Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions

Today’s devotion comes from 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12.

 

“To this end also we pray for you always, that our God will count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.”  2 Thessalonians 1:11-12.

 

—————-

 

I don’t trust my desire for goodness.  I don’t even trust my desire for knowledge of God’s desire for goodness.  I need help.

 

And so, it is encouraging to read a similar Scripture which spells out help.

 

“For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy 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 His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience;  joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.”  Colossians 1:9-12. 

 

Our help is from God, and we can pray to Him that we “may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God“.

 

And, this prayer will be granted.  “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;  seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.”  2 Peter 1:2-3.

 

Psalm 21:2
“You have given him his heart’s desire, And You have not withheld the request of his lips.”

 

Psalm 37:4
“Delight yourself in the LORD;  And He will give you the desires of your heart.”

 

Isaiah 58:11
“And the LORD will continually guide you, And satisfy your desire in scorched places, And give strength to your bones;  And you will be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.”

                                     

“4  May He grant you your heart’s desire
And fulfill all your counsel!
5  We will sing for joy over your victory,
And in the name of our God we will set up our banners.
May the Lord fulfill all your petitions.
6  Now I know that the Lord saves His anointed;
He will answer him from His holy heaven
With the saving strength of His right hand.
7  Some boast in chariots and some in horses,
But we will boast in the name of the Lord, our God.”  Psalm 20:4-7.

 

 

The Heidelberg Catechism draws this together for us.  We pray the specific request:  “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”, and we pray with faith “Amen”, that God will grant our request, even though we may not feel in our heart much of a desire for these things from Him.