A Prayer of Thanksgiving
Introduction: Are you thankful? Have you counted your blessings? Will you count your spiritual blessings today, along with your material blessings? Are you thankful for those who our Lord puts around you—Mommas, Daddies, family and friends?
Listen to at least three ways we can thank God today:
1) First, offer a prayer of Thanksgiving for being picked up!—”But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:” (2 Thessalonians 2:13).
Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit addresses the believers in the Church of Thessalonica. His main theme in both letters, 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, is the coming of Jesus Christ in the rapture and then in the revelation—His Second Coming. The rapture comes first, and could happen at any moment. After the snatching away of the bride of Christ—the rapture—the next series of events is called the tribulation, which consists of seven years as described by Daniel 9:24-27.
The bottom line: We will be picked up! “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him” (2 Thess. 2:1). Check out the phrase—”Our gathering together unto him.” Many scholars identify this phrase with the rapture—picked up. This should lead to a prayer of thanksgiving for being picked up, but also picked out!
2) Second, offer a prayer of thanksgiving for being picked out!—”But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth” (2 Thess. 2:13). Look at the word “chosen”; it is the Greek word a???? (hahee-reh’-om-ahee), which means to take, choose, to prefer. we ought to offer a prayer of thanksgiving because not only will we be picked up, but we’ve been picked out by the power of the Holy Spirit—He is in us, with us, and upon us. Now as a child of God, we are saved from eternal death and judgment. Furthermore, we are being set apart for our Lord’s glory.
3) Third, offer a prayer of thanksgiving for being picked apart!—“But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:” (2 Thess. 2:13). As you read the first twelve verses of this chapter (2 Thess. 2:1-12), a prayer of Thanksgiving ought to be offered to the Lord Jesus because we are the Church. His Spirit—through the Church—is restraining the Antichrist from appearing on the scene. However, once the Church DEPARTS—all hell will break loose.
Listen to the following: “And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders” (2 Thess. 2:5-8).
Do you see the word “withholdeth”? The Holy Spirit—through the Church—is restraining or holding back the forces of evil. Do you see the words “mystery of iniquity”? This means lawlessness was already at work in Paul’s day—like it is in our day, and escalating more and more. So we need to say a prayer of thanksgiving to Jesus because we—the church—are picked apart from the Antichrist and his deception.
Conclusion: Make this Thanksgiving a time to show gratitude to jesus for his daily blessings and future benefits! not only does he forgive our sin through His redeeming blood, but He has promised to take us to heaven either in the rapture or in the rest of death. are you prepared? will you stop right now and offer a prayer of Thanksgiving to Jesus?
For more teaching on the end times visit Until That Day at https://www.youtube.com/untilthatday. Until That Day is an outreach ministry of New Rocky Creek Baptist Church. Every day, more and more people are becoming aware of the significance of Bible prophecy. God’s Word is being fulfilled all around us. Learn to talk intelligently and spiritually with your loved ones about the things unfolding in our world today.