The First Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 5

 

The First Letter of St. Paul

 to the Thessalonians

Chapter 5

 

¹ Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you.

(The first Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 5 verse 1)

Oh God my Father, it seems that the issue of the signs marking the end of life as we are experiencing today was always an issue of concern to people of all ages, however for those of us who really and truly believe in You this should not be of concern for it can come any day as long as I am found ready Amen.


² For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.


(The first Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 5 verse 2)



Oh God, my beloved Father, we do not need to know when the last day or hour of our life will be. I give You all my days and pray that You help me in dealing with my life one day at a time, and let the day worry itself about its needs. I pray that Your will be done in every circumstance of my life, and I accept all that happens as being according to Your will even if at the time I do not understand why this and that had to happen. I feel safe and secure that You are in control of every detail of my life Amen.


³ When they say, "There is peace and security," then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape!



(The first Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 5 verse 3) 



Oh God my beloved Father You are constantly making me aware to be ready for I do not know the day, second or hour when I will be called to appear before You. I pray that as based on this awareness I will be found ready Amen. 



⁴ But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief; ⁵ for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness.



(The first Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 5 verses 4 to 5) 


Oh God my Father, even though we are sinners by nature and by default, You know that there is some good in us and that we are not totally evil.  I thank You for not labeling, us as sons of darkness even if at times our actions are not as positive as they should be Amen.


⁶ So then let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober; ⁷ for those who sleep sleep at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night.


(The first Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 5 verses 6 to 7) 



Oh God my beloved Father, I pray that You be watchful over me and others for there are moments when I am at my weakest moments such as the evenings or nights. Amen. I pray that You help me in overcoming my sinful self Amen.



⁸ But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.


(The first Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 5 verse 8) 


Oh God my beloved Father, without the belief and hope in salvation life would not be worth living, I pray that the flame of faith will never die in me Amen.



⁹ For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁰ who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him.



(The first Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 5 verses 9 to 10) 



Oh God my Father, I thank Your obtaining my salvation, this is the greatest of all gifts, for a career may pass and also promotions, but the salvation of my soul is forever Amen.



¹¹ Therefore encourage one another and build up each other as indeed you are doing.


(The first Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 5 verse 11) 



Amen oh God my Father this is the perfect attitude to have that of building each other and not that of breaking each other with negative criticism Amen.



¹² But we appeal to you, brothers and sisters, to respect those who labor among you, and have charge of you in the Lord and admonish you; ¹³ esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.



(The first Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 5 verses 12 to 13) 



Oh God my Father this verse You have given to me at an ideal time, when I have an issue at work on which I am troubled. I will take You up on Your wise guidance and learn how to respect and obey those who are among me especially my superiors Amen.



¹⁴ And we urge you, beloved, to admonish the idlers, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with all of them.



(The first Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 5 verse 14)  



Oh God even today You are calling us to take this stand to firmly but lovingly in a constructive way admonish and support each other, especially those of us who need that extra push since they might be sinking on the waves that are threatening to sink their boats. Those of us who may be feeling low in spirit and in faith. I pray that You empower us to be spiritual guardians to such people Amen.



 ¹⁵ See  that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all.


(The first Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 5 verse 15)  



Oh God my Father, as You yourself told us, what is the use of only loving those who love us. The challenge is to love those who do bad things to us. I am aware that the mind and body will rebel against such a thought, however our greatest challenge is that of confronting our mind and body in order to live according to the Spirit Amen. 



¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray without ceasing, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. ¹⁹ Do not quench the Spirit. ²⁰ Do not despise the words of prophets, ²¹ but test everything; hold fast to what is good; ²² abstain from every form of evil.



(The first Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 5 verses 16 to 22) 



Oh God my Father I never stop thanking You for the good works and the situations that You help me in. Blessed be Your Holy Name. You help me when surrounded by vipers who wish to poison me with their negativity. You deliver me from the hands of my oppressors. Thank You Jesus now and forever Amen. I pray to always have a watchful eye over myself and over my environments and learn to stick to the truth and hold on to what is right Amen. Help me to be a positive person who makes good of what is good and discards all that is not Amen. I pray for knowledge and intelligence so that I be able to discern the positive from the negative, and find the positive even in the negative and give thanks to You at all times Amen.



