I Thessalonians 3:12,13 NKJV: "And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, so that He may establish yours hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints."
This should be the prayer of all of us, that our love for one another should indeed increase and abound. For me it is not difficult. My love for my brothers and sisters grows daily. That is the sweet part of the family of God.
But our prayer needs to go beyond that. We need to ask God to stir our hearts and fill it with love for ALL men, especially the lost. If our hearts are filled with love for the lost, we will find it much easier to "witness" for Jesus! We will want to be doing all we can in these last days to snatch as many from the road to hell as we possibly can.
In verse 12 we are told to increase in our love for one another and for ALL men, and now in verse 13 we are told WHY. So that "He may establish our hearts..." Again an admonition to get our hearts right! In part 3 of this series we were told: "Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand." This comes from James 5:8, where we are told to be patient and establish our hearts.
The theme throughout seems to be, to love, and to get our hearts right. Beloved let us Love in deed and not just in word. Let us express our love by our prayer support for one another and let us express our love by our efforts to carry out the Great Commission through whatever means our Lord leads us.
This should be the prayer of all of us, that our love for one another should indeed increase and abound. For me it is not difficult. My love for my brothers and sisters grows daily. That is the sweet part of the family of God.
But our prayer needs to go beyond that. We need to ask God to stir our hearts and fill it with love for ALL men, especially the lost. If our hearts are filled with love for the lost, we will find it much easier to "witness" for Jesus! We will want to be doing all we can in these last days to snatch as many from the road to hell as we possibly can.
In verse 12 we are told to increase in our love for one another and for ALL men, and now in verse 13 we are told WHY. So that "He may establish our hearts..." Again an admonition to get our hearts right! In part 3 of this series we were told: "Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand." This comes from James 5:8, where we are told to be patient and establish our hearts.
The theme throughout seems to be, to love, and to get our hearts right. Beloved let us Love in deed and not just in word. Let us express our love by our prayer support for one another and let us express our love by our efforts to carry out the Great Commission through whatever means our Lord leads us.
