2 Thessalonians 3:1-5

Just as Paul is FULLY AWARE of Jesus Christ being ALIVE,he is also FULLY AWARE that there is an EVIL ONE ALIVE that is very capable of messing in and around our lives....in the ways EVIL will tempt us,as well as how EVIL influences us via people around us that do not honor the Word of the Lord->2 Thessalonians 3:1-5,”Finally, brothers,pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be HONORED,as happened among you,and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith.But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.And we have confidence in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will do the things that we command.May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.” These verses definitely communicate a direct relationship between HONORING The Word of The Lord and having FAITH-the kind of FAITH that Paul would identify as FAITH- the kind of FAITH  lived through the lives of those that made up the 1st century body of believers/the 1st century church...the “church” that so significantly impacted the world around them with The Gospel of Christ that the world around them was shook and changed in ways that HONORED The Word of The Lord! When we look at today’s world around the “church”-the cumulative lives of those that identify ourselves as the “church”-we are having little to no impact in many significant areas of the world for The Gospel of Christ! SO,our “cumulative faith” must not have something that the 1st century church had.One of these “things” is that we do not HONOR God’s Word as our 1st century brothers & sisters in Christ did!These people were personally seeking to HONOR The Word of The Lord in their hearts/minds/lives by seeking to learn&HONOR God’s Word with their hearts/minds/lives that The Gospel of Christ so influenced the world around them that even an Ethiopian Eunuch had become interested enough in The Word of The Lord that he was reading through it while traveling in a carriage(Acts8:26-40)!The way we have been living our lives in the U.S.A. the last 125 years has been steadily waning AWAY from HONORING God’s Word...and our country has been steadily moving AWAY from HONORING God’s Word,to the point that false religions have been “putting stakes down” and claiming lives all across our nation!And our “church” has been steadily moving AWAY from HONORING God’s Word in our hearts/minds/lives.Because we do not appreciate the link between HONORING God’s Word and seeking to UNDERSTAND God’s Word,as the Eunuch was seeking to understand God’s Word in his carriage. We are waning away from what Paul calls FAITH and toward a faith with a lackadaisical appreciation of God’s Word & more dependent upon what others say instead of what God will say to those whom earnestly seek to learn and understand HIS Word-just as The Lord did in the life of the Ethiopian Eunuch! We need to be more like the Eunuch, AND more like Phillip who The Lord used to guide the Eunuch to the TRUTHS of The Gospel of Christ! Those of us that are seekers&followers of Christ need to be as sincere about God’s Word as the Eunuch..,AND as prepared as Phillip obviously was to HELP the Eunuch understand God’s Word! Phillip was OBVIOUSLY an earnest seeker of God and HIS Word...an OBVIOUS HONORER of God’s Word...so Phillip had what Paul would call FAITH...the ONLY kind of FAITH that truly positively impacts the world around us for The Gospel of Christ.These verses make me ask myself “what kind of faith do I have?”.Dear Lord...create the same kind of hunger in me to seek and understand Your Word as the Eunuch....,and please lead me to the hunger for the same sincere preparedness of Phillip...dear Lord direct my heart “to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ” through HONORING YOUR WORD!