Devo 2 Thes 1

II Thessalonians Chapter 1:5-12
5All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be
counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. 6God is just:
He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7and give relief to you who are
troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from
heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. 8He will punish those who do not
know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9They will be punished
with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from
the majesty of his power 10on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people
and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you,
because you believed our testimony to you. 11With this in mind, we constantly
pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his
power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your
faith. 12We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you,
and you in him, according to the grace of our God and t he Lord Jesus Christ.

Meditation:
1. Some people want to think of God as being “nice”. Much too nice to get
angry at people, and much too nice to punish sin. The truth is that the idea
of “nice” as we understand it is not found in the Bible. This passage talks
about Jesus coming in “blazing fire and with His powerful angels” to “punish
those who do not know God”. And they will be “punished with everlasting
destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord”. The justice of God
is displayed in two ways. One is by “paying back” those who do evil (v6). The
other is by taking on Himself the punishment due those who do evil. This has
already happened on Calvary.
2. Spend a few moments meditate on the enormity of God’s love in sacrificing
Jesus to save me!! Say a word of thanksgiving to God.
3. Think of the non-believing family members and friends. Choose one or more
that I will FAITHFULLY pray for their salvation. Remember to pray for
these people every Tuesday according to the PGC prayer calendar.

Personal Note:
The society teaches us to be nice people.  Being nice is not a Biblical concept.  For example, I can be nice to my friends who do drugs by not confronting them and affirming how cool they are.  God tells us to be loving.  The loving thing to do is to pray for the friends to change and say the truth in love.

The truth of the Gospel is that there is one true God and we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  We can be saved through accepting and receiving the good news of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.