Read 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5; Acts 20:28-32

The last chapter of 2 Thessalonians has some valuable truth for our day.  Paul begins with “finally”, not because he has no more to say but because he has finished dealing with the question that was presented to him, the question about the day of the Lord. 

The chapter begins with a request for prayer as well as another wonderful short prayer by Paul for the Thessalonian Church.  What Paul ask them to pray for is typical of Paul: he desires that God be at work in his ministry.  Thus, he makes request in two areas: that the ministry itself would prosper and that God would deliver them from evil men who want to hinder the ministry.  This is a great prayer for ministry, especially in light of the fact that God is at work in the world restraining evil.  We noted that one application of the doctrine of the “restrainer” is that we should be using the time to make disciples.  Once the day of the Lord begins God’s ministers will have to have a special protection from Him in order to spread the gospel (Rev. 7:1-4).  But today there is a measure of freedom to spread the gospel and Paul desired to redeem the time (Eph. 5:16).

·        Prayer for prosperous ministry, 3:1.  By prosperous we do not mean, of course, ministry with large offerings.  That has nothing to do with this prosperity.  It is rather a ministry where the word of the Lord may run and be glorified.  What a great request.  We should pray that for ministry.  Apparently this prayer was regularly answered for Paul.  Early in his ministry he said that in spite of many adversaries a great and effective door (was) opened for ministry (1 Cor. 16:9).  Later in his ministry he was in chains but the word of God (was) not chained (2 Tim. 2:9).  In spite of problems in the early Church (Ac. 6:7) and the persecution (Ac. 12:24) the word of God spread and grew and multiplied.  This is what Paul is asking them to pray for. 

·        Prayer for deliverance from evil men.  Paul’s description of the situation is accurate.  They are unreasonable (literally “out of place”; the thief on the cross saw himself as like this and that Jesus had done nothing “amiss”).  They are wicked, a term that emphasizes that they are doing works of wickedness.  Their works oppose the work of the gospel.  Lastly Paul says not all have faith.  When I read that it seems to me he is not simply talking about “all in the world;” that is pretty obvious.  He may be referring to savage wolves who come into and who will not spare the flock while others are men from the church who rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciple after themselves (Ac. 20:29-30).  Quite often, even in our own time, the strongest adversaries of the Church are from within the “visible Church”.  The things Paul asks the Thessalonians to pray for are the very things we should be praying for our own church ministries as well as the ministries of the missionaries we support.