“We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father.”
—1 Thessalonians 1:2-3
The Apostle Paul was thankful to God for fellow Christians. He saw other believers as a great blessing from God and therefore Paul was diligent to pray for his fellow saints in Christ. The Apostle Paul was a thankful man. He knew God had saved him by His grace alone in Christ Jesus, and God’s grace had caused Paul to recognize that he deserved none of God’s good gifts, let alone the salvation of his soul. And so, Paul’s prayers are filled with thanksgiving to God for the gift of faith the Thessalonian believers had received, and for the tangible expressions of love they showed as evidence of their faith.
What about you? Are you longing for Christian fellowship in this strange season of life? Are you thankful to God for other Christians? Do you praise God for saving fellow believers? Are you thankful, as Paul says in our text, for their “labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father”? All too often we are thankful to God for all the material blessings, but we fail to give thanks to God for other believers in Christ. However, Paul demonstrates in our text that we ought to always thank God for other Christians. Do you struggle to pray for other members of your church? Ask God to give you a thankful heart for other Christians. Are you at odds with another believer? Ask God to give you the grace to reconcile with this person and pray that the Holy Spirit would give you a heart of thankfulness for this person.
You see, praying for one another is the fruit of faith. It is only possible to express thankfulness to God for other believers, and for all things, when you are in a faith-relationship with Jesus Christ. That’s why Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, “in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” True faith in Christ unites us to the only source and reservoir of the spiritual strength necessary to be thankful in all circumstances and for other believers. The key words are “in Christ Jesus.” And so, every person in Christ Jesus has a duty to give thanks to God always for other believers, to make mention of them in prayer, to remember without ceasing “their work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father.”
Pray the Lord will increase this fruit of faith in your life and in the lives of every believer “in Christ Jesus” for His honor, glory, and praise, and for the building up of the Church of Jesus Christ.
Friday Devotional: February 20, 2026
In Christ,
Pastor S. Henry
