THE POINT OF ATTACK
There are two situations in the morning in the past week that have elivated my mood and both have not happened at the same time. I am on day 17 of a colon cleanse and all week I have had no morning stool whereas all last week I have had substantial fecal removal. As a result, I felt cleaner, lighter, and more energetic and this elivates my mood. Those who know me know that I have struggled with insomnia throughout most of the past several years. So, having at least five hours of sleep and waking up after 5:00 helps my energy and mood significantly. This morning I had a moderate level of stool elimination at 3:00 and was not able to go back to sleep. So, I have been really tired all day. Physical tiredness always leads to emotional and spiritual attack. I have felt discouraged throughout most of the day. Also, with poor sleep, my body's ability to heal is also hindered. My joints today feel worse than yesterday and this too contributes to discouragement. So in the breakthrough areas of healing, employment, ministry, and marriage, I am no closer today than I was yesterday. The author discusses the idea of physical health and draws a comparison to spiritual health.
"The same procedure works in the spiritual realm, where ministers must often function as doctors of the soul, prescribing the proper biblical remedy to help an ailing patient. And there is no spiritual medicine quite like breakthrough prayer. First, prayer is a tremendous weapon against attacks designed to weaken or destroy what I call our "spiritual immune system." By strengthening our immune system, we can withstand attacks that are designed to destroy our faith and devotion to God. Second, our prayers can bring great encouragement to other Christians who are under siege, helping them break free from discouragement or spiritual stupor, conditions that are often brought on by an attack of the enemy.
OUR SPIRITUAL IMMUNE SYSTEM
The enemy knows that the best way to breach your spiritual immune system is by attacking your faith. Once your faith is undermined, you become an easy target for a variety of spiritual maladies. The apostle Paul was concerned about the spiritual condition of the young church at Thessalonica, a city he was forced to flee because of persecution. Like a spiritual doctor, Paul inquired about the health of the church he planted and then prescribed a biblical remedy for what ailed them.
So when we could stand it no longer [not being able to see themj, we thought it best to be left by ourselves in Athens. We sent Timothy, who is our brother and God's fellow worker in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. You know quite
well that we were destined for them. In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted. And it turned out that way, as you well know. For this reason, when I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith. I was afraid that in some way the tempter might have tempted you and our efforts might have been useless (1 Thessalonians 3:1-5).
Separated from his precious spiritual children, Paul sent Timothy to learn about their faith. This was his way of checking the pulse of their spiritual life. Paul wasn't interested in attendance figures or church finances or facilities. He wanted to know about their level of trust in the Lord. Why did the apostle focus on this one aspect of their spiritual life?
Paul knew that faith is paramount in the daily life of the Christian. After all, we are saved by grace through faith. We are admonished to live by faith and not by sight. We are "Justified by faith"
Faith is a key element in the Christian's life. After all another word for Christian is believer. How well we trust God determines our level of spiritual health. As the author states it is not about how many church meetings we go to. It is not about how much money we tith. It isn't even about how many ministries we are involved in. We can do all these things at a shallow level and have a dying faith. Paul, as a church planter and spiritual father wanted to check on the church's faith. He was concerned about the attack of the enemy on their faith. I agree about the significance of faith. Right now, my faith is so minimal. I fail to see God in my current situation and the four areas of breakthrough prayer remain unanswered. God seems absent most of the time. As a result my mind has been assaulted by the enemy concerning my value, my identity, and the goodness of my God.
"In this context faith means the moral persuasion or conviction that leads the heart to rely on Christ. Because it can grow or diminish, Paul was anxious to know the level of faith among his converts in Thessalonica.
The apostle realized as well that every believer faces difficulties. He didn't want the Thessalonians to be unsettled by their trials, so he reminded them that he had earlier told them they were "destined for them." Paul's Spirit-inspired teaching on this subject is very different from the modern teaching that says "word of faith" people need never experience continued negative circumstances. Paul sent Timothy to see how well the believers at Thessalonica were holding up under ongoing persecution. The Greek word Paul uses for "trials" pictures the pressure that comes from being "crowded or pressed." When Paul said he didn't want the believers to be unsettled, he was using a word that meant "shaken," like the wagging of a dog's tail.
Faith is absolutely essential, not only for spiritual health, but also for breakthrough prayer. James says it is not merely prayer but "the prayer offered in faith" that will make the sick person well (James 5:15). Jesus himself taught plainly that prayer must be combined with faith to secure an answer:
"If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer" (Matthew 21:22).
When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" "Yes, Lord," they replied. Then he touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith will it be done to you"; and their sight was restored (Matthew 9:28-30)."
