“For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night” (1 Thessalonians 5:2).

The end will come.  It will come for us all, but it will probably come for you and me before that Day of the Lord.  But it will come.  The end of this age.  We who have been given the gift of grace do not hope in vain, for we know that having been united with Christ in His death on the cross means we are united with Him in His resurrection.  Know these things and live both with hope and without anxiety.

Lead me to see both how short this life is and also that what You have promised is more assured than what I know of this life.  Guide me to live knowing these things and being prepared for Your coming.  Help me to do this not in fear, but in joy, for what You have promised is before all and for those of us who love You, it will be good.

Lord Jesus, guide me in the way of everlasting life.  Help me on the upward journey, modeling my life after You.  Show me today and each day You give me before my end in this age how to  become what You are making of me.  Lead me, O Lord, to know that in You alone is all hope and the glory of an eternal future.  Amen.  

“Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you”(1 Thessalonians 5:1).

How many epics have been written about the end of times, what will happen and the scenarios for these things?  Yet, time has marched on and they have not come to pass.  Is the Word unsure?  May it never be.  We are told time and again not to needlessly speculate, and yet we do.  Come then and live in the faith and hope that you have been given in the salvation of Christ, trusting in His timing of all things.

Lord, lead me away from idle speculation and into the life You have promised by grace through faith.  Guide me, O Lord, away from building my hope on anything less than You.  You are the One who has saved us and in You is our hope.  Let that be enough for me.  There is much that needs to be done if I am to be prepared to spend eternity with You.  Help me focus upon these things.

Lord Jesus, You are the way, truth, and life.  Whether I know the future sequence of events or not really does not matter.  Keep me from any kind of pride that would hinder my walking with You all the days of my life.  Lead me, O Lord, in the way of truth.  Your Word is truth.  Help me focus upon what I know, that which You have spoken, and leave the rest to settle where it will.  Your grace is sufficient, O Lord!  Amen.

“Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:17-18).

What is the comfort?  That none of those who trust in the salvation of the Lord will be left out of the resurrection.  We shall all be caught up with the Lord forever.  Take comfort that you are not alone, nor forgotten, ever!  The Lord has given you promises that are sure and eternal.  Be comforted and comfort others with the comfort you yourself have received from the Lord.

Lord, I know there are all kinds of systems built around the idea of some being left behind and others being resurrected.  Lord, I do not know these things and although others may take comfort from these words, help me take comfort from the promise You have given throughout the ages that all who remain in You now will be with You in eternity.  Help me accept the comfort I know is true even if I have other ideas that comfort me as well.

Lord Jesus, it boils down to the truth that all things are in Your hands.  Help me to trust Your Word, for Your never-failing Word endures forever.  You have spoken promises to all who believe and in those promises is the hope we have of life everlasting.  Guide me, O Lord, in the way of life that I may be led in Your salvation to prepare for the eternal life You have promised to all those who are faithful.  Amen.

“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first” (1 Thessalonians 4:16).

Look and listen.  The voice of the Lord can even be heard by those whom we call dead, but whom Scripture says are asleep.  By whatever name, the Lord calls and creation listens.  In the beginning He spoke the word and it was as He spoke.  In whom then will you trust?  Will you trust yourself whose word is weak, or the One through whom all things came into being through His word?

Lord, forgive me when I am unwilling to believe.  Bring me to the place where I stop questioning everything and start living the life of faith that You have given me.  Who is more important?  You are more so than anyone else.  The question seems so silly and yet I often live as though this were a legitimate question.  Help me to have the right priorities and do things the way they ought to be done.

Lord Jesus, You came so that we might have life and have it abundantly.  Guide me this day to do what is right in Your sight.  Lead me according to the never-changing word which You have spoken.  In and through all things, help me to understand that in You is there hope and the eternal future our hearts were created to desire.  Teach me to love as You love and how to live according to Your word.  Amen.

“For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep” (1 Thesalonians 4:15).

Those who are asleep will not be left behind, nor meet the Lord later than those who are alive.  Sometimes we worry so much about things that will never be in our control.  The Lord has all of this handled.  Know that the Lord has given His promises and will not fail.  Be led by the One who made you and know that He will hold you always in His arms.  Alive here and now or asleep, He has redeemed you.

Come into the Lord’s presence and live as one who knows that He has done, is doing and will do all that He has promised.  Let your faith be guided not by what you can understand, but by what the Lord says.  He who made the heavens and earth also made you.  Who knows but that all of what we call creation was not made in order that we might have the opportunity to live in the presence of the Lord forever.

Lord Jesus, God in the flesh, the One through whom all things were made and in whom all things have their being, lead me fully into Your arms of grace and mercy.  Guide me according to Your goodness so that I would be led by all that You teach and know the goodness of the salvation You have purchased from the cross.  Show me how, O Lord, now and always to walk according to Your word.  Amen.

“For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 4:14).

