How to Pray for Others

Reading:  1 Thessalonians 1:1-5
    
    Shortly after the conversion of the Thessalonians, Paul was run out of town (Acts 17:1-10).  He spends the following weeks and months on pins and needles, concerned that these new Christians have lost their faith or been cowed by their persecutors.  This letter is Paul’s expression of joy upon hearing that they are doing well.  “We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers”(1 Thess 1:2).  Paul has a very active prayer life in which he is always thinking of his brothers and sisters and bringing them before God.  He prays “remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ”(1 Thess 1:3).  Paul brags on them to God, recounting to him all faith, love, and hope they have shown in tough circumstances.

    But he also insists that he is not just impressed with them.  “For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction”(1 Thess 1:4-5).  Their response to the gospel is proof that God “has chosen you.”  Paul himself seems surprised at the awesome thing God has done by winning over even these people—idolaters, foreigners, and strangers.  God has been at work.

    Paul teaches us here how to pray for others.  We make a habit of “constantly mentioning you in our prayers”(1 Thess 1:2).  We “remember” things to God—the good things others have done and how their efforts encourage us and give him glory.  We praise people when they show faith.   We also praise God for choosing such people, building such faith, and strengthening them through hardship.  

-----------
One Thing to Think About:  Who am I praying for like this?

One Thing to Pray For:  Gratitude for the faith, love, and hope I see around me
 

A New Creation

Reading:  Galatians 6:11-18
    
    At the conclusion of his letter, Paul takes the pen from his scribe and writes with his own hand to underscore the importance of his words (Gal 6:11).  Frustrated by the Judaizing teachers who are troubling the Galatians, he insists that their actions are “in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ”(Gal 6:12) and so that “they may boast in your flesh”(Gal 6:13).  They teach these Gentiles to be circumcised and keep Moses’ Law so that the Jews around them will be pleased—and perhaps also so that they can brag about recruiting Gentiles to Judaism.  They are not truly concerned about the Galatians or about the truth of Jesus’ cross, but themselves.

    Paul insists that he is different:  “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world”(Gal 6:14).  Other people are not accomplishments for us to put on our resumes; this boasting is inappropriate.  Paul will only boast in the cross, which has forever changed his relationship to the world and its validation.  “For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation”(Gal 6:15).  These outward states of our body—which the Galatians are looking to as the answer to their spiritual needs—really matter very little compared to the “new creation” God has made us into.  Paul pronounces a blessing on those who think this way and “upon the Israel of God”(Gal 6:16), implying a spiritual Israel rather than a physical one.  

    “A new creation” is what matters.  This is similar to his earlier statement that “in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love”(Gal 5:6, see also 2 Cor 5:17).  We tend to get distracted by details that matter less than the core truth.  God has caused us to be born again of water and the Spirit (John 3:1-8).  He has given us hope despite our sins.  Jesus has brought new wine that the old wineskins can no longer hold.  He has given the Spirit.  Everything has changed for us.  Our work is to press forward rather than looking back or pining for our old ways.  

-----------
One Thing to Think About:  What details tend to distract me from my status as “a new creation”?

One Thing to Pray For:  To only boast in the cross
 

Sowing and Reaping

Reading:  Galatians 6:6-10
    
    Spiritual people show kindness to others rather than seeking their own way (Gal 5:13-14, 22-23, 6:1-2).  That extends to our willingness to share with those who bless us:  “Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches”(Gal 6:6).  By sharing our goods with those who teach us, we bring our spiritual connection into the material world.  “Do not be deceived:  God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that he will also reap.  For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life”(Gal 6:7-8).  God has created his world to work in a certain way:  we reap what we sow.  If this ever proved untrue (say, by sowing tomatoes and reaping oranges), God could be mocked.  But this principle of creation is true in every area of life (finances, health, and relationships).  Paul insists that we will reap eternally what we sow now.

