Scripture provides plenty of hints as to what it might look like when Christ comes in fullness. Whatever it exactly is like, I know that I want to be in the community of people who proclaim him as Lord and Savior, and not in the alternative. Paul is in the midst of reminding the church in Thessalonica that there will be consequences for those who afflict them with pain and suffering, and those will be settled by God. They have to trust in this process, trust in this outcome, as challenging as a message as that is.
The individuals in the church are suffering, and so Paul commits to be in prayer for them, that they may know the power of God at work in them. Paul cannot be with them in body, but he can join with them in prayer, confidant that God is with them, confidant that the eternal witness of the church is gathered around them. Paul believed that God would work through their prayers -- may we have the same faith, the same confidence.
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