According to their desert
2 Thessalonians 1.1-12
Your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing.
Prepare
Do you keep a prayer journal, to keep track of what you pray and the way God answers? If you do, have a look back at some answered prayer. If you don’t, how might you do this?
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Explore
I had a decision to make: should I accept the offer of the perfect and highly paid job? I was desperate for God to say ‘yes’, but his answer was ‘no’, that I should stay put. It took two years before I understood and could give thanks (and mean it!).
Paul gives thanks (v 3) that his prayers have been answered (see 1 Thessalonians 3.12) – all the more amazing because they were suffering (vs 4,5). It sounds serious. Paul describes what was happening as ‘persecutions’, ‘trials’, ‘suffering’ and ‘trouble’. It was bad.
This helps explain the language Paul uses next. Note when the punishment will come (v 7) and who will receive it (v 8). The word means paying a penalty, facing consequences and just deserts, not something over the top or arbitrary.
Also note the difference between the punishment (v 9) and Paul’s prayer (v 12): to be cut off from God is the ultimate consequence of sin; to be with him and in him is the greatest reward.
Respond
How are you struggling or suffering at the moment? Can you pray some of Paul’s prayers (for example, vs 3,11,12)? Ask God to give you the eyes of faith to see things as he does, to know his presence more and more.