And Paul says, I am confident that the Spirit of God, who's been helping you obey, will continue to help you obey.
So there is Yeah, there is this dependence on the power of God through the Spirit of God to bring about obedience.
Well, in a real sense, it hails back to his prayer, which we covered last week, which was so rich, where he opens up. With how God chose you. You know, the Father, our Father chose you. the Spirit sanctifying you.
So you in God's grace, have been faithful to your wife 40 years. But There's been a lot of prayer warriors praying for your marriage, Dr. Horne. There's been a lot of godly counselors in those early days that said, Hey, Beth, Sam, let's get together. Let's talk.
You know, you guys, hey, let's keep you on track. There have been a lot of people that prayed. I know, like in your family growing up in a Christian home, our parents prayed for our wives before we even met them. You know, we were teenagers.
So God ordained the ends of. you know, of a Christian's life all the way to eternity. In his beautiful sovereign choosing, which we don't understand, but he also ordains the means. He's ordaining the people that are Discipling us that are teaching us in Paul. In this case, here he's ordaining Paul to come along and command them spiritually.
Instruct them. in the Word of God. And so it's just all of this is just all God's work. I just so glad I just underlined this in my Bible. See, I didn't even notice this, and I'm sending these leader notes out, verse 4.
You know, we have confidence in the Lord. I just underlined those words in the Lord.
So, here's what's interesting: for 40 years, say the first maybe three to five years of that. I spent praying that God would change Beth. I prayed for my marriage, but I prayed for God to change Beth.
So maybe that was the first three, three years. I don't remember. It was a really. arrogant, prideful, and difficult time in my life. And God had to humble me.
Then I spent the next 15 years praying that God would change me. And the older I get and the sweeter my marriage is. I've spent you know, the last number of years praying. saying God thank you. Thank you for my marriage.
Thank you for changing me. Thank you for blessing me with a wife that you've been at work in in such evident ways. And here's what I pray. Lord, help me to be thankful for this. Help me to enjoy this.
And it helped me not to mess this up. Help me to be a blessing to my wife and help me not to mess it up. Because I'm watching guys my age who are messing up their marriages big time. You know, the fact you've been married 40 years. ought to make you pray even more.
Lord, please. Continue to help me obey you. Continue to help me sustain this obedience in me. There is a real sense of dependence as you get older in the Lord, where you realize I don't got this. I don't got this.
If the Lord takes away his sustaining power, I'm crashing and burning. And so, Lord, please continue to enable the obedience.
Now, I have to render that obedience, right? But sometimes the older you get, the harder it is to stay obedient to the Lord. especially when what you expected doesn't happen. You know, when you start out and you're two years into the ministry, you got these dreams that by the time you're 50, it's going to look like this. I'm going to be in the church of thousands.
And you turn 50 one day and you realize that didn't happen to me. I'm in a church of 50 or 75, and it's rough and it's tough. And and a church of You know, 3,000 people ain't in my future and you can get really jaded. I'm using that as an example. But if you're not a pastor, it could be, you know, I'm giving my career to the Lord.
And man, I'm going to tithe. I'm going to be faithful to him. I'm going to love him. I'm going to be involved in church. And surely by the time I'm 50, I'm going to be a vice president in this company.
And instead you got a pink slip. And you got to start your career over. And you realize it is not my dream isn't going to happen. And at that point. You're going to figure out and you're going to discover whether your obedience to God has been because you hope to get something for Him.
or because he was the one sustaining it. That's where many, many people are today. And that's why I think this is so important. We have confidence in the Lord concerning you. that you will do and will continue to do the things that we command you.
That's a very powerful prayer.
So, I think that's the third thing. And then the fourth thing in the text is the most stunning thing. But let me let you interact with what I just said here a minute.
Well no, I'm with you. I'm with you. I'm tracking with you. I just want to make sure that everyone remembers this is in the context. of a prayer.
So there is very much Paul is pouring his heart out. asking them to pray for him And in the prayer, he is extolling God's faithfulness. And he is pleading with them. to to stay grounded in Christ. And then of course verse 5 really it really caps it off, and I think that's where you're going next.
Yeah, and so that verse is the fourth thing.
So pray for the powerful success of God's word. Number one. Number two, pray for the protection of the work the Word is doing in me. That's the second thing. Number three, pray for ongoing obedience to the will of God that's being revealed by the Word that's at work in me.