    This leads to a couple of action items:  “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up”(Gal 6:9).  Like a tired farmer, we keep working the field and sowing the seed, trusting that the harvest will come.  We keep doing good because God is never mocked and we will reap what we sow.  “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith”(Gal 6:10).  While we work primarily within the sphere of the Christian community, we eagerly do good to everyone we have opportunity to help.  Keep doing good!

    God has made the world work in such a way that actions have consequences.  We have all felt the sting of that as past foolish decisions have led to present circumstances we regret.  But if we keep giving, loving, and meeting needs (sowing to the Spirit), we can be confident that we will be blessed.  Keep doing good!

-----------
One Thing to Think About:  What current opportunities do I have to do good to others?

One Thing to Pray For:  The endurance to “not grow weary of doing good”
 

What Spiritual People Do

Reading:  Galatians 6:1-5
    
    There is much talk in our time about spirituality.  People insist that they are “spiritual but not religious,” usually with nebulous definitions.  Christians are to be a spiritually-minded people because we follow the things the Holy Spirit has revealed.  But what do spiritual people do?  “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.  Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.  Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ”(Gal 6:1-2).  Spiritual people help restore a brother who is caught in sin.  This is the hard work of difficult conversations, regular follow-up, late-night phone calls, prayer, and tears that accompanies putting a brother back together after he has done wrong.  Spiritual people are not those who live aloof from others and their problems; we are the people on the ground helping fix problems.  We bear others’ burdens.

    Paul is concerned that the Galatians feel that they are too good for this kind of work.  He presses them not to be conceited (Gal 5:26), then warns that “if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself”(Gal 6:3).  Our unwillingness to help others is actually a form of pride; we don’t want to dirty our hands or busy our schedules.  This is not spiritual.  “But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor.  For each will have to bear his own load”(Gal 6:4-5).  There is a temptation to compare ourselves to others and boast that we look better (especially if we see our brother caught in sin), but this is merely a distraction from the fact that someday I will answer for my own actions and no one else’s.

    Spiritual people show love by helping those in need—even if that need is a brother caught up in sin.  Spiritual people humble themselves, acknowledging that they are no better.  Spiritual people test their own work to see whether they are truly following God’s Spirit because they are constantly aware that someday they will be judged.  

-----------
One Thing to Think About:  What are some burdens I can help others bear?

One Thing to Pray For:   The courage to test my own spiritual life—not merely compare it to others’ 
 

The Spirit and His Fruit

Reading:  Galatians 5:22-26
    
    Believers in Jesus do not live by the “works of the flesh,” but this is not because they are under the Law (Gal 5:18).  They are instead walking by the Spirit.  “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law”(Gal 5:22-23).  God’s Holy Spirit works inner transformation and character development.  He teaches us a different lifestyle in which we pursue love, joy, peace, patience, and kindness with our fellowman—not because other approaches are forbidden, but because this is what God has done for us.  We are good, faithful, and gentle as he has been to us.  We are also self-controlled because we have “crucified the flesh with its passions and desires”(Gal 5:24).   No one would ever think to outlaw such universally praised traits; why would we need to?

    Paul exhorts the Galatians to live up to the Spirit-guided lifestyle they have chosen.  “If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit”(Gal 5:25).  The Spirit has empowered us to make life-changes that the Law could not, yet we must also actually follow him!  The teachings the Spirit gives about Jesus and the way he communicates God’s love (Rom 5:5) and acceptance (Gal 4:6) demand a response from us.  “Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another”(Gal 5:26).  Bear the Spirit’s fruit and these problems resolve themselves.

    It may seem counterintuitive that we can resolve moral failures by learning love, joy, and peace.  Yet Paul insists that this is God’s plan to change his people from the inside out.  While we have died to our old impulses, our lives in the Spirit are not about the things we don’t do; instead, we show kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and gentleness.  Over time, we find that we have an entirely new set of priorities, thoughts, and desires.  The Spirit bears his fruit in us.

-----------
One Thing to Think About:  Are the fruits of the Spirit growing in my life?

One Thing to Pray For:   A kind, loving, gentle approach toward others