²³ May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.



(The first Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 5 verses 23 to 24) 



I thank You oh God my Father for this time of prayer, I am considering this blessing as if coming from You during this turbulent time of my life. I have no doubt of Your faithfulness and that You will be always with me Amen.



²⁵ Beloved, pray for us. ²⁶ Greet all the brothers and sisters with a holy kiss. ²⁷ I solemnly command you by the Lord that this letter be read to all of them. ²⁸ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.



(The first Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 5 verses 25 to 28) 



Oh brothers and sisters wish each other good faith and spirit every time we meet each other. Instead of simply saying "How are you?" it would be best to say "How is your faith and how are you in Spirit?" Amen. Oh God as Catholics and or Roman Catholics brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ we are responsible for each others spiritual and even psycho-social well being Amen.



Oh God my Father I would like to end this meditation on the First Letter of St. Paul to the people of Thessalonica with the following prayer:-


Brothers and sisters throughout the world. May the Holy Spirit of God be with You and Your spirit. May we be united as one body of Christ, and may their be no divisions among us regardless if we are Catholics, Roman Catholics, Protestants, Methodists, Lutherans and many others. These divisions are all open wounds in the body of Christ Jesus that need healing. May we be united in this time of evil oppression. Do not let the Satan make use of our divisions in order to create more disharmony and more defragmentation in our spiritual and even material world. We need to be united as one family regardless of our beliefs and principles. Jesus is the God of all and therefore we are one family regardless of our race, colour or beliefs. We all have red blood flowing through our veins which makes us blood brothers and sisters. Therefore let us all be united in a spirit of thanksgiving and give positive support to each other especially during moments when we feel that we need that extra bit of support. May we pray for each other's wellbeing especially for those for whom we are not on good terms with. I pray for a spirit of forgiveness and humility to admit our shortcomings. I pray for healing for our culture needs to be healed. We need to start considering ourselves and others as "Persons" and not as numbers. Persons have both rights and obligations. We cannot only stand up for our rights and overlook our social, spiritual and psychological obligations to ourselves and others. We are to treat Persons as person with human dignity and respect. We are not simply a bunch of cells united together and placed in a body. We are "Persons" and we are to treat each other as Persons Amen. 


In order to continue with this meditation of the Bible, I invite you to click on the following link which takes you to the Second Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians:-


https://secondlettethesaalonians.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-first-chapter-of-second-letter-of.html




 

The First Letter of St.Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 4

The First Letter of St. Paul

 to the Thessalonians

Chapter  4

¹ Finally, brothers and sisters, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus that, as you learned from us how you ought to live and to please God (as, in fact, you are doing), you should do so more and more.

(The First Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 4 verse 1)

Oh God, my blessed Father I pray that You continue to show me how to live according to Your ways, and to give me the power to conquer my sinful self and have control over my mind so that I can do what You ask of me instead of the demands that my body makes on me Amen.

² For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.


(The First Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 4 verse 2)


Oh God my blessed Father, the instructions that St. Paul gave the Thessalonians were to live every word found in the Bible, to love You and others. These are the instructions that as a human are the basis of my life. I pray for strength love and faith in order to continue following these instructions for at times I am weak in following them. Amen.


³ For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that you abstain from fornication; ⁴ that each one of you know how to control your own body in holiness and honor, ⁵ not with lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; ⁶ that no one wrong or exploit a brother or sister in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, just as we have already told you beforehand and solemnly warned you.



(The First Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 4 verses 3 to 6)


Oh God my blessed Father I thank You for this evening's meditation, I thank You for this body that You have given me and for the gift of being healthy. I pray that You continue helping me in the preservation of this body because by means of it I can serve You with my mind body and soul Amen.