And then, number four, pray that there would be an ongoing growth in my understanding. of the way that God has for me the ways of God. And so may the Lord direct your heart. There's something wonderful. that Paul is going to point to.
There is a wonderful way. in which God delivers Me and how he reacts and how he responds to me, right? And so Paul says, I want the Lord to direct your heart. The word direct there is actually a shaping word. It's a word that that orients.
And moves. If you could see the word as it is lived out, it's somebody taking somebody who doesn't really know how to walk. And enabling them to watch by grabbing them by their hands, like you would grab a little two-year-old. and helping them walk in a certain direction.
So it's not just helping to walk, it's walking in a certain direction. May the Lord direct your heart. The idea there is may he open the pathway and may he enable you to go down this pathway because as you go down the pathway, you are going to discover a wonderful way about God that you didn't really know. And the wonderful thing you're going to discover about God is the intensity of his love for you. May the Lord direct your heart.
Into the amazing, intense love God has for you. There's a debate about whether this is, may God cause my heart to love him more. Which is what we would expect. Or is this, may God direct my heart to understand? and something that Satan has been trying to hide from me the entire time I've been a Christian.
And what Satan has been trying to hide from me the entire time I've been a Christian is the deep. unshakable, unmovable. Delight. That God takes it me. No matter what has been going on in my life.
No matter how weak I've been that week, no matter how many times I fell back into some sin, I promised God I would never commit, it doesn't diminish. The intensity of God's love for me. Paul said it this way: while we were yet sinners. In the middle of our rebellion, in the middle of our hostility against God, in the middle of us literally launching out in hostility against him and crucifying his son, God demonstrated his love toward us. And Paul says, where this prayer is going is this: I want you to understand what I have come to understand.
I want you to understand the immense. intense love the white hot passion that God has for you. that nothing has ever been able to impact. No failure, no sin. No, no frustration.
has ever diminished by one iota. The intense love God has for you. The delight God has for you. Think about how we have small little tastes of this as parents. You know, when God gives us a kid.
He provides instinctively and instantly a love that we didn't have a category before. I remember You know. When I had Robert, our firstborn, and you probably remember this with hope. Um I didn't have a category. I knew I had a category for what it was to love a mom or a dad.
I had a category for that, right? I had a category for loving a sibling, a brother or sister. I had a category for loving a really good friend. I had a category for loving a wife that I didn't have before. I had categories for all of that.
But I didn't have a category for loving a son or a daughter. Until I actually held them in my hands the first time. And it was different than any other kind of love I'd ever experienced. I now have a category for that. And I understood for the first time, there's nothing that's ever going to diminish my love for this kid.
I'm sure I'm going to get irritated and frustrated and angry and maybe even hurt. But nothing is going to get in the way of the intensity and the immensity of this love that just came out of my heart for this kid. And for the first time, Stu, I had a small taste of what God's love for me is like. Because I didn't have a category for loving a son before. But the minute I had that category, I understood this is how God loves me.
How I feel about Robert. as helpless as he is. And as unable as he is to care for himself at two days of age. This immense love. Is the love God has for me?
My son is 30, that was 30 years ago. My son is 30. And you know what? That love has not diminished.
Now, there's been a lot of rough spots in our relationship. There have been sins he's committed that have relationally strained, and sins I've committed against him that have relationally strained us. But The love that I had the very first time I held him, the very first time I kissed his head. That love has not diminished.
In fact, it's grown. It's grown deeper. It's more intense. And I kiss him every time I say goodbye to him. I kiss him on the head the way I did the very first time I held him.
And and those kisses At 30 years of age, have intensified. In their significance to me, because they represent a much deeper love. And again, that's how God feels about me. God has been loving this fallen sinner. for 60 plus years.
And for more than 50 of those years or 45 of those years, he's been loving me. as my heavenly father, not just as my creator. And that love has never diminished. And Satan has done everything possible in 45 years to make me doubt that love. to feel distant from that love, to question that love.
to wonder if that love's even present in my life. to hide it, to obscure it. but it hasn't changed. That love from God's heart to me. One iota.
Not one. You know, I've often heard people use the illustration of, and I was just on a plane yesterday, so this makes a lot of sense to me. You sit on a plane and you look out the window, and there's this rainstorm in this. Windstorm and the weather is awful, and you can't even see hardly because it's all gray. And then the plane takes off, and you break through the clouds.
