Prayer Works Morning Devotion October 8, 2026

A Chapter By Chapter Study Of The Epistles:

2Thessalonians Chapter 2

3Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.

---

Good morning, everybody. I hope you are rested, you had a great sleep, and you are up for another day where the Lord is going to guide us through whatever He is doing. Let us go to the Lord in prayer.

Lord, we thank You for this morning that You have given us new mercies, new grace. We thank You that You already started this day with others in countries that are way ahead of us and we're just joining in to what it is that You are doing today.

We thank You for great grace. We thank You Lord that You care so much about us that You continue to reveal Yourself to us. Even though sometimes You don't have to, but You do because You desire for us to know You.

You desire for us to have a greater understanding of how You are operating and how You are working and we thank the Lord that You have included us. We thank You that You have included us in Your plans as we seek our portion and our part to play in this kingdom.

So I pray Lord that as we gather these mornings it's just to love You, to get closer to You, to draw near to You because we know if we do You draw near to us and we desire to hear from You.

We desire to hear the words that You have left us in scriptures. We also desire to fellowship with the Holy Spirit, and we also desire for You to hear from us in prayer requests, in the things that we table before You.

So that we can gain more understanding, more healing, more strength, more wisdom, more knowledge, more joy, and also for our gifts to continue, Lord, to function and to be used in this kingdom.

So we thank You for choosing us. You would have chosen other people, but You chose us to be part of this community, to be part of hearing You this morning, and to be part of doing the work that You've called us to do.

And I pray, Lord, that as You grow us and expand us, as You strengthen us, that we grow in wisdom and in knowledge as we seek understanding for our own lives, as we seek understanding for the church, as we seek understanding for what it is that You are doing in the earth.

I pray, Lord, that You open the eyes of our understanding to receive information, to receive things that are coming tomorrow, 10 years from now, so we can ready ourselves today for what You are doing in the future.

So we thank You that Your words are yay and amen, that we can stand on them, they will never die, they are always true, and You are never late, You're always on time, that there is no place we can go that You cannot see us or hear us.

So Father, this morning we give it to You as we receive our new mercies for the day. And as we look at Your scriptures, help us to stay encouraged in this kingdom as we prepare ourselves for Your return, even though we don't know when that is.

But Father, we thank You nonetheless for instruction that You have left us to gain wisdom and understanding. Now lead us in our morning devotion as we look at scriptures and as we pray for dear ones.

And as we lift each other up and we bless You and honor You in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ Amen and Amen. Well brothers and sisters today we are in 2 Thessalonians chapter number two this chapter here is extremely important just as much as all chapters are extremely important.

But this is extremely important in that we get an understanding of the how, of how the end times are going to happen. Now, I want you to think about this letter pertaining to Paul writing to this church 50 years AD after Jesus has left.

Jesus, when he left, he tells them that I'm going to come back this way. In fact, an angel shows up and say, why do you still stand here waiting? This same Jesus that you saw today is going to return this way too.

So we get that information or they get that information. But they don't have the how or what's going to take place or what are the signs. So from then onwards the question of Jesus' return.

So I want you to imagine He dies and He comes back three days later. So they know that. Now He ascends. So I'm sure in their minds, they're all expecting Him to come also as quick as he did in His return from death.

So the perception I'm sure I can imagine was that when is He coming? Is it 20 years? Is it three years? Is it four years? But they expected Him to be back soon.

So Paul is encouraging this church because I always say every time you see scriptures saying something, it means mankind is expecting something else. So if the word of God says, let thy kingdom, let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, it means that we were not doing God's will in the earth.

That's why we have those scriptures. Or when he says, do not pray with anxiety in you. It means that people had prayed with anxiety. Hence, the Lord says, with prayer and supplication, make your request known to God, but remove anxiety out of it.

Why does the scripture say that? Because that's what was the tendency for us to do. So in this chapter here, you are going to see the how of how things are going to take place before Christ's return.