⁷ For God did not call us to impurity but to holiness.


(The First Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 4 verse 7)


Oh God my Father since You created us according to Your Holy nature which is pure and sinless, it is our natural sinful nature and the drives of the body that compels us to sin in the flesh. I pray that You give us the gift of self-control in order to harness and take control over these negative drives such as lust. Amen.


⁸ Therefore whoever rejects this rejects not human authority but God, who also gives his Holy Spirit to you.


(The First Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 4 verse 8)


Oh God my Father in heaven and on earth, I am open to Your Holy Spirit. I do not pray for riches even though I will soon have 73000 euro loan on my back, but for the presence of Your Holy Spirit. I thirst for Your ongoing presence my God and Father Amen.


⁹ Now concerning love of the brothers and sisters you do not need to have anyone write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another; ¹⁰ and indeed you do love all the brothers and sisters throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, beloved to do so more and more, ¹¹ to aspire to live quietly to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we directed you, ¹² so that you may behave properly toward outsiders and be dependent on no one.


(The First Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 4 verses 9 to 12)


Oh God my Father let us all obey the rule of love and not only the rule of law. May love come natural to us both towards ourselves and more to those who cause us harm and grievances. I am aware that as a human this may sound challenging, however with the power of Your Holy Spirit I have faith that I can overcome this challenge Amen.


¹³ But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 


(The First Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 4 verse 13)


Oh God my Father, You are such a positive Father, so much that You would like us to experience Your goodness and positivity and not death and negativity, so that our hope and trust in You will continue flourishing in our souls Amen. You want us to keep on going even though at times we experience the ups and downs of life Amen.


¹⁴ For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again,  even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died.


(The First Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 4 verse 14) 


Oh God my beloved Father as You have taught us, our belief in You does not end at the point of death but it is everlasting. At the point of death and even after we are still in the good hands of God our Father who will always be with us Amen.. 


¹⁵ For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died. ¹⁶ For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel's call and with the sound of God's trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first.



(The First Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 4 verses 15 to 16)



Oh God my Father, You promised us that those of us who live in You will also die in You and will also be resurrected in You. I pray that I am accounted as one of such many people, who in my limitations as a sinner always did my best to live according to Your ways. I pray that I live, for You and with You and do nothing that is not according to You Amen.


¹⁷ Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will be with the Lord forever. ¹⁸ Therefore encourage one another with these words.



(The First Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 4 verses 15 to 16) 



Oh God my Father there is no news like God's News. My aim is to share this news where ever You permit me to do so Amen. 



Oh God my beloved Father I would like end this reflection and prayer on the fourth chapter of the letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians with the following prayer:


Oh Holy God and Father, blessed be Your Holy Name, I pray on You that I live according to Your will. Bless the world, with the power and gifts of the Holy Spirit, that we will all be led by one Spirit of Love, Joy, Compassion and understanding. May we always be alive in You, and You in us Amen 





 

The Third Chapter of the First Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians

The First Letter of St. Paul

 to the Thessalonians

Chapter  3

 

 

¹ Therefore when we could bear it no longer, we decided to be left alone in Athens; ² and we sent Timothy, our brother and co-worker for God in proclaiming the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you for the sake of your faith, ³ so that no one would be shaken by these persecutions. Indeed, you yourselves know that this is what we are destined for.

 

(The First Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 3 verses 1 to 3)

 

Oh God my beloved Father in such a situation the apostle Paul did not consult with You but decided on his own initiative and made the final decision to be left alone. There are times when decisions simply must be taken. I also need time to be left alone, and this is why I have taken this decision, however I am always in contact with You. I pray that You help me in the undertaking of all that is related to this decision. Even though the outcome is going to be tough I pray that You help me in moving on in life Amen. 



⁴ In fact, when we were with you, we told you beforehand that we were to suffer persecution; so it turned out, as you know. ⁵ For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith; I was afraid that somehow the tempter had tempted you and that our labor had been in vain.