Do you not know that you have been united with Christ?  You were united in His death in order to be united with Him in His resurrection.  You have also heard Jesus say that only the One who descends can ascend.  If we are united with Him then certainly we shall be resurrected with Him.  Come then and live in the true hope and blessed assurance which are yours in Christ.  Live knowing that He abides in you.

Lord, help me to abide in You as You abide in me.  Guide me in the way of everlasting life so that I would grow in wisdom and mature in assurance.  Lead me according to Thy Spirit in order that in all things I would learn to be gracious with others as You are gracious with me.  Help me learn how to put all these things together to become whom You are making me to be.

Lord Jesus, You have come to unite us with Yourself in order to infuse in us the godly life.  Help me today to apply these things willingly in my life and grow in Your goodness.  Lead me according to the Father’s will to live into the calling You have given me as I apply these precepts of which Paul spoke.  Through all things and by Your grace, help me to grow and mature so that I may live in the eternal hope which is mine in You.  Amen.

“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13).

How many times have you heard at a funeral, “Now they are an angel.”  Instead of being some kind of condolence, it is a lie that refutes what Scripture says.  We are not, nor will we ever be, angels.  The world grieves because it does not know.  It will settle for a false assurance.  You know that we were created to live into the image of Christ and become a child of God.  Therefore, do not settle for these worldly and lesser things, but put on the mind of Christ.

Lord, I hear these things so many times that I begin to repeat them myself.  Help me to mind my own business, but also hold me fast to what is right and true.  You have spoken truth and any part of what another says that is not true is a lie.  Help me to hold fast to the truth so that I may live into the image of Christ.  Help me to hold fast to the truth that in You is absolute hope and a future.

Lord Jesus, You have come to set us free from the captivity of this age.  In You there is hope, so that we will not remain trapped in the impossible situation of being good while being a sinner.  Lead me, O Lord, in the way of true life so that I would trust in You alone and share with others the hope I have in You in order that they too may have the unalterable hope You give through grace in faith.  Amen.

“And to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you, so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need” (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12)

Such a simple sentence that says so much.  Be diligent, work for your own needs and stay out of other people’s business.  How much better we would all be if this were the case just in the church.  Of course, Paul means this as a part of the godly life and it is good advice.  Work on this so that you may learn the peace and quiet the Lord intends for your life.  Learn this so you will have the right attitude toward others.

Lord, this looks so easy, yet I find that I sometimes want others to do what I should do.  I sometimes poke into others business and let others do what I should be doing.  Teach me what it means to love You and my neighbor.  Teach me where to draw the line between remaining frugal and self-reliant versus being a part of the community and working together.  Teach me to not be in need but help others when I can.

Lord Jesus, while walking the earth You did these things.  Though You walked around, people came to You and, in one sense, not You to them.  You had all You needed and did not ask for things but gave to those in need.  Teach me how to properly behave toward You and others so that I may live the godly life You intend.  Lead me in the way You know I need to go and help me to go there.  Amen.

“Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; for indeed you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more” (1 Thessalonians 4:9-10)

The Lord said that He would write the law on our hearts so that we need not be taught by anyone to love the Lord.  Indeed, the law is written on your heart.  Sadly, many ignore what has been written on their heart.  But you, listen to what the Lord says and no longer follow where you have been sinfully following, but listen to what He has written on your heart.  Seek first His righteousness and then all else will be added.

Lord, grant that I have discernment to know the difference between the heart in rebellion and what You have written on my heart.  Guide me in Your goodness to know the difference.  Lead me in the way of righteousness so that I may now and always be guided by You.  Help me to look to You as the source and norm of all goodness, knowing that Your grace is more than sufficient for me.

Thank You, Lord Jesus, for guiding me in all goodness.  Help me to look to You as the model of the godly life and to follow Your lead.  The law has been written on my heart, so teach me how to listen in order that I may hear Your Word of command and obey You.  Through all things that come my way, lead me in the way of goodness and mercy all the days of my life until I see You face to face.  Amen.

“For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification.  So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you” (1 Thessalonians 4:7).

Listen carefully here.  Some in the body have said that we are freed by Christ so that the law no longer matters.  While it is true that no infraction of the law will once again condemn us and that Christ died for all our sins, this does not mean that we can continue with indiscretion and infidelity.  The Lord freed us from sin, death, and the devil, so do not take up with any of these again.

Lord, I still want to do things the way I want to do things.  Take this from me so that I would do things the way You want me to do them.  Guide me, Lord, in the right way of life that I may humbly walk with You all the days of my life.  Lead me in Your goodness to see that in You is all hope and a future.  In You alone, Lord, do I have my being.  Let me remain with You and be content.

Lord, You know all of the things that tug at me.  You know the struggles that I have.  Guide me now and always, Lord, to walk as one who believes that You have come to eternally set me free.  Lead me in the way of life so that I would now and forever be guided by You in the goodness You have demonstrated.  Lead me, Lord Jesus, and teach me to follow Your example always.  Amen.