So this is an expose to give us an understanding of what's going to take place and what the requirements are and the things that we have to do. So in this chapter you are going to hear the words say do not panic.

Don't panic why do we have that because human beings we panic then it also gives us the prerequisites of things that are going to happen until there is great rebellion. Then it also introduces a man, not a man, M-E-N it's singular.

It introduces a man that will one day show up in the world and this is a man of lawlessness. Then it also explains to us what is holding that person back, which is current restraint and that's the Holy Spirit.

Then it also tells us about the deception that will take place and the final defeat. And then also explains what we are supposed to do as it pertains to this time period when all these things are happening.

So in this chapter, I really want you to pay attention and to listen. In fact, make it a habit to read this particular chapter because it gives you understanding, it gives you perspective, and it gives you strength and wisdom that you need to survive the challenges of this world.

So Paul says in verse number 1, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. First instruction and our being gathered to him. Here's your first instruction.

We ask you, brothers and sisters, not to be easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us. So the first thing is that you should not be easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us.

Whether by prophecy or by the word of mouth or by letter, asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. So when you hear people talk about, oh, the day is coming, oh, a few years ago, remember somebody said Jesus was coming in 2008 and people were gathering in Boston, I remember that.

And people have always predicted the coming of Christ. So Paul says don't be alarmed by stuff like that. Don't pay attention to it. Don't let anyone, anyone, anyone means everybody.

Do not let anyone deceive you in any way. That's instruction number two. Why? He says because for that day, what day? The day of return of the Lord is not going to come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed.

So two things that have to happen before the return of Christ. There's an individual that will be revealed who is a man of lawlessness, who does not believe in laws at all. And after that, there will be total rebellion.

Not wars, not challenges, but total rebellion where people just rebel from everything, running through traffic lights because they don't care and nobody is going to stop that. There will be total rebellion who cares, and the man of lawlessness is revealed.

The man is doomed to destruction. This number four is very important. Now, let me say this. This scripture is talking about the Antichrist who so forth. You know, the Antichrist is a spirit.

But at some point it will sit on an individual and that person will present himself, now here's what that individual will do. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God.

Or He is worshipped so that he sets himself up in God's temple proclaiming himself to be God. Now throughout human history we have had people who were caricatures of this man just as much as you have people who have who were a type of antichrist.

And we see the first one is Herod who shows up when Christ was born. So in order for there to be an Antichrist, there has to be a Christ. So when Christ shows up as a baby, we then see a form of Antichrist rise up.

And that was the first time we hear of King Herod. And throughout human history, there are people who have possessed the qualities of the Antichrist who have done heinous crimes against humanity.

They were callous, they did not care, and they exalted themselves above everything, above the law, above people. They were just a type of things to come. And in as much as nowadays, we also have people who have these qualities, who are a type of the person that will then eventually show up.

He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God, or he is going to be worshipped so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was with you.

So Paul is referring to the time when he was, I used to tell you these things. And now you know what is holding him back so that he may be revealed at the proper time. So there is proper time this man will be revealed.

Verse number 7 is critical for the secret power of lawlessness, secret power. So there's a secret power of lawlessness. that is already at work in our world.

This is why we are seeing all this corruption because there is a secret power of lawlessness that's already functioning in our world. It's been here and is already at work. That's what it looks like.

It says, but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so until he is taken out of the way. So in other words, the secret power of lawlessness is already at work, but he's being held back.

And who is holding the secret power of lawlessness back is the Holy Spirit. He's holding it back. Why is he holding it back? Because it's not yet the proper time. So there will always be a pushback.

So that's why sometimes when things look like they're about to go way, way side, they come down back again because the Holy Spirit is still in the earth and holding back because things have to happen according to the proper time.

Then he says, you continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. So there's a time when the whole spirit is going to be removed out of the way and then when that happens the lawless one will be revealed.

