“Constantly Praying What?”

2 Thessalonians 1:11-12:  “With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith. We pray this 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.”

Reading this on a cold New Years’ Day brought a sobering reminder to this old German.  Do I constantly appreciate the gift of Jesus’ completed work?  Or, do I walk around arrogantly supposing that I deserve it?  God help me!  I only deserve His wrath.

How blessed we are this New Year.  Another year of mercy (kindness from God) and Paul encourages us to pray constantly that we may be counted worthy of God’s calling for us.

When we truly love God, we are (or should be) disappointed in our performance.  We want to be good yet we are unable to do so.  God’s purpose for all believers is to make them the kind of believers He wants to have.  As our faith increases, God increases the power available to us to do good.  If we want God’s power in our life, we must believe in God’s ability and power to do good rather than in our own power.

It is all a gift of God…undeserved.  Do we pray every day to be counted “worthy of His calling”?  We are not worthy; it is the gift of Jesus Christ, His Father and the Holy Spirit.  We need to fall on our knees.  Only through and by Christ are we counted worthy.  Amen