PRAY FOR THE SPREAD OF THE MESSAGE OF THE LORD! As for other matters, brothers and sisters, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you. And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil people, for not everyone has faith. —II Thessalonians 3:1-2 Wow, Paul’s desire and prayer request was for the message of the Lord to spread rapidly and be honored. Is that our desire today? If so, how are we involved in that? If not, why not? Our desire should be that as many people as possible as soon as possible could hear…

BE AN ENCOURAGER May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word. —II Thessalonians 2:16-17 Are you eternally encouraged? You ought to be if you know the Lord Jesus because He has given His sheep “eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:28). “And so we will be with the Lord forever” (I Thessalonians 4:17). This is eternal encouragement “so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the…

LOOK! GLORY JUST AHEAD! See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. —Isaiah 65:17 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his…

BEWARE! Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil. —I Thessalonians 5:19-22 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even…

HOLY SPIRIT’S GUIDANCE The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn. —Isaiah 61:1-2 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the…

PEACE OR PEACELESSNESS But the wicked are like the tossing sea, which cannot rest, whose waves cast up mire and mud. “There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.” —Isaiah 57:20-21 Look around the world today and see the “mire and mud” the wickeds’ waves are casting up. The wicked imprison God’s people for no reason. They persecute believers both verbally and physically for no reason. This is part of the spiritual warfare that is taking place and has from the time Adam and Eve disobeyed God and sinned. Even in the first family there was persecution as Cain killed his brother, Abel. Why did Cain do this?…

DO YOUR PART! As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. —Isaiah 55:10-11 Water from heaven is the life-blood for growing things. Without water the earth would be more desolate than any desert on the planet. But look around us and all of us can see the…

BEAUTIFUL FEET BRING GOOD NEWS! How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!” —Isaiah 52:7 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” —Romans 10:14-15 Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath. —I…

PROCLAIM! Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. —Colossians 4:2-4 Even in prison Paul had the desire to “proclaim the mystery of Christ.” Not only did he want to “proclaim the mystery of Christ,” but his desire was that he might “proclaim it clearly, as (he) should. He asked the Colossians to “pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message.” This too is how we…

OUR SOVEREIGN RULER This is what the Lord says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their armor, to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut: I will go before you and will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron. I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, who summons you by name. For the sake of Jacob my servant, of Israel my chosen, I…