Prophetic Prospective Daily Devotional

Each passage of scripture we select for our daily reading is always laden with additional spiritual application beyond what we focus on for the reading and in my prophetic prospective for that days reading. This is true in today's reading as well.

We are exhorted to pray in our key verse and we are told how to pray. I'll look at this in a moment. Please notice the next verse in our expanded reading, verse 2. The focus of our prayers is to be our political, governmental leaders. We are to pray for them first, before the pastor, the missionary and the evangelist. In other words, pray for the "minister in the government" before the "minister in the church".

Let me get back to the "how to's" of prayer found in verse 1. "Supplications" are mentioned first in the different aspects of prayer. This is specifically asking for something to happen. Then there are the "prayers". These are prayers that are offered on a 24/7 basis, it's praying without ceasing, I Thessalonians 5:17.

"Intercessions" are prayers we offer to God and are on the behalf of someone who needs to have their name or situation mentioned before the throne of God. The last mentioned type of prayer, "giving of thanks", should actually be the first prayer offered up to God. We must thank Him before we present our petitions to Him.

Notice again, who we are to pray for first. We are to pray for the kings and all those who are in authority first. These would be political, governmental officials that direct human government in the direction God wants it to go. Remember, God brought human government into existence, Genesis 9:6.

God will use human government, governmental leaders, Revelation 17:17, to accomplish His will and set the world stage for the final drama to play out. In essence, we're talking about God's "prophetic plan" will unfold as He uses human government to direct the world towards the end times.

Therefore, we are to first, pray for those who have the authority. He is preparing this world for the return of His Son and all that follows, as foretold in Bible prophecy.

PRAYER THOUGHT: Help me to remember my priority in my prayer life.

The key verse for our devotional reading today, I Timothy 1:15, was written by Paul near the end of his ministry. His statement speaks volumes of how the apostle had grown in his own life during almost 30 years of ministry.

I am reminded that early in Paul's ministry he referred to himself as "the least of the apostles", I Corinthians 15:9. About half way through his thirty years of ministry, Paul realized that he was "the least of the saints", Ephesians 3:8. Now, towards the end of his ministry, Paul realizes that he is the "chief of all sinners".

It is true, that the closer we get to Jesus, the worse we see ourselves to be. Remember, the way we get close to Him today is by talking to Him and allowing Him to talk to us, through the reading of His Word the Bible.

We talk to Him in prayer, as I said, which Paul tells us to do, "without ceasing". The Lord talks to us through His Word, and this is one of the reasons to have a time everyday when you study the scriptures.

First and Second Timothy are referred to as the "pastoral epistles". The author of these "pastors' manuals" gives his young partner in the ministry, Timothy, the instruction that must be passed along to the leaders of the churches that are springing up all over the known world at that time.

Young Timothy is to travel to these churches and assist them in the selection of a leadership team and the training of these newly elected leaders in the proper method of administration in the local church.
God has selected to reach the world through local churches that are planted around the world. The Lord has a way and a plan that these churches must administer.

In both First and Second Timothy, Paul gives the warning to the churches, and all of us that read his instructions, He tells us that the Lord's Return is near. Paul believed that the time when Christ would call us to be with Him in the Rapture was very close at hand.

Remember, when Paul was writing to the Thessalonians about the Rapture, I Thessalonians 4:15-18, he kept using the word "we", believing that in his lifetime he would see the Rapture of the Church. That was almost 2000 years ago. How much closer we must be to the Rapture now.

That is why Paul wanted the church to be operating in a godly fashion, thus Paul's instruction to young Timothy. He charges Timothy to remember his instruction and his study of prophecy, and to "war a good warfare", I Timothy 1:18.

That is how we must live and administer our churches, always moving forward in light of the soon coming of Jesus Christ. The evidence is very clear, The Rapture can happen at any moment, perhaps today.

PRAYER THOUGHT: Lord, help my attitude to be as Paul's was, just a sinner saved by grace awaiting the shout to join You in the heavenlies.

Paul desires the prayers of the Thessalonians so that as he continues his ministry he will be able to minister the "Word of the Lord" among others as well. Here Paul is teaching "intercessory prayer" to these young believers. Paul's prayer also includes a request for his protection from unreasonable and wicked men, verse 2.