(The First Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 3 verses 4 to 5)

 

Oh God my beloved Father, as Christians or Roman Catholics or any other religion that believes in Jesus Christ, we were never promised a bed of roses. Life was not planned to be without tribulation and plain sailing, However we were not left abandoned to our own fate. You promised and gave us the Holy Spirit as our means of backup, love and support. As much as St. Paul cared about the spiritual welfare of the people of Thessalonica, You also love us and want the best for our holistic welfare Amen.



⁶ But Timothy has just now come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith and love. He has told us also that you always remember us kindly and long to see us-just as we long to see you.

(The First Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 3 verse 6)

 

Even though Timothy may have brought other news and maybe even goods to the people of Thessalonica the message of the 'Good News' is the most precious news of all. The messages as found in the Bible have been my nourishment every single day of my life. Amen. Thank You Jesus.

⁷  For this reason, brothers and sisters, during all our distress and persecution we have been encouraged about you through your faith.

(The First Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 3 verse 7)

 

Oh God my Father, the power of faith in You gives me new energy to go in life, even though I am facing many tribulations and internal persecution. I pray that You continue to help me overcome the storms of my life Amen.



⁸ For we now live, if you continue to stand firm in the LORD. 

(The First Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 3 verse 8)

 

Oh God my beloved Father, in You only do I live, without You my life is a state of chaos. I pray that You continue to give me the strength and  motivation to walk in Your ways Amen.



⁹ How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy that we feel before our God because of you?

(The First Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 3 verse 9)

Oh God my Father, I can never stop thanking You for the many people that You sent in my life in order to be of love care and support, every body in one's own way is trying to offer me help, however in truth it is You who is helping me by means of such people. I pray that You give me the happiness that I used to have Amen. 




¹⁰ Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you face to face and restore whatever is lacking in your faith.  ¹¹ Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you.

(The First Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 3 verses 10 to 11)

 

Oh God night and day I also pray to hear Your voice directly again as I heard You once. It was an amazing experience that I will never forget. Now that You are freeing me of the ties of this world, I pray that You continue to direct me on the paths that lead to You Amen.

¹² And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all. Just as we abound in love for you.

(The First Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 3 verse 12)

Oh God my beloved Father, this is my prayer for the Church and for Society in general. May we increase in our love towards each other and may we increase in genuine numbers of believers so that we can be strengthened in the Lord my God and in unity Amen.

¹³ And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

(The First Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 3 verse 13)

Oh God my beloved Father, I pray that we become a magnet of love towards each other, in the sense that by the way we live, we attract more and more people to live according to Your ways Amen. May we all be found blameless in Your eyes Amen.

I would like to end the third chapter of St. Paul's Letter to the Thessalonians with the following prayer:

Oh God my beloved Father, I pray for unity in the world and in particular in the Universal Church, may it be protestants, Roman Catholics and believers of other faiths. May we all be united in our belief in God, and may we encourage others to become strengthened in this belief. Amen. May we all be fully convinced in what and whom we believe in so that our faith will be our Salvation and not our Condemnation Amen

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

The Second chapter of the First Letter of St.Paul to the Thessalonians

 

The First Letter of St. Paul

 to the Thessalonians

Chapter 2

¹ You yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our coming to you was not in vain, ² but though we had already suffered and been shamefully mistreated at Philippi, as you know, we had courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of great opposition.

(The First Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 2 verses 1 to 2)



Good morning my God and Father. Some might consider my praying on each verse of the Bible as being a total waste of time, However, each time I do so, You give me important messages that I am sure were not the fruit of the mind, but purely coming from You. I thank you for all these fourteen years Amen.



³ For our appeal does not spring from deceit or impure motives or trickery, ⁴ but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the message of the gospel, even so we speak, not to please mortals, but to please God who tests our hearts.




(The First Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 2 verses 3 to 4)



Oh God my Father I pray that we always aim to please You and not people, for those who invest in pleasing the world, will reap that benefits of the world such as fame and riches and promotion that in time will wither away as if had never been while those who invest in You will invest in the eternal. Amen.