I like the way faith is defined here. It is a moral persuasion or conviction. It is not something that shifts or is on the fence. Faith then is something that does not come easy. The word picture of trials is also helpful. With the way it is defined, I often can feel like the walls are pressing in on me. When I was an undergrad, in our library, the shelves were controled by a device we can turn. If we were not careful and paying attention, another student could force an entire shelf and squeeze the person stuck between the two shelves. When this would happen the person would be quite frightened. Trials can feel like that. We can feel like we are being crushed by an enormous weight and life seems so hopeless. Faith is essential not only for life but breakthrough prayer says the author. This chapter is so timely as a matter of fact. My dad and I were doing a wellness class at church and my dad spoke on this very topic of healing faith. He went through different healings, the woman with the blood condition, a man with a skin condition, a man born blind, and a paralytic. Their faith in Jesus was what made them well.
"Paul understood the nature of the spiritual conflict facing the converts at Thessalonica and offered a remedy to help them in their trials: "We sent Timothy ... to strengthen and encourage you in your faith." We can make two important deductions from this passage. First, all of us at times need other believers to strengthen and encourage our faith. Second, each of us can at times help other believers by strengthening and encouraging their faith.
The word "strengthen" here means to set fast, to turn resolutely in a certain direction, to fix or confirm. It's the opposite of wavering or drifting. Timothy's task was to steady the faith of the church in Thessalonica, keeping the believers firmly fixed on Jesus despite their trials. He was to remind them that God was still on his throne and that he was allowing these tests to help them mature spiritually. God would somehow use their trials for his glory.
Timothy was not only to strengthen their faith, but also encourage the saints. The word in Greek conveys the idea of exhorting or consoling and is related to the idea of imploring and praying. Prayer was probably one of the ways Timothy encouraged the Thessalonians in the faith.
Spiritual encouragement is not a matter of giving someone a slap on the back or uttering glib phrases such as "keep your chin up." It's about building up our confidence in God. Unless our faith in God grows, we have not helped anyone at the point of attack.
Paul knew that vibrant faith is the critical need of every Christian. A living, growing faith acts as a spiritual immune system, protecting us from spiritual viruses designed by Satan to weaken our life in Christ. Without it, the unthinkable will become thinkable and the unacceptable will become acceptable as we drift away from the safety of life near Jesus. Unfortunately, the spiritual landscape is littered with broken lives that illustrate the dangers of a "sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God"
We need a living, growing faith. Timothy was sent by Paul to be an encourager and to strengthen. I like how the author defines further these two things. It is to turn someone around with tendernous and compassion. The author later speaks of Bible-bashing Christians who use the Bible to discourage and make people feel bad. There is no place in the church for this. The author speaks that encouragement can be words, can be prayer, and comes also in the form of church fellowship and worship. At our fellowship group today, there was a woman who had been fighting a chronic condition for a year. She just came back to church. She shared with us how God had walked with her and how she found His grace sufficient. I see her faith and hear her sharing and was encouraged. Then for lunch she prayed and gave thanks and I heard a woman full of faith and thanksgiving and worship to the living God. God places people in our lives that really strengthen and encourage us when we really need it. The author closes with an illustration from his church. The woman suffered from an abusive alcoholic husband for over twenty years yet never gave up on him and continued praying for him.
"During all that time, Estelle never lost faith, never stopped praying that the Lord would reach her husband in a way she couldn't. It was no use quoting Bible verses to him. He knew them all. God would have to find a way to penetrate his heart.
The whole family was praying for Nick. Estelle's youngest son had gone into the ministry and had enlisted people in his church to pray. Finally, when Nick was in his seventies, he stopped drinking. Nothing dramatic happened to change him. But Estelle knew that God had used the prayers of many to convict him of his sin and his need for grace. For the last fifteen years of his life, Nick was sober as a judge.
Today Estelle is the same faith-filled woman she has always been, telling friends and family that "Jesus is sweeter now than ever before." At the age of eighty-eight, her top priority is loving the Lord and serving alongside his people.
As a member of the Brooklyn Tabernacle, Estelle attends at least two of the three worship services every Sunday. She's always early for the Tuesday night prayer service, and she's up again for the Wednesday morning Ladies' Fellowship, where every first-time visitor receives a beautiful potholder, handmade by her. Last year she made and handed out more than four thousand of them!
Many people weaken in their faith as they age, becoming attached to the shallow security of this world or growing cynical from the wear and tear of life. The fiery devotion they once had for the Lord ebbs away. But Estelle is a rebuke to all who let themselves be robbed of their faith and fervency.
A few years ago, Nick passed away. After sixty-four years of married life, Estelle needed fresh grace to deal with the loss. But God is faithful, and she continues to serve him with joy and amazing energy. Instead of bitterness or depression, she has the inner beauty of a heart that leans hard on the Lord. She's probably the prettiest eighty-eight- year-old lady anyone could ever meet. You can take my word for it, because she's my mom."
Prayer:
Father, thank You for the examples of Estelle, Timothy, and Suson. They are true encouragers in our faith. In times of trials, I feel like the walls are caving in and I feel like I am being crushed. I feel fearful and discouraged that there is no escape and no hope of a better life. Day after day I pray for breakthrough in the four areas of health, employment, ministry and life purpose, and marriage. I really wanted this week to be the breakthrough week. It is not enough that I pray for encouragers in my own life as we all need, but Father, help me and guide me to people who need encouraging also.
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