Whom the Lord Jesus will throw overthrow with the breath of His mouth and destroy by the splendor of His coming when I read the scripture this morning I said oh my God the Holy Spirit is incredibly important and powerful.

He wrote the scriptures. He pointed out to Jesus. He was given to us as an aid. He explains everything. He created our world, Genesis chapter 1. The Spirit of God was hovering over.

And we see him here again, coming out of Jesus' mouth and destroying an individual who is supposedly running the show. That's who we are carrying every day inside of us, the Holy Spirit.

I don't know if we really understand the power in which we walk with because of what is inside of us. I don't think we really do understand the power of the Holy Spirit that was given to us as an aid to help us in the things that we ought to do and the way we ought to go.

And He is a counselor, He is a friend. He searches the mind of God and reveals things to you and I. I don't know if we really truly understand the power of the Holy Spirit the breath of God.

When God said let there be light the breath of God went forth and created so the scripture is telling us that Satan will be overthrown by the breath of God, destroyed by the splendor of His coming splendor.

Verse 9, the coming now we get now to see what he's going to look like so that we are not we are not fooled that when we see it we were like yeah that it is that's what it is the coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works and every believer should know how Satan works.

Everybody should know how Satan works. Because if you don't know how Satan works, deception is at your doorstep. He will use all sorts of display of power through signs and wonders that serve the line.

Isn't it amazing that people who deceive us, they also do the same thing display of power, signs and wonders things that look good number 10 and all the ways that the wickedness deceives those who are perishing so what's the what's the things going to push lies.

But the people who are deceived, listen to this. This is why you should never be deceived. Walk with the spirit and you'll never be deceived. Because there are consequences to being deceived.

Verse 10, And all the ways that the wickedness deceives those who are perishing. So the consequence of being deceived is what? You perish. Then it says here they perish because they refuse to love the truth and to be saved.

We have people right now who do not want the truth. And the reason they don't want the truth, brothers and sisters, is not because they just don't want it. It's because they have made a choice.

And that choice causes deception to be rife. Where people who are supposed to be intelligent cannot even see things that are in front of them.

Then he says for this reason, for this reason that they have been deceived and they are loving deception, for that reason, now God does something that He rarely does.

It says for that reason God will send them a powerful delusion so that they will believe in the lie and so that all who were condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.

So people who delight in wickedness, people who don't love the truth, people who choose to ignore the truth, it says God Himself is gonna go, okay, this is what you want. I'm going to send you a powerful delusion so that you never get out of that.

So the consequences of not believing and the consequences of hating the truth is that God literally gives you over to your own thoughts that you never get out of that corner. And I can tell you this is what this is.

This explains some of the things that we're seeing and some of the people that we know who does not love the truth. And you wonder why? Because God Himself says I will send you a powerful delusion.

So that they will believe in the lie and so that we could be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in weakness. He has instructions for you and I now.

But we ought to always thank God for you, brothers and sisters, loved by the Lord because God chose you as fresh fruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. and through belief in the truth.

So when we believe the truth, sanctification happens. He called you to this through our gospel that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers and sisters, here's the instructions to you and I.

Stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we pass. So when he says hold fast, it means holds very strong. Why are we being taught that? Because something is going to be pulling you.

So you got to hold on stand and you're going to hold, you're going to stand fast. Why? Because something is going to be pushing you. So stand firm, hold fast to the teaching we pass on to you.

So these teachings, these scriptures says, hold on to that. Whether we pass on to you, whether by word of mouth or by the letter. Verse number 16, may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God of our Father who loved us by His grace.

And gave us eternal encouragement, internal, eternal encouragement and good hope, not hope that perishes, no good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.

So everything good that you're doing in word He says may you be strengthened and encouraged and God Himself for good will give you eternal encouragement not just encouragement internal and good hope.

So there's bad hope there's all kinds of hope but He's going to give it good hope so this is the how of what's going to take place. Now I want you to say I want to say to you these guys when the Lord tells you something the devil can't do anything to stop it.