⁵ As you know and as God is our witness, we never came with words of flattery or with a pretext for greed; ⁶ nor did we seek praise from mortals, whether from you or from others, ⁷ though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children.



(The First Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 2 verses 5 to 7)




Oh God my Father when doing something we are always to be clear regarding our intentions. When others realise that I have been sent in Your name, they will gradually place their trust in us that our intentions are good, however, if not alot of harm can be done to others for they then seek to not believe in people of God anymore. Moreover, when a relationship is broken only God can mend or repair it. During the time of the Apostle Paul, it seems that there were already people who were preaching in Your name in order to earn money from the believers. In such cases, we would be in doubt in relation to who was the genuine person from the person with false intentions. Moreover, those of us who are not firm in their faith may choose to eliminate both the just and the people with crooked intentions.



The world may also offer us messages about You, my God and Father, that are not always genuine. Some people under the power of the evil one may speak half-truths or use other means of persuasions in order to make us believe that You do not exist in our lives and that religion is one big net of deception.



I invite you to click on the following link in order to become of the basic means of persuasion used in everyday life in order to persuade others



Modes of Persuasion



⁸ So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us.





(The First Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 2 verse 8)



Oh God my Father may we become more like You than like ourselves. You became a 'Eucharist for us, giving us Your body and Your Holy Spirit. You also gave us Your Mother who has now become our mother. Thank You for being so generous my God and Father Amen.


⁹ You remember our labor and toil, brothers and sisters; we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any you while we proclaimed to you the Gospel of God.



(The First Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 2 verse 9)



Oh God my Father during our times we are using the word burden frequently. I wonder what has happened to words such as hospitality and charity. Where asylum seekers are concerned the term burden sharing is frequently being used. Our perception of others when not based on love and Christian values may be viewed as burden as are elderly people who are no longer in a position to provide for themselves. However this is not a true picture of reality, for people such as Asylum Seekers my God and Father do not wish to be a burden on others but wish to start a new life and aim for a better future in the host country that welcomes them or even move on to destinations where they feel loved and welcomed. If we view with a positive perspective such people and their situations we become more hospitable, however if we have a negative perspective we see others as being a burden. The choice is completely ours.



¹⁰ You are witnesses, and God also, how pure, upright, and blameless our conduct was toward you believers.



(The First Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 2 verse 10)




Oh God my Father how I wish to be a worthy witness before You and before others, so that I may reflect Your presence that dwells in me Amen.



¹¹ As you know, we dealt with each one of you like a father with his children, ¹² urging and encouraging you and pleading that you lead a life worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.


 
(The First Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 2 verses 11 to 12)



 Oh God my beloved Father if the Apostle Paul dealth with his followers in such a caring way, how much more do You care for us, each day of our lives, giving us the needed love care and support Amen.



¹³  We also constantly give thanks to God for this, that when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word but as what it really is, God's word, which is also at work in you believers.



(The First Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 2 verse 13)



Oh God my beloved Father I thank You fpr the gift of Your Word as found in the Bible. I thank You for judging and guiding and loving me by means of it. I also pray that I learn to respect, love and accept is as the Word of God, and not like science books which are the works of humanity Amen. 



¹⁴ For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you suffered the same things from your own compatriots as they did from the Jews, ¹⁵ who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out; they displease God and oppose everyone ¹⁶ by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. Thus they have constantly been filling up the measure of their sins; but God's wrath has overtaken them at last.



(The First Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 2 verse 14 to 16)




Oh God may I be found worthy of suffering the same experiences as You, so that I may also be worthy of experiencing Your salvation Amen.




¹⁷ As for us, brothers and sisters, when, for a short time, we were made orphans by being separated from you-in person, not in heart-we longed with great eagerness to see you face to face. ¹⁸ For we wanted to come to you-certainly I. Paul wanted to again and again-but Satan blocked our way. ¹⁹ For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? ²⁰ Yes, you are our glory and joy! 



