TEXT: 1 Thessalonians 5:19-25
19 Quench not the Spirit.
20 Despise not prophesyings.
21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
22 Abstain from all appearance of evil.
23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
24 Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.
25 Brethren, pray for us.
— PRAYER —
We are in a series of messages titled “Praying Through the Bible: A Series on Every Passage and Verse Regarding Prayer in the Bible.” The purpose of this series is to encourage and motivate you to pray to the God of the Bible. We highlighted each of these over 500 verses and passages in the Prayer Motivator Devotional Bible. So far, we have completed 353 messages in this series.
This is message #354 titled, Rejoice, Pray, Give Thanks, Repeat, Part 19.
R.C. Sproul said, “Sanctification is a cooperative process. The Spirit is at work within us, yet we are called to work diligently under His divine supervision. The degree of our growth is dependent in large measure on our practice in godly discipline.”
From this passage, we began looking at the prayer of preservation for the saints. This is a prayer that Paul prays for his spiritual children and a prayer that we ought to pray for ourselves and our brothers and sisters in Christ. “The very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” In this prayer, our attention is drawn to three key elements, the first of which — the Agent of Preservation — we looked at last week. The Agent of Preservation is God Himself who actively preserves the believer’s standing in Christ.
SECOND, WE NOTICE THE OBJECT OF PRESERVATION. The object of preservation is your soul, spirit, and body being “blameless” before God. The Greek word translated as “blameless” means: finding no cause for disapproval. The end result of our preservation is for us to be able to stand before God without guilt, sin, or shame in our soul, spirit, and body. Gene Green writes in his commentary, “This prayer is extraordinary in that it anticipates that [the believers] will be found blameless in their moral conduct… Obviously, the confidence the apostle had in God’s work transcended the believers’ moral weaknesses of which he and his associates had so recently become aware.” This prayer should help us not to become permanently discouraged by temptation and sin. Instead, we ought to confess and repent of our sins, learn from our failures, and understand that God is still working to purify and purge us so that we can be preserved blameless before Him.
FINALLY, NOTICE THE END OF PRESERVATION. The process of being made perfect will not last forever. One day, our preservation will be complete. The Apostle Paul anticipates that day as being the day of “the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The Thessalonians were a group of people who had gotten discouraged because the Lord did not return as quickly as they wanted Him to. But, in this passage, we see that one way to deal with this period of time is to consider that God is using it to carry out His preserving and perfecting work in the lives of His saints so that when we meet the Lord — whether in the air or in the grave — we can stand before Him blameless in soul, spirit, and body — ready to enter eternal rest.
In this time, let us willingly submit to the preserving work of the Lord. And may we adopt as our prayer these words written by Eddie Williams:
Lord, keep me day by day,
In a pure and perfect way.
I want to live, I want to live on
in a building not made by hands.
I’m just a stranger here,
traveling through this barren land.
Lord, I know there’s a building somewhere,
a building not made by hands.
Lord, keep my body strong
so that I can do no wrong.
Lord, give me grace
just to run this Christian race
to a building not made by hands.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Now, if you are with us today, and you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour, your first prayer needs to be what we call the Sinner’s Prayer. First, please understand that you are a sinner, just as I am, and that you have broken God’s laws. The Bible says in Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”
Second, accept the fact that there is a penalty for sin. The Bible states in Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death…”
Third, accept the fact that you are on the road to hell. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 10:28: “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Also, the Bible states in Revelation 21:8: “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”
Now this is bad news, but here’s the good news. Jesus Christ said in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Just believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead by the power of God for you so that you can live eternally with Him. Pray and ask Him to come into your heart today, and He will.
Romans 10:9 & 13 says, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved… For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
If you believe that Jesus Christ died on the Cross for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead, and you want to trust Him for your Salvation today, please pray with me this simple prayer: Holy Father God, I realize that I am a sinner and that I have done some bad things in my life. For Jesus Christ sake, please forgive me of my sins. I now believe with all of my heart that Jesus Christ died for me, was buried, and rose again. Lord Jesus, please come into my heart and save my soul and change my life today. Amen.
If you just trusted Jesus Christ as your Saviour, and you prayed that prayer and meant it from your heart, I declare to you that based upon the Word of God, you are now saved from Hell and you are on your way to Heaven. Welcome to the family of God! Congratulations on trusting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour. You have done the most important thing in life. For more information to help you grow in your newfound faith in Christ, go to Gospel Light Society.com and read “What To Do After You Enter Through the Door”. Jesus Christ said in John 10:9, “I am the door, by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”
God loves you. We love you. And may God bless you.
Daniel Whyte III has spoken in meetings across the United States and in over twenty-five foreign countries. He is the author of over forty books including the Essence Magazine, Dallas Morning News, and Amazon.com national bestseller, Letters to Young Black Men. He is also the president of Gospel Light Society International, a worldwide evangelistic ministry that reaches thousands with the Gospel each week, as well as president of Torch Ministries International, a Christian literature ministry.
He is heard by thousands each week on his radio broadcasts/podcasts, which include: The Prayer Motivator Devotional, The Prayer Motivator Minute, as well as Gospel Light Minute X, the Gospel Light Minute, the Sunday Evening Evangelistic Message, the Prophet Daniel’s Report, the Second Coming Watch Update and the Soul-Winning Motivator, among others.
He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Theology from Bethany Divinity College, a Bachelor’s degree in Religion from Texas Wesleyan University, a Master’s degree in Religion, a Master of Divinity degree, and a Master of Theology degree from Liberty University’s Rawlings School of Divinity (formerly Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary). He is currently a candidate for the Doctor of Ministry degree.
He has been married to the former Meriqua Althea Dixon, of Christiana, Jamaica since 1987. God has blessed their union with seven children.
BCNN1 WP 