FRIDAY 3rd
1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
NIV (v2) – ‘We had previously suffered and been treated outrageously in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in the face of strong opposition.’
ESV (v2) – ‘But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict.’
Today’s devotion is another of those timely reminders for us to pray for the persecuted Church in this world today, for our brothers and sisters who are undergoing testing, trials, tribulation and even torture for their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Some are even faced with the horror of death, being martyred because they dare to love the Lord Jesus Christ and be loyal to him.
Paul is reporting what had happened to himself and those with him as he had gone to take the gospel to Philippi and then on to Thessalonica, (Acts 16 & 17) We will recall in Philippi he and Silas had ended up in prison, but even in that situation God came through and delivered them as they sang and prayed and as a result the jailor and his family got saved, but opposition from the authorities didn’t deter them from moving on to the next mission field and to continue to preach the good news, where we find a riot broke out! This tells us that even the devil knows that the gospel is good news, and he will do all he can to prevent the news from getting out and getting to those who need to hear it, he knows he is defeated, and he wants to do his utmost to prevent others from hearing and being set free!
Paul says that they ‘had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God’ the Holy Spirit who we saw a couple of days ago, will not only bring us joy in the midst of difficulty, he will also give us boldness in the midst of difficulty, boldness to face the enemy, boldness to stand and to declare the gospel and boldness to stand up for the gospel, to defend the honour of His name.