(The First Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 2 verse 17 to 20)




Oh God my beloved Father, it is true that when I am in a state of sin, it is as if I am orphaned for You my God and Father. From the moment that I become aware of this gap that is created between us by means of our sins I start feeling that longing to return back to You and change my ways. However I find Satan blocking me every time, stimulating in me those strong desires and will to go back to my old ways and self. However although I feel weak against my enemy, I keep on praying, hoping and trusting in You that when You consider it as being the right time, You deliver me from myself and the situations by which You chose to test me. Amen. 

 

Oh God my beloved Father, I would like to end this second chapter of St. Paul's letter to the Thessalonians with the following prayer:



Oh God my beloved Father, many times I end up as being an orphan, for I have no true Father and Mother apart from You. I pray that You continue to protect me from myself. Satan stops at nothing to make me go back to my sinful self, however I know that You are always by my side and together we can claim a victory over this evil spirit Amen. Thank You Jesus.

The First Chapter of the First Letter of St.Paul to the Thessalonians

 

The First Letter of St. Paul

 to the Thessalonians

Chapter 1

1. Paul, Silvanus and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.

(The First Chapter of the First letter  of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 1 verse 1)

Oh God my Fathe, how nice it would be if instead of asking a person how he was feeling, we would ask that person, "How is Your Spirit and how are You in Christ Jesus!" I wonder how the other person would react to such a greeting! However, on the whole, I think it is a very positive and uplifting greeting that is very healthy to use. Amen




2. We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly 3. remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.


(The First Chapter of the First letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 1 verses 2 to 3)




Oh God my Father even though a situation may appear to be bleak, we are still to thank You for that situation, for by means of that situation You may be trying to pass on a message to us in order for us to keep on growing and becoming whole Amen. As Paul remembered the Thessalonians in his prayers and also the good work that they had accomplished in Your name oh God, we are also to include all those who are constantly participating in the Roman Catholic Church and also in other churches and ministries, for You still love all oh God and bless the good work of all that is done in Your name for anyone who believes in You and loves You will never speak against You Amen.




4. For we know, brothers and sisters beloved by God, that he has chosen you, 5. because our message of the gospel came to you and not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of persons we proved to be among you for your sake.


(The First Chapter of the First Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 1 verses 4 to 5)




Oh God, my Father thank You for choosing me as being worthy of receiving Your Gospel and also the opportunity to reflect and meditate on it and share it with others.   




6. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for in spite of persecution you received the word with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit, 7. so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.


(The First Chapter of the First Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 1 verses 6 to 7)




 Oh God, my Father I pray that we all become Your witnesses, and learn how to imitate You. In order to do so, You have given us many tools such as the Bible. Among other tools that I found healthy was a pocket book version of a book called 'The Imitation of Christ by John A. Kempis that I used to keep in the right pocket of my trousers along with my pocket size version of the New Testament of the Bible which is always found in the left pocket. In order to make this source accessible, I have included the following link:-



The Imitation of Christ 




8. For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith in God has become known, so that we have no need to speak about it. 9. For the people of those regions report about us what kind of welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, 10. and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead-Jesus who rescues us from the wrath that is coming.


(The First Chapter of the First Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Chapter 1 verses 8 to 10)





Oh God, my Father may we all become channels from where the Good News is proclaimed as in the case of speakers with a booming equaliser that shakes everywhere with the intensity of the sound that comes out of it. May our lives be a living example of how one is to follow in Your ways my God and Father Amen.





I would like to end this chapter with the following prayer:-



Oh God, my Father now is the time for us to rise up and proclaim Your Holy Name, for the forces of evil are in full force trying to enforce terror in our hearts in order to enforce fear and belief in the message that they are proclaiming. Even though this may cause us our life I am ready to lay down my life for You, my God and Father Amen. It is better for me to die because I believe in You than to rot in hell forever for not proclaiming Your Word or showing a lack of faith Amen.