And the sun that was always there is shining in its full glory. That storm down beneath didn't change the sun one bit. And whatever storm is going on in my life that makes me wonder where God is, and did I do something to make him man? When I get through the clouds, the love of God hasn't changed one bit for me. And that's what Paul is saying.
That changes everything. And you say, well, I need proof of that. Because, Paul, it doesn't feel that way. And when I look at you, I wonder even more about God's love. Because how could God allow the kind of things that have happened to you?
Um And then you sit here and tell me about the intensity of his love. Paul says, Well, that's why the last thing I'm going to ask God to do is to direct your attention. And your affection to the greatest proof of that love, and that is the steadfastness. of Christ. When he sent Christ into this world.
There was a time when God God's son had to be steadfast. He had to endure. And we're told that he endured. The affliction of the cross. For the joy that was set before him, and the joy that was set before him was us.
So the way this prayer ends is super powerful. Because it reminds me that in the midst of all of the hardness that sometimes obedience demands. And all the pressure that it brings on me, and sometimes the immense costs that I have to pay to remain obedient. God's love for me is not based on how well I do that day. God's love for me is not based on the fact that, hey, you did a really good job today, Sam O'Bain.
Not so good yesterday, but boy, today was really great. And I'm looking forward to tomorrow. It's going to get better. And so here's another love chip in the bank. It doesn't work that way.
We get all of God's love there is to get on day one, and it never diminishes. And I don't know how that works too, but it changes things. And that's why Satan doesn't mind me knowing about God's holiness and about God's wrath on sin and about God's judgment and God's justice. He doesn't mind me knowing any of that. In fact, he reminds me of that every time I sin.
What he doesn't want me to know. And what he does his best to get me to doubt or to disbelieve is this. Aspect that he prays for here that we would know the immensity and the intensity by experience. not just because it's theologically true, but because we've experienced your life. The love of God.
And that's a great way to end because that's how the prayer ends. Yeah, it's a and there's so much in, you know, think of the end of Romans 8, where, you know, Paul goes into this long list of things that nothing. will separate us from God's love. And I think all of this, a lot of questions that could be asked like You know, how much does God's love mean to me? How Unconditional, what does that mean?
How is God's love demonstrated? How do we see Christ as the embodiment of, the personification of the perfect love of God? I think of 1 John. For we love him because he first loved us. Verse 19 and all throughout that.
And so, Dr. Horne, you know, one thing that I'm really mindful of as you go through these verses is. You know, the question that's so important is: how can I pray for you? And I hope that someone will ask that question. And I hope you'll ask your pastor that question.
And Pastor Paul. He anticipated that question in this passage because he tells us how. we can pray for him. And this is a very bibliocentric misiocentric, Christocentric prayer request. And, you know, I think that I'm so encouraged by a ministry called Energized Ministries, where a dear friend of mine.
Andy Bauer Sox has this massive bus, and it says on the front of this bus, the back, the side, and big letters. Pray for your pastor. And so he's excited. He's going to be there this week because I've already told him: hey, we're going to find out. How?
To pray for your pastor. What you've done, we've gotten deeper into that. And we're going to go deeper into how. Can we pray for you, you know, specifically? And how can we pray for you?
Maybe for a real need, not necessarily a felt need. and toward the advancement again of the word of God. And then, you know, Dr. Horn and a couple of my nephews were in town. this last week.
And it was beautiful to see our Wednesday in the Word guys, after we were done, get around them, put hands on their shoulders, and pray for them. I just was so encouraged by that. And I think that just we need to be intentional in not just praying for each other, but in how we pray for each other. Right.
And sometimes it's harder to receive prayer than to give prayer. I'm the kind of guy that's going and praying for people, but I tell you, once in a while, when someone grabs me and says, I want to pray for you. I just, sometimes I just melt. I'm like, wow. I'm, yeah, I'm not used to this.
And it just, but it's so important. It's so powerful. This is like prayer is like a nuclear power plant. I mean, it's something because our God is so powerful. That's why prayer is so powerful.
And I know you're going to praise out of here, but give us any closing thoughts and then get us a good prayer for this week, for this passage. You know, we have the large prayer that sort of helps us shape the way we think about prayer, right?
So, pray for the things that matter to God first. Pray for the exalting of his name. Pray for the extending of his kingdom. and the authority of that kingdom in our lives. Pray for his will to be done on earth.
