Guest Post by Ray Kingrea of Tree of Life Ministries
Pastor Kingrea writes “The Journey” posts daily via his Facebook page. Follow him on Facebook here.
The JOURNEY- 2.Thess.2:13 MSG – Meanwhile, we’ve got our hands full continually thanking God for you, our good friends-so loved by God.
You ever thought about “meanwhile” things before? “Meanwhile” is what goes on while some thing or some other things are going on. We don’t often think about God working in the meanwhile. We think that He’s not doing much while we’re all upset, worried, or afraid. We think that nothing is going on when nothing is going on, so we sit around all depressed and discouraged because it appears that our adversary the devil is ahead and we’re behind.
Paul had a different perspective. He decides to be fully thankful to God for what He did have and what He was seeing God move in – the people around him. Remember, Paul is talking about the return of the Lord, but in the meanwhile, satan is working to deceive and destroy. Yes, satan is working in the meanwhile, but Paul chose to praise God in the meanwhile.
That’s the best anecdote for spiritual warfare – Praise and Thanksgiving! Picture this: “The devil was raging and attacking, but in the ‘meanwhile’ he/she was praising God for working.” The the devil will be mean for a while, but in the meanwhile, make a point to find something you can Praise and Thank God for.