The apostle reminds the Thessalonians, and us as well, that the Lord is faithful to His ministry of establishing us in Jesus and keeping us from evil that may come to confront us.

Paul wants these new converts to love the Lord, to really love Him, verse 5. This is love that is more than "lip service", it is a love that is a love like I have for my wife. That kind of love causes me to want to talk to her and let her talk to me. In our love for the Lord, we can talk to Him, in prayer.

He can also talk to us in His word, as we read it on a daily basis. The love that I have for my wife moves me to want to do things that please her. This is the case as well with our love for the Lord.

Notice the last phrase in our reading, verse 5. Paul wants to direct the Thessalonians and each of us into the "patient waiting for Christ to return". It is difficult for me to be patient. That is something I must learn, patience. Let me suggest that as we wait patiently for the Lord to return, we must be "prepared" for His shout to come at any moment by knowing for sure we are born again.

We also need to walk "pure" each day by laying aside that which is ungodly and evil and living that which is godly and righteous, as we look up for Him to take us to be with Him. We must also be "productive", in winning others to Jesus Christ and helping them to grow even as Paul was doing among the Thessalonians.

Again, I say it is difficult for me to be patient as I await the Lord's shout to join Him in the air. I want it to happen today, and it could - even so come, Lord Jesus.

PRAYER THOUGHT: Lord, help me as I await Your coming, patiently, to be pure and productive until you do shout for us to join You in the heavenlies.

There are two great truths that we will confront in our reading for today. The first is revealed in II Thessalonians 2:13. Within the words of our key verse, we find the answer to the centuries old debate about election and free will.

I may be introducing to you a discussion that you've never heard of in your Christian experience. Let me suggest that if that is the case, just file this away. It may be that you will need this insight for another time when you may be confronted with this issue. The Lord has the greatest way of reminding us of these things at just the right time when we need them.

II Thessalonians 2:13 speaks of how both election, (God's plan of bringing people to Himself), and free will, (our experience of accepting what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us to bring us to salvation), work together. Notice how this verse combines the two in the process.

Paul wrote to the Thessalonians that God, from the very beginning, has chosen each of us to be saved. The Lord uses the Holy Spirit to bring us to the point of conviction, revealing to us our need for a Saviour, because we are sinners.

The Bible teaches that we are all sinners, born that way. Have you ever noticed that no one ever sat us down and taught us how to lie? We just knew how to lie because we were born that way.

The Holy Spirit convicts those of us whom God has chosen for salvation, however, the process doesn't stop there. The verse continues to tell us that we then must believe in the "truth". By exercising belief we are exercising our own free will. This is our choice, to receive that which He has chosen to give us, salvation.

I hope this doesn't seem too simple, but God doesn't want it too hard for us to understand. He wants us to see how He is working in our lives. That is what Paul was writing on this issue in his letter to the Thessalonians. Remember that these believers were still fairly "young in the faith" Christians.

The other great principle found in the extended reading for our devotional today is that of the "second chance". Verses 8 to 12 reveal the truth about the possibility that after the Rapture there may be a "second chance" to get saved.

According to the text of this passage there is no "second chance" to be saved after the Rapture. Verse 10 says that those that "received not the love of the truth that they might be saved", then in verse 11 it says, "God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie".

Verse 12 states, "that they all might be damned who believe not the truth". In these three verses, 10,11 and 12, we see the process by which there is no "second chance". One must first "hear" the gospel, "the love of the truth", then "understand" the gospel and finally "reject" the gospel in order for there to be no "second chance".

These three steps, "hear, understand and reject" must be followed before there is no "second chance". It’s not just "hear" but all three before there is no "second chance".

This may be a hard truth for you to believe but let it be a motivation for either you to get saved or to work and pray for your loved ones to be saved before the Rapture. I pray all the time for those love ones so dear to me to be saved. Remember, it’s not the Lord’s will that any be lost, but all would come to salvation, II Peter 3:9.

Verses 14 to 17 reveal such great truth as well, I would suggest that you study these verses for a real blessing. This second chapter of II Thessalonians is so "rich" in truth that is so important for the last days in which we are living and in the context of the Lord's shout for us to join Him in the air.

PRAYER THOUGHT: Thank you, Lord for "choosing" to save me and giving me the "free will" to accept you as my Saviour. Help me to lead others to this truth as we all await the shout to join you in the heavens.