A Spontaneous Prayer
A SPONTANEOUS PRAYER
1 THESSALONIANS 3:11-13
Spontaneous prayer is the response of sensitive Christians to the clear signs of God’s involvement in their lives.
As Paul records his transition from the depths of anguish to the heights of exhilaration, he is overwhelmed with emotion and breaks out into spontaneous prayer. The lines he has just dictated suggest the direction of his thoughts: 3:11 resumes the thought of 3:10a, while 3:12-13 are prompted by 3:10b. The prayer serves to round off the larger section, 2:1–3:10, and prepares for what Paul has to say in the second half of the letter.
On repeated occasions Paul had experienced the desire to return to Thessalonica but Satan had hindered him (2:17f.). Recognizing that only God can remove the obstacles that Satan has set up, Paul prays earnestly that God may still enable him to visit his friends. That no sharp distinction exists in Paul’s mind between “our God and Father” and “our Lord Jesus” when he bows to pray is suggested by the fact that the word “direct” is singular. Paul senses a unity of action between Father and Son in the response to prayer.
Paul’s second request is that the Lord may perfect the love which the Thessalonians have already displayed toward one another until it overflows to the enrichment of all—stubborn Jews, calloused pagans, those who slander them or persecute them (see also Matthew 5:44-48). Only God is able to give love of this quality. Conversely, only love of this quality will direct the attention of people beyond the believers to God himself. The presence of love in ever-increasing measure is the sure promise that the church is being prepared for presentation to the Father on the day when the Lord Jesus comes with all his people. What God will demand is blamelessness in holiness. Love toward God and love toward our neighbor turn us away from selfish concerns and open the way to that moral perfection which is the condition of holiness. It is this radical transformation of character that Paul desires for his converts, that they may face the awesome event of Christ’s return without fear or shame.