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OCTOBER 20
For I have kept Your testimonies. abounds toward each other, so that we our-
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23 Princes also sit and speak against me, selves boast of you among the churches of God
But Your servant meditates on Your for your patience and faith in all your persecu-
statutes. tions and tribulations that you endure, which is
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24 Your testimonies also are my delight manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of
And my counselors. God, that you may be counted worthy of the
kingdom of God, for which you also suffer;
Proverbs 27:15–16 6 since it is a righteous thing with God to repay
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with tribulation those who trouble you, and to
A continual dripping on a very rainy day give you who are troubled rest with us when the
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And a contentious woman are alike;
16 Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His
Whoever restrains her restrains the mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance
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wind, on those who do not know God, and on those
And grasps oil with his right hand.
who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus
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2 Thessalonians 1:1–12 Christ. These shall be punished with everlast-
ing destruction from the presence of the Lord
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Greeting and from the glory of His power, when He
comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints
1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, and to be admired among all those who believe,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God because our testimony among you was believed.
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Therefore we also pray always for you that
our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
our God would count you worthy of this calling,
2 and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness
Grace to you and peace from God our
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Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. and the work of faith with power, that the
3 We are bound to thank God always for you, name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified
brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows in you, and you in Him, according to the grace
exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
DAY 19:What should a believer’s attitude be toward suffering?
In 2 Thessalonians 1:4,Paul speaks of the “patience and faith”of the Thessalonians.Nowhere was
their growth in faith and love more evident than in the way they patiently and faithfully endured hos-
tilities and suffering from the enemies of Christ. Although there was no need to speak, since the
Thessalonians’ lives spoke clearly enough (1 Thess. 1:8), Paul’s joy before the Lord over their persever-
ance bubbled up.
Having a right attitude toward suffering (v.5) is essential,and that required attitude is concern for
the kingdom of God.They were not self-centered but concentrated on God’s kingdom.Their focus was
not on personal comfort,fulfillment,and happiness,but on the glory of God and the fulfillment of His
purposes.They were not moaning about the injustice of their persecutions.Rather,they were patient-
ly enduring the sufferings they did not deserve (v.4).This very attitude was “manifest evidence”or pos-
itive proof that God’s wise process of purging,purifying,and perfecting through suffering was working
to make His beloved people worthy of the kingdom (2:12) by being perfected (James 1:2–4;1 Pet.5:10).
For believers,afflictions are to be expected (1 Thess.3:3) as they live and develop Christian char-
acter in a satanic world. Suffering is not to be thought of as evidence that God has forsaken them,
but as evidence that He is with them, perfecting them (Matt. 5:10; Rom. 8:18; 2 Cor. 12:10). So the
Thessalonians demonstrated that their salvation,determined by faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ,
was genuine because they, like Christ, were willing to suffer on account of God and His kingdom.
They suffered unjustly as objects of man’s wrath against Christ and His kingdom (Acts 5:41;Phil.3:10;
Col.1:24).

fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king
OCTOBER 20 of Judah (which was the first year of
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), which
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Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people
of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusa-
Jeremiah 25:1–26:24
lem, saying: “From the thirteenth year of
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The word that came to Jeremiah con- Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to
25 cerning all the people of Judah, in the this day, this is the twenty-third year in which
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