As Paul began to wrap up his second letter to the saints at Thessalonica, he exhorted them to pray. 

2 Thessalonians 3:1 (ESV)
¹ Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you,

Is there anything more powerful in our possession than prayer? Through prayer, we have direct access to God and His power (Hebrews 4:16). In times of weakness, we should pray to our Father for help (Matthew 26:41). In times of prosperity, we should pray, giving thanks to God for the blessings of life (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Every day we should thank God for the sending of His Son and the sacrifice they both, along with the Holy Spirit, were so willing to make (John 3:16; 2 Corinthians 8:9).  Let us make it our fixed purpose to pray regularly as a means of keeping God front and center in our lives.

While we should pray for many things, Paul specifies something very important in the passage before us.  He exhorts us to pray that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored.  In encouraging us to do so, Paul is saying that we should pray for two groups of people.

First, we should pray for the saved.  There is only one way that the word of the Lord can speed ahead—those who are saved must preach it.  That is why Paul quoted Isaiah 52:7, saying, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news” (Romans 10:15).  The importance of the saved spreading the gospel of Christ is seen in that we are the only ones who can do it.  If we do not fulfill our responsibility along these lines, people who are lost will not have any opportunity to be saved.

No one is too far from being saved.  All a person has to do is call on the name of the Lord by relying on Him and obeying the gospel, and that person will be saved (Romans 10:13).  However, in the context of Romans 10, Paul asked three important questions.  “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?  And how are they to hear without someone preaching? (Romans 10:14).  Those are good questions, and they emphasize the need for the saved to spread the gospel of Christ.

If you are saved, pray for Christians to be more active in telling the lost about Christ.  Begin your prayers by praying for yourselves.  We can all do better in the realm of evangelism, and a good place to start is by praying about it.

Second, we should pray for the lost.  Paul said that we should pray that the word of the Lord is honored.   While we can certainly pray for this on behalf of ourselves and other Christians, since we all need to honor the Word of God, Paul is referring to the lost in this context.

There are too many people who have no respect for God’s Word.  There are a variety of reasons for this.  Some do not trust the Bible.  They view it as an outdated, uninspired book.  Others just do not care about it.  They are too wrapped up in the world to give God and His Word any real consideration.    Some simply do not like the message of the Bible.  They do not like that there are rules that have to be followed and commands that must be obeyed.  Thus, they reject the Word of the Lord.  What can we do about this?  In a word—PRAY!

How often do you pray for the spreading of the gospel?  When was the last time you prayed that the Word of the Lord may speed ahead?  It is a noble prayer.  We need to pray for it, and then act.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.