1 Thess 3:

• v.1-5 Our worries for you meant we sent Timothy to support you
• v.6-8 Timothy’s report about you
• v.9,10 Our Prayers for you
• v.11-13 Their desires for them

[Chapter Synopsis: Their concerns for them, and being thwarted from going to them, meant they ended up sending Timothy alone to encourage them, and he reported they were standing strong despite persecution, so they prayed for God to bless them even more.]

v.1-5 Our worries for you meant we sent Timothy to support you

[Passage Synopsis: We were so concerned for you that we sent Timothy to come and encourage you.]

v.1 So when we could stand it no longer, we thought it best to be left by ourselves in Athens.

v.2,3 We sent Timothy, who is our brother and co-worker in God’s service in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. For you know quite well that we are destined for them.

v.4 In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted. And it turned out that way, as you well know.

v.5 For this reason, when I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith. I was afraid that in some way the tempter had tempted you and that our labors might have been in vain.

[Note: We felt so frustrated, we decided most of us would have to stay here in Athens but we sent Timothy who we trust implicitly, for we had warned you about impending persecution, so we just had to send him to find how you were.]

v.6-8 Timothy’s report about you

[Passage Synopsis: He reported you were doing well.]

v.6 But Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love. He has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us, just as we also long to see you.

v.7 Therefore, brothers and sisters, in all our distress and persecution we were encouraged about you because of your faith.

v.8 For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord.

[Note: He came back with a glowing report of you so we were encouraged by your faith because ‘in Christ’ you are standing strong.]

v.9,10 Our Prayers for you

[Passage Synopsis: So we thank God for you all the time.]

v.9 How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you?

v.10 Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith.

[Note: So we just can’t help thanking God for you, constantly praying that we can come to you with more blessings.]

v.11-13 Their desires for them

[Passage Synopsis: We ask Him to let us come to you but that you will grow in love and be strengthened in Him.]

v.11 Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you.

v.12 May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.

v.13 May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.

[Note: We ask the Lord that He open the way for us to come, and for Him to help your love grow even more, and that He strengthen you to be ready for whenever Jesus comes again.]

For those who may wish to make a study of this chapter, to perhaps think some more about what you have been reading, use the link below: