II Thessalonians 3:1 – “Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you.”
The need for prayer in achieving the goal of whole hearted service is of great importance and a must. We can’t expect to have the kind of purity of heart, a caring heart, a joyful heart, or spiritual growth without prayer to God who made us. Just as we have to talk to our children and they talk to us so that we can give them guidance and help in their growing up we also must talk with and to our God so that we can grow spiritually and become of service to Him. Prayer is an essential ingredient and without it we won’t achieve our goal of the giving of ourselves, the best of ourselves, the whole hearted service we wish to achieve in serving our Lord.
PRAYER A MUST:
Prayer is a must for children of God. There is no it is good but can do without it is essential and commanded.
1. I Thessalonians 5:17 – “______ without __________.”
Prayer is our avenue to God.
2. Philippians 4:6 – “Be careful for nothing; but in ________ ________ by ________ and _______________ with thanksgiving let your ___________ be made known unto God.”
3. In our text scripture (II Thessalonians 3:1) what is the inspired writer asking of the brethren?
GIVING OF THANKS IN ALL THINGS:
Even though we live in great and wondrous times and our nation is truly blessed the nation as a whole tends to forget that God gave us all things. They attribute the wealth, the freedoms, and the beauty of all things around us to many things but, for the most part, not to God. Many of the world today are just too puffed up and too proud to be thankful and grateful to God for His blessings.
Thankfulness is the Christian way of life. There should be know doubt, no wavering, and definitely never forgetfulness to thanking God for all that we have. Prayer and thanksgiving should be in our nature, part of our lives, not something that isn’t done except when we eat or when we are sitting in the pews at worship. The wicked are unthankful and we are not to be like them:
4. Romans 1:21 – “Because that, when they knew God, they _________ ____ _____ as God, neither were _________; but became _____ in their ___________ and their _______ _______ was darkened.”
5. II Timothy 3:1,2 – “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be ________ of their ____ ________, _________, ________, _______, ___________, ___________ to parents, __________, _______.”
In I Thessalonians 5:18 we are told:
6. “In _______ _______ _____ ________: for this is the _____ of ______ in Christ Jesus concerning _____.”
As Christians we should be giving thanks continually to God for all walks of life. Let’s list some of those things here and see what the scriptures have to say about them.
Health:
7. Pslams 103:3 – “Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who _______ all thy _________ .”
8. “But they that will be rich fall into __________ and a _______, and into many ________ and ________ _______, which drown men in ____________ and __________ (1 Timothy 6:9).”
9. Philippians 4:11 – “Not that I speak in _______ of ______; for I have learned, ___ ___________ _______ I am, therewith to be ________.”
Happiness, Peace, Contentment:
10. Psalms 16:11 – “Thou wilt shew me the ______ of ______: in thy presence is _________ of _____; at thy right hand there are __________ for __________.”
11. John 14:27 – “______ I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. _____ ______ your ________ be __________, neither ______ it be _________.”
Family and Home:
12. Ephesians 5:22,25,30 – 22)””Wives _______ yourselves unto your own husbands, as ______ _____ _____. 25)Husbands, ______ your wives, even as _______ also loved the _______, and gave __________ for it. 30)For we are ________ of his _______, of his _______, and of his _______.”
13. Ephesians 6:1,2 –1) “Children, _____ your parents in the _______: for ________ is _______, 2) ______ thy father and mother; which is the ______ ____________ with promise.”
His Promise:
14. Romans 8:28 – “And we know that ______ ________ _______ ________ for ______ to them that _______ ______, to them who are ________ __________ to his purpose.”
Blessings now and eternal:
15. Pslam 106:1 – “_______ ye ______ ______. O ______ _______ unto the Lord; for he is ______: for his mercy endureth for ever.”
16. Hebrews 6:17-19 – 17)”Wherein God, will more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of ________ the ____________ of his counsel, ________ it by an oath:18)That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, ____ _______ ______ a _______ __________, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the ______ _____ _______ us.” 19)Which ______ we have as an _______ of the ______, both ______ and _________, and which entereth into that within the veil.”
With knowledge that “all good things” come from Him:
17. James 1:17 – “Every ______ ______ and every ______ ______ is from _______, and _________ ________ from the ________ of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
From all of these scripture texts we can see that it is only through the mercies and blessings of God that we have all that we have and that we should be thankful to Him for all things. Our prayers should be full of thanking Him for even our very existence and not just full of requests. God knows what we need even before we ask but just as we as parents like to have our children ask us for what they wish God also likes to be asked. Not only does He like to hear the sweet savor or our asking He commands it:
19. Colossians 3:17 – “And ___________ ye do in ______ or _____, do all in the _______ of the _______ _______, _________ __________ to _____ and the __________ by him.”
20. Hebrews 13:15 – “By him therefore ______ ____ ______ the _________ of _________ to ______ ___________, that is, the ________ of our ______ ________ _______ to his name.”
After study of prayer we can easily see how it is a must in the walk of our Christian life as well as a must in our goal of achieving whole hearted service. We cannot be of service to anything or anyone without first we believe in it so much that we are continually giving thanks and nothing should be so prominent or so important in our lives more than our thankfulness to God for all his great and wonderful blessings and his grace and mercy.
Prayer gives us so much. It gives us a line of communication with God through Jesus; it gives us a way to lighten the load of our life; it gives us hope and strength to continue and most of all it gives us a way to be thankful to our Creator. It is not hard to see that the more we pray, in the right way, the more growth spiritually we can achieve and thus the more closely we come to having that whole hearted service we should want to give to our Lord.
Beverly Rainwater