I admit it.  When I receive prayer requests from missionaries, I don’t always pray for them.  In today’s text (2 Thessalonians 3:1-5), Paul requests prayer from the church in Thessalonica.  Is it a request we should honor?

“Finally, our friends, pray for us that the Lord’s message may continue to spread rapidly and be received with honor, just as it was among you.  Pray also that God will rescue us from wicked and evil people; for not everyone believes the message” (3:1,2, GNT).
Paul asks for prayer for two purposes:  one, “that the Lord’s message may continue to spread rapidly and be received with honor, just as it was among you” and, two,“that God will rescue us from wicked and evil people; for not everyone believes the message.”
” . . . that the Lord’s message may continue to spread rapidly and be received with honor, just as it was among you.”
The Good News Translation translates the Greek word trecho “spread rapidly.”  Think of a California wildfire that, driven by the wind, swiftly eats acres of dry vegetation.  Paul asks for prayer that the Lord’s word may spread throughout the Mediterranean lands like that.
And that it may be honored (Greek, doxazo—“magnified, praised, glorified”) This is what happened among these Thessalonians.  Though most Jews and Gentiles rejected it as heresy or nonsense, these men and women “received the word in much affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit” and “turned from idols to serve the living and true God” (1 Thessalonians 1:8,9, ESV).  Paul asks for prayer that many other cities may similarly receive the Lord’s message.
” . . . that God will rescue us from wicked and evil people; for not everyone believes the message”
People to whom Paul will take the Lord’s message aren’t morally good or even neutral.  They are “wicked and evil.”  How different Paul’s view of humanity from ours!  The popular view today seems to be that people are basically good (just not perfect) and in need of minor improvement not saving
For Paul, the ultimate expression of wickedness and evil is not believing the Lord’s message.  For the Lord’s word isn’t a polite invitation of the crucified Savior, but an authoritative command from the risen Lord.  It’s a message that saves, to be sure.  But to disbelieve it is to rebel against supreme rule.  And, as Paul discovered, often that disbelieving rejection is accompanied by hostility and even violence.  Therefore, the missionaries need the Lord’s power to overcome wickedness and evil.
“But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and keep you safe from the Evil One” (3:3, GNT).
Paul will later write to the Ephesians: “For we are not fighting against human beings but against the wicked spiritual forces in the heavenly world, the rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers of this dark age” (Ephesians 6:12, GNT).  So the missionaries will encounter “wicked and evil people.”  But the fight is not against them, but the Evil One who empowers them.  Their only hope of victory (both the Thessalonians who continue to endure persecution and the missionaries who take the gospel to worshipers of other gods) is the faithful Lord who strengthens and keeps his people safe from the Evil One.
““And the Lord gives us confidence in you, and we are sure that you are doing and will continue to do what we tell you” (3:4, GNT).
Paul’s pastoral heart encourages the persecuted new Thessalonian believers, even as he asks for their prayers.  The Lord convinces us, he writes, that they will not fall prey to the Evil One or surrender to their enemies.  Instead, he is confident they will continue to follow what Paul teaches them and asks of them.
 
“May the Lord lead you into a greater understanding of God’s love and the endurance that is given by Christ” (3:5, GNT).
Paul finishes his prayer request with a two-fold prayer for the Thessalonians as he remembers their struggle against enemies of the faith.
” . . . May the Lord lead you into a greater understanding of God’s love . . . “
Contending with the hostility of gospel enemies daily, they must remember—indeed he prays they may have a greater understanding of—God’s love for them.  While the objects of the hate of men, they are the objects of the love of God!
” . . . May the Lord lead you into a greater understanding of . . .the endurance that is given by Christ.”
The way of Christ is narrow and rough.  Following demands steadfast endurance.  But how shall they in their natural weakness endure against a powerful Enemy?  By “the endurance that is given by Christ.”  His is a supernatural supplement that will strengthen them for the long haul.
Prayer. 
How shall a wildfire-spreading, honored message happen?  How shall the Evil One be defeated?  How shall God’s love and Christ’s endurance be accessed more?  By prayer.
Missionaries serve on the front lines, many in countries that outlaw the gospel, all facing the oppression of the Evil One.  They need our prayers that access the Lord’s provision.  Not only that, but when we pray (and give financial support) we take part in the global spread of the Lord’s message.  Our little lives take on world-wide, eternal meaning.
The next time we receive prayer requests from missionaries, may we reply with our prayers.  And I pray that I won’t read their requests and trash  their letters, but pause to pray—and join my ministry with theirs for the sake of the lost and the glory of our Lord.