#42.

Prayer is a Means to Grow in Goodness

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, 12
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.

We are continuing to see the link between prayer, the presence of the Holy Spirit in the lives of
God's children, and their growth in the fruits that the Holy Spirit produces. Here, we see Paul
committing himself to prayer that the Lord would fulfill every desire the Thessalonian church
had for the fruit of goodness.

The Thessalonians were in the midst of severe affliction and persecution and Paul wants to
assure them that they are always in his prayers. First, he tells them that they are a cause of praise
and thanksgiving (verse 3) because of their growth in faith and love. In our text, he enlarges
upon the content of the continual prayer of himself, Silas and Timothy and it is that they will
continue to persevere in the trials (which is a clear sign from God that He counts them worthy of
their call to be His children) and that God would grant for them every desire they have that is
prompted by goodness or whose outcome is goodness.

"Goodness" in the Scriptures signifies moral excellence. To possess this constitutes the content
of the life of the Christian, since it is something of which the unbeliever knows nothing. Thus
Paul's concern for the Thessalonians in all their difficulties seems to focus on them being assured
of their interest in Christ through the evidences of their perseverance, their desire to do good and
to possess greater goodness, and their continued growth in faith through God's power. The end
of all this would be the glory of God, through Whom alone could the Thessalonians endure
and manifest these Christian fruits in the process.

In this instance, then, goodness (which we may often think of as an abstract quality) becomes to
the Thessalonians one of the things they can look to in their trials when they are tempted to doubt
and to abandon their calling. It is clear evidence of their interest in Christ and results in works
that bring glory to God.

This growth in goodness is something we are commanded to do in Scripture, as Peter commands

his readers to add moral excellence to their faith (2 Peter 1:5). So let's pray in this coming week
that we may be obedient to the command, and may indeed grow in goodness and therefore in our
assurance of faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ.

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