An Artesian Well of Thanks

What is it that really makes a preacher or teacher of the gospel thankful? I am not sure anyone except a preacher or teacher could fully understand the answer to this all important question. However, I am going to try to give us all a good insight into what brings this artesian well of thanks, because I believe it will help any believer. Paul explained it to the believers in Thessalonica. (I Thessalonians 2:13) As he looked back on his experience of preaching the Message to these people, his thanks was so abundant because they did not receive his preaching as just one more human opinion. They received it as God's true Word to them, which it was. They allowed God to work in them through His Word. That was the source of Paul's artesian well of thanks, and it should do the same for anyone who shares God's Word with others.

When the Word of God is presented, it is either received or rejected. There is no other option. The hearer can dismiss it as human opinion or a personal philosophy, but in reality they are rejecting it. The Bible is the true Word of God. When we hear it, we should listen to it as God's true Message to us. We should take it in, and ask God to use it to work His will in our life. When we do that, we are changed by the Word through the power of the Holy Spirit. This is so rewarding to the one who shares God's Word. We must never share the Message just to say we have delivered it. We should always have a heart to see lives changed by the power of the Gospel and the true Word of God. Then, when that happens, we should be so thankful that it is like an artesian well of thanks flowing constantly from our heart to the Lord for working through His Word. Therefore, I beg each of us to receive the Word of God like the Thessalonians did and see what God will do in our lives.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read I Thessalonians 3-5 and II Thessalonians 1.