2 Thessalonians 1:11

‘fulfil
every desire of goodness
and work of faith
with power’
(2 Thessalonians 1:11)

This is something Paul prayed often for the believers in Thessalonica, even ‘always’(2 Thessalonians 1:11) – that God might work through them, such that various good plans might be fulfilled and, importantly, by God’s ‘power’. It formed part of his prayers for them that God might make them ‘worthy of [their] calling’(2 Thessalonians 1:11), which is the only way we can ever live up to such a vocation, i.e. by God’s power. This ‘high calling of God’(Philippians 3:14) on our lives as Christians is something important to understand, and the fact that we’re totally dependent on His ‘power’ to ‘fulfil’ it, or at least to ‘press on’(Philippians 3:12&14) in it. So let’s consider how this works and how we might uphold one another in prayer like Paul here.

Paul mentions something similar in his letter to the Colossians, elaborating on some of the key elements, i.e. this being made worthy of the call, having good desires in accordance with God’s will, living out such desires practically, and the role of God’s power in it all. He mentions praying that the Colossians might ‘be filled with the knowledge of [God’s] will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding [that they might] walk worthily of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all power, according to the might of His glory’(Colossians 1:9-11).

So first it’s important to consider this fact that as Christians we ‘should walk worthily of God, who calls’(1 Thessalonians 2:12), as mentioned in Paul’s other letter to the Thessalonians too. He expresses this idea often, for example urging the Ephesians to ‘walk worthily of the calling with which you were called’(Ephesians 4:1), by which he meant adopting a ‘way of life… worthy of the Good News of Christ’(Philippians 1:27), i.e. becoming ‘holy’(1 Peter 2:9ff.), as Peter puts it, living lives consistent with our role as ‘ambassadors on behalf of Christ’(2 Corinthians 5:20).

To do this we first need to ‘understand what the will of the Lord is’(Ephesians 5:17ff.). Paul is one good source of such information, as the Thessalonians knew: ‘you received from us [i.e. Paul and his companions] how you ought to walk… to please God’(1 Thessalonians 4:1ff.). Importantly, however, they received this apostolic teaching ‘not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, God’s word, which… works’(1 Thessalonians 2:13)… to bless its ‘appointed’(Acts 13:48) recipients with spiritually ‘renewed’(Ephesians 4:23ff.) minds, enabled to both discern and love ‘the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God’(Romans 12:2). Then, when such ‘transformed’(Romans 12:2) people ‘delight’(Psalm 37:4) in God and His ways, and pray, He grants the ‘desires’(Psalm 37:4) of their hearts, in accordance with His ‘“‘will’”’(Luke 11:2, cf. James 4:15&3). It’s profound, and all of God, even our ‘desire’ to pray. In this way God works in us ‘to will and to work for His good pleasure’(Philippians 2:13).

That brings us nicely to the ‘work of faith’ that Paul mentions here too, which flows from this ‘desire of goodness’ and subsequent prayers. This is our ‘living sacrifice… spiritual service’(Romans 12:1), again inspired by our God given ‘faith… For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared’(Ephesians 2:8-10) in advance for us to do!

It shouldn’t surprise us that God’s Holy Spirit is the driving force animating all of this, including enabling us to bear His ‘fruit’(Galatians 5:22ff.), and carry out this ‘work of faith and labour of love’(1 Thessalonians 1:3) effectively and appropriately, with ‘power, love, and self-control’(2 Timothy 1:7) – we can’t do it unaided. We need to be ‘filled with the fruits of righteousness which are through Jesus Christ’(Philippians 1:11), which require our being connected into His ‘“vine”’(John 15:5), the sap drawn up through prayer, ‘Amen’(Hebrews 13:21).

Spiritual ‘gifts’(1 Corinthians 12:4ff.; Romans 12:6ff.) work in a similar way, yet with the interesting feature that God’s ‘power’(Acts 1:8) ‘“is made perfect in weakness”’(2 Corinthians 12:9). So carrying out such roles won’t necessarily resemble what the world regards as being gifted, like with the ‘apostle’(Ephesians 4:11ff.) Paul, who was ‘unskilled in speech’(2 Corinthians 11:6) by such standards and whose letters can be ‘hard to understand’(2 Peter 3:16). Such vocations are totally dependent upon a move of ‘the Holy Spirit’(1 Thessalonians 1:5) of ‘God’(1 Corinthians 3:6) to achieve anything, as Paul adds here ‘that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in Him’(2 Thessalonians 1:12), for ‘of Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory for ever! Amen’(Romans 11:36).

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