MONDAY 18th
2 Thessalonians 3:3-5
NIV (v3) – ‘But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one.’
ESV (v3) – ‘But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.’
This verse alone would have been a great verse of comfort to the Thessalonian believer, it is also a verse that gives hope and consolation to the believer today.
Whatever our circumstances it reminds us that God is in control and that he will always remain faithful to all who have put their trust in him. It echoes back to the well-known verses in Lamentation, ‘The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.’ The same writer continues to say that because of God’s faithfulness it gave him confidence to say ‘”The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”’ His hope and therefore also our hope is a confident hope because God is a faithful God, he will never backtrack on anything he has said he will do.
‘He will establish you and guard you against the evil one’ is an amazing promise, for we are living in difficult times, the enemy is going about like a roaring lion seeking who he can devour, but God is ready and willing to establish us and to guard us against the devil and all who work alongside him, we have so much that God has provided to enable us to stand firm, let us take hold of it. You may remember that I spoke a few weeks ago of all that is available to us, for example, the armour of God, the weapon of prayer, the Word of God, the Holy Spirit, the Name of Jesus, the blood of Jesus, the power of the Cross, God truly has given us so much to enable us to be established and rooted against any attack of the enemy.
Remind yourself today of the faithfulness of God, and if you need his help then ask him today to fulfil his word in your life that you may be established and guarded against the evil one.