And on the basis of those three things, Lord, I need daily bread to do that. Lord, if I'm going to extend the kingdom, I need you to keep me. I need you to take care of my family. I need health. I need to be able to pay my bills.
so that I don't dishonor your name in the eyes of my pagan landlord.
So give me my daily bread, Lord. Um Lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil, right? Uh help me. To forgive others as you have forgiven me, and I need forgiveness today because I blew it again yesterday.
So, so all of the second half of the prayer is intended to get us to talk to God about what we need to do the first half of the prayer.
So that's the Lord's prayer, and that's an incredibly powerful way to think about prayer. But Paul prays. Several pattern prayers in his epistles. We have more than 40 of Paul's prayers. We have doxologies, right?
We're going to talk about one here at the end of the book. Those are incredible. We have benedictions. That he prays. There's a big difference between a doxology and a benediction.
And so we got benedictions from Paul. We got doxologies from Paul. These are all things he prays. But then there are times where he just prays. Very specifically.
for the people he's writing to. And those become pattern prayers. And then he prays a few times for himself. And I think those are the most instructive prayers. There's a prayer like that in Ephesians 6.
Where pulses look as you pray for everybody else just like i've instructed you pray that god would give me boldness to open my mouth clearly. And present the gospel accurately and compellingly here in Rome. That's an example of a prayer Paul asked for prayer for himself. Not. Pray that it goes well at the trial.
Pray that I'll be vindicated. Pray that I won't get. My head lopped off. Pray that, you know, I mean, he literally doesn't ask for those things. That's not what he's praying for.
He is praying. for gospel, you know, for the gospel to go forth. That's really instructive. In fact, God used that in my life when I got cancer. And I thought, okay, I'm going to pray.
And who do I, you know, obviously Paul prayed in times like this. And that prayer is what shaped the way I thought about praying for my own life, right?
So, but this is another one. This is another place where Paul actually says, okay, let me tell you, I'm praying for myself and I'm praying for you. And so what I want to do is I want to pray that. I want to pray for those four things for you, for me, for our families, and for our listeners.
So let me pray as we end our time and let's just pray the way Paul did. Lord, thank you that we could pray. And the power of the Spirit and by the grace that you've extended to us. You've given us a bold and gracious invitation to come openly to talk to you. And so, Lord, as we come to you, we want to come the way Paul did.
We want to pray that in our lives and through our lives. Your word would have powerful success. that it would do that work in us. and that it would do the work in others. That you intend for it to do, and that we would recognize and submit to you to it as it is your word.
And then, Lord, we want to pray that you would protect that work. That the word that you sent our way is doing. Lord, whatever that is, maybe it's causing in us a desire to serve you in a different way. Or more deeply, or maybe it's a desire that we would give more of our earthly resources to support programs like the Truth Network. Maybe it's a desire that we would go to our wife or to our husband and ask forgiveness or to our child or to our parent.
And ask forgiveness, or maybe it's you prompting us to go to our neighbor or go to our boss and share the gospel with them.
So, Lord, whatever that work your word is doing, protect it, because we know that the devil will come against it, he will use our flesh. He will use whatever he can to destroy that good work you're doing. And so, Lord, protect that work in us. And then, Lord, we pray thirdly that you would sustain a joyful obedience to the will that you are revealing your will to us in that word. And so, Lord, sustain that obedience over time.
Thank you for helping us obey and render the obedience that we have rendered. But Lord, increase that capacity and that desire and that ability and sustain it in us. And Lord, all of this becomes... Energized when we understand what Satan has been hiding from us all of these years, and that is the depth. and the unchanging intensity of your love for us.
So thank you for loving us. And thank you for displaying that love while we were still far away from you and still. Your enemies, and you broke through and sent your son to rescue us, and Lord. We have never been loved like this by anybody. And so help us to see it.
for what it is and to experience it, to taste it. personally. and use that love to transform us. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Thank you, Dr. Horn, and thank you for joining us for this Wednesday in the Word podcast. Learn more at wedintheword.com. Follow us on YouTube. Facebook and all social media, including in Stu Graham, and be encouraged, stay in the word.
Read it. Share it, study it, memorize it, and Meditate on God's Word. Every word of God is pure. He is a shield to those who put their trust in him. Proverbs 30, verse 5.
