Daily Devotions – Family of God

Daily Devotions – Family of God

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

 

Click this link to hear an audio version of the below text narrated by SOTH member Jerry Rhinehart:

 

2 Thessalonians 1 (ESV)
Greeting
1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving
3 We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. 4 Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring.

The Judgment at Christ’s Coming
5 This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering— 6 since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7 and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels 8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, 10 when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at among all who have believed because our testimony to you was believed. 11 To this end, we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, 12 so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

How will you exercise faith and love in a specific way or relationship this week?

 

 

Loving Father, thank You for loving me so much that You suffered and died for my sins. Your grace and forgiveness have brought me into Your Holy family. I am blessed to be a part of Your church with other members of Your family. And as we work, serve, and worship You, our relationships together grow closer to each other and to You. This time of global pandemic not only brings separation, but also health, financial, and logistics issues in dealing with restricted life. I pray that as members of our church family, we keep the faith and support each other even though we are going through a lot of trouble and suffering ourselves. Thank You for the opportunities to reach out by text, email, or phone to check in on bible study members who have become precious friends, to fellow members who frequently chatted over coffee with after church, to others who are sick, elderly, lonely or with possible needs. Let me love them as You do, pray for them, and offer assistance if I am able as I connect with them. I pray for God’s power to help us do all the good things that we hope to do and that our faith makes us want to do. As we love each other I pray that our faith and love grow. You often use struggles, rather than successes to make us stronger. I pray that You increase the muscles of our faith through this trial. Let our reunion when we can worship together in person at the church be a foretaste of the great reunion when all believers will come together to worship You in person at Your heavenly throne in heaven. Amen.