When the fullness of time had come Jesus had to come in spite of what the devil tried to do but you know what where the devil exists or he tries to wiggle himself in our business is in the why is in the how.

So if the Lord say to you, hey, I want you to get up and go to Africa, you'll be like, yeah, I heard the Lord. Yeah, that's what I'm going to do. The next question is, how am I going to do it?

And that's when the devil tries to insert himself right there to see if he can throw you off, derail you or slow you down. So the how has always been the critical part. This is why mankind throughout human history have always asked, how is it going to happen?

What is going to happen? So God did not leave it to chance. He gave us the how so that we are never tricked in the how. We know exactly when this is happening because we know what is going on.

We know what we were told, we know what the scriptures said about that time. We've been living in the last days. These are not the last days. The last days has been happening since Jesus left.

Remember, these scriptures are being written to people 50 years after Jesus passed, and they're still valid today. Why? Because a day is like a thousand in the Lord. So we've been in the last days.

We are not just in the last days. We have always been in the last days. They were activated by Jesus' return. But we are being told in the how that when you see total rebellion and there's an individual that is revealed, are there going to be types of? Yes.

There are types of people who look like him, but that's not him. When he shows up, you're going to see Him. In fact the Bible says pray you won't be here but the encouragement that we get is that may so Jesus Christ Himself God our Father who loved us by His grace gave us eternal encouragement.

Jesus Himself will give us eternal encouragement and good hope to encourage your heart and strengthen you in every good deed. That's the that's a guarantee that that's what's going to happen, Amen.

Father I thank You for Your words and I thank You for Your instructions we bless You and honor You for what You have given us through Your love so that we are never lost or we don't know what's going to happen but we do.

So today we thank You for these words, encouraging words and we thank You for our families and we thank You for our children and we thank You for our seniors.

Today we just want to thank You for giving us the life that we have, for giving us all the grace that we need and for giving us all the necessary tools to succeed. Father we bless You for Your love and we bless You for Your mercy constantly poured out every single morning.

So I pray right, I pray now Lord for those who are sick who are dealing with any physical elements that guard You may healing. I pray Lord for our seniors safeguard them as they go about their business they can fall be it at the shops or going to see loved ones.

I pray Lord for their safety I pray Lord for wisdom as we make decisions pertaining to our children families and works and work and I pray Lord also for strength when we are tugged in weakness unto You who was able to do exceedingly, abundantly more than we can ever explain.

Today we yield to You as we continue to present to You widows amongst us, Annette Grant, and we also thank You for her children and all that You are doing in their lives. And we thank You for Nadia and what You are doing in her life and her children.

Continue Lord we continue to pray for Sarge and Mother Russell for their healing and for anybody who might be dealing with any challenges in their bodies we pray for total. We pray for Kelly that God You can heal Kelly's eyes transform them in the name of Jesus.

Send the Holy Spirit and renew those eyes in the name of Jesus. We thank You Lord for this chapter that she's on bless them mightily and we also thank You for Veronica on her birthday that God You may bless her mightily in the name of Jesus.

Add more years to her life and Father we pray for all those who are connected to us, those who get on this prayer call those who write to us asking for prayer that God may You give them eternal encouragement as You have given it to us.

As we go about our business lead us not into temptation deliver us from the evil one for thine is Your kingdom the power and the glory forever and ever Amen and Amen. Brothers and sisters have an incredible phenomenal day.

Walk in encouragement knowing that we have guarantees from the Lord himself to bless us and to walk with us he says I'm never going to leave you nor forsake you so we thank the Lord for that so walk in expectations.

And walk with God and always, always, always through everything that you do acknowledge Him and you'll make your path straight. Have a blessed day and we'll see you back here tomorrow and it's prayer day tomorrow.

So send in your prayer request and let us pray for one another and pray together. Have an awesome, phenomenal Thursday.