This past week, I attended a prayer meeting with the pastors in the city where I live. Each Thursday morning, they gather for fellowship and encouragement. They always select a Bible passage to launch their prayer focus. The verse chosen by one of the pastors in this gathering was familiar, but I seemed to see it through fresh eyes. (That’s typically what happens when we pray from the Bible.) Here’s the verse: “May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ” (2 Thessalonians 3:5).

Of course, we all need direction. Like a traveler following his GPS while navigating an unfamiliar city, we must rely on something – actually Someone – with an accurate and broader understanding of our journey. As you read this today you might feel a special need for God’s direction concerning your work, your kids, your finances, your health issues, your ministry involvement, or even your retirement. The list can be endless.  But this verse is a prayer that God would direct believer’s hearts in a very specific way.

We all need direction. Like a traveler following his GPS while navigating an unfamiliar city, we must rely on something – actually Someone – with an accurate and broader understanding of our journey.

What Kind of Direction?

Let’s admit it. Most of our sense of need for God’s direction is focused on what we are going to do – appropriately so. Yet, I am reminded that we are human beings, not human doings. Perhaps our greatest need for direction should be centered in who we are becoming and not just what we are accomplishing. This is the concern of this passage as Paul prays that our hearts would be directed to the love of God and the steadfastness of Christ.

We are human beings, not human doings. Perhaps our greatest need for direction should be centered in who we are becoming and not just what we are accomplishing.

Our Misdirected Hearts    

Notice Paul’s focus on the heart. Proverbs 4:23 states, “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” Our heart is the core of our being. It is the center of our spiritual life, our emotions, our desires, and our morality. To be directed is to “make the way straight”, and is the idea of removing obstacles from the path. “The prayer is that Christ will open up the way for the whole of the inner life.”^[i]

Every day, the world, the flesh, and the devil are influencing our hearts. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1 John 2:16) lure us away from spiritual health and fruitfulness. That is why Paul was inspired to pray that our hearts would continually be directed to the best things.

Daily Direction to God’s Love

Specifically, Paul prays that our “hearts would be directed to the love of God.” When our hearts wander and are not captured by the love of God, we inevitably struggle at the deepest level. We become plagued by insecurity and inferiority based in superficial comparison. We pursue efforts to prove our worth through human measurements. We are driven to overachieve in order to find significance. We place unrealistic expectations on others to meet our needs. We look to frail humans to make us feel loved. It’s a miserable misdirection of our soul.

When our hearts wander and are not captured by the love of God, we inevitably struggle at the deepest level. We become plagued by insecurity and inferiority based in superficial comparison. We pursue efforts to prove our worth through human measurements. We are driven to overachieve in order to find significance. We place unrealistic expectations on others to meet our needs.

When our hearts are directed to the love of God, we rest at the foot of the cross, overwhelmed by the sacrificial, perfect, and undying love of the Father. We live from that secure place of simply being loved, not because of what we have done but because of what He has done. Directed and focused on the love of God, we are free and empowered to love others from a place of wholeness and divine empowerment. “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Accordingly, we have the capacity to live according to 1 Corinthians 16:14, where it says, “Let all that you do be done in love.”

When our hearts are directed to the love of God, we rest at the foot of the cross, overwhelmed by the sacrificial, perfect, and undying love of the Father. We live from that secure place of simply being loved, not because of what we have done but because of what He has done.

Daily Direction to Christ’s Steadfastness

In these troubled times, discouragement can become the nemesis of the soul. Some days we lack the resolve to persevere in our marriages, our parenting, our jobs, or our ministry assignments. We need the Lord to direct our hearts daily “to the steadfastness of Christ.”

Some days we lack the resolve to persevere in our marriages, our parenting, our jobs, or our ministry assignments. We need the Lord to direct our hearts daily “to the steadfastness of Christ.”

Steadfastness (also translated “perseverance” or “endurance”) involves “the characteristic of a man who is unswerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith.”^[ii] Of course, Christ is our perfect model for this steadfastness.

Hebrews 12:2 commands us to continually look “to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Romans 15:5 tells us that our Lord is “the God of endurance and encouragement.” Based in the truth and power of Christ’s resurrection we can “be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,” knowing that in the Lord our labor is not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58).

Let’s admit it. In the face of life’s trials we can’t persevere. But Christ did and He can and He lives in me to manifest His strong and perfect endurance each day. Oh, how we need our hearts to be directed to this great truth of a steadfast Savior who lives in and through us until we take our final breath in this life.

Let’s admit it. In the face of life’s trials we can’t persevere. But Christ did and He can and He lives in me to manifest His strong and perfect endurance each day.

Invited Into His Faithfulness

Paul wrote to the Thessalonian believers as they faced persecution and attack. Two verses previously he declared, “But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one” (2 Thessalonians 3:3). Whatever trial or difficulty you face today, know that the Lord will establish and guard you and He is faithful. So, cry out today – and every day – for your faithful God to direct your heart to the highest and best realities. He will do so and it may just be the very thing you need to transform the way you live, love, and persevere in life’s journey.

Copyright © 2018 Daniel Henderson. All rights reserved.

^[i] Morris, L. (1984). 1 and 2 Thessalonians: An introduction and commentary (Vol. 13, p. 140). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

^[ii]Ibid.