As mentioned in my initial post for this series, I intend to blog through a number of New Testament texts where the Apostles are either praying or reflecting on their prayers. In noting how the Apostles prayed, it will help us to conform our prayers so that they are more biblical.
Today's text is 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12:
To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, 12 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 the Lord Jesus Christ.
Prayer Focus: Petition that God would make us worthy of his calling and enable us to fulfill our good intentions and activities because we believe.
MacArthur's thoughts on "...may fulfill every resolver for good" is helpful:
Paul also prayed that God would fulfill every noble, righteous desire of their hearts. Plēroō (fulfill) could also be translated “complete,” or “accomplish”; eudokia (desire) could be translated “purpose,” or “choice.” Paul asked that the Lord would bring about all their longings for goodness (cf. Rom. 7:14–25; 15:14; Gal. 5:22; Eph. 5:9). Since God alone is good (Mark 10:18), Paul knew such a prayer was consistent with God’s will. His definition of what is good and good for His people is the inevitable action He takes in answer to this prayer.
In Psalm 21:2–3 David wrote, “You have given him his heart’s desire, and You have not withheld the request of his lips. For You meet him with the blessings of good things; You set a crown of fine gold on his head.” God gave David what he asked for because He saw that it was good. Reinforcing that principle, David wrote in Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Because those who delight in God desire what He desires, He will grant their requests. Those who make God’s agenda their own can exclaim confidently with David, “The Lord will accomplish what concerns me” (Ps. 138:8). The Lord Jesus Christ promised, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7; cf. v. 16), while John wrote, “This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him” (1 John 5:14–15). In contrast, James warns those with selfish agendas, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures” (James 4:3). MacArthur, J. (2002). 1 & 2 Thessalonians (257–258). Chicago: Moody Press.
The UBS Handbook is helpful regarding the phrase "...every work of faith by his power":
The last part of Brc’s translation (“the life that faith demands”) corresponds to TEV’s more literal your work of faith. Your is only implied in the Greek, but many translations add it, and rightly so. Complete your work of faith may mean either (1) “make perfect the activity of your faith” (FrCL), or (2) “complete the things you do because you believe” (cf. JB “complete all that you have been doing through faith”). The difference in meaning is slight, since a purely inward activity of faith would be difficult to imagine, and it is certainly not intended in 1 Thess. 1:3, where a very similar phrase is used. The second alternative would produce a clearer translation.
Ellingworth, P., & Nida, E. A. (1994). A handbook on Paul's letters to the Thessalonians. UBS handbook series; Helps for translators (154). New York: United Bible Societies.
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