Glorify The Name Of The Lord

Alba 3-10-2023

GLORIFY THE NAME OF THE LORD

II Thessalonians 1:11-12

In a book titled “Mornings With Jesus” Katie Jones wrote, "One morning I overslept. Then, while rushing around the kitchen, I spilled a glass of orange juice all over the counter. After that, I got stuck behind a slow driver and was late for work.

"When I got to work, it was hectic. The phone was ringing. The computer kept crashing. Customers were waiting. And there was a stack of orders to be filled. I was anxious. So I took a deep breath and said a quick prayer. 'Dear Jesus, please calm me, and help me adjust my attitude.'

"I started ringing up customers in the pharmacy. 'That will be $3.16.' Hmm - $3.16. John 3:16 popped into my mind. Later, I picked up a bottle of medicine. The number 316 was in the stock number. It couldn't be a coincidence. That afternoon, I looked at the clock. It was 3:16. Again, I whispered John 3:16 and thanked Jesus for His grace.

"That crazy morning at the pharmacy changed me. When I asked Jesus to change my attitude, He reminded me that He loved me enough to die for me so that I could have eternal life. I don’t ever want to forget that.

"Now I set my phone alarm for 3:16 p.m. every afternoon. When I see the number 316, I thank Jesus for His love.

"Jesus constantly reminds us to focus on Him. He wants our thoughts anchored in His mercy and grace. He etches His words upon our hearts because He wants us to remember just how much He loves us.." (From "Mornings With Jesus" March/April 2020, March 24)

When we take time to pray, it makes a difference. The apostle Paul was a man of prayer and he prayed regularly for the churches he had started. One was the church in Thessalonica. It was a young church that needed encouragement because they experienced persecution while waiting for Jesus to come again.

Based on what Paul had just told them in the first chapter of his second letter that God would give them rest from their troubles, and that the ones who had troubled them would be judged, Paul prays for them to live in such a way as to give glory to the name of the Lord.

His prayer is recorded in II Thessalonians 1:11-12 where he says, “Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

That is a prayer that we should pray for ourselves and for each other. It should be our goal to glorify the name of the Lord as we live on this earth and wait for His return. So lets look more closely at this prayer. And notice that Paul did not ask for God to have the testing cease, or for the persecution to end. The lesson here is that instead of asking God to remove problems and hardships, we should pray that He will make us the kind of children He want us to be.

In whatever situation we find ourselves, there is a higher aim for us as Christians. The first item in this list is that we should pray for each other that we may glorify the name of the Lord in our:

1. Dedication: To Be Counted Worthy of His Calling

God wants us to be dedicated, totally sold out, to Him. So we should pray that He will make us worthy to walk with Him.

In our hymn book there are two songs directly across from each other. The first is “Jesus is Calling”. The verses start with the words “Jesus is tenderly calling thee home”, Jesus is calling the weary to rest”, “Jesus is waiting”, and “Jesus is pleading”.

The song across the page is “Jesus, I Come”. The words are “Out of my bondage, sorrow and night, Jesus I come, Jesus, I come. Into Thy freedom, gladness and light, Jesus, I come to Thee”. “Jesus is Calling” is answered by “Jesus I Come”.

When we hear the gospel message, the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ, it is a call to come to Him. Our proper, and wise, response is to answer, “Jesus, I Come”.

Consider how God calls us to Himself. He calls us by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So when we let Jesus come into our heart, we are called to live a holy life according to Christ’s example. A life of purity. A life of sacrifice. A life of righteousness.