³ But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one. (2 Thessalonians 3:3 NKJV)

I emphasized three definitive words in our scripture that we need to truly stand upon. There are many of these words in scripture that we read over and do not read into the verse their operative nature. Our God is an active God, not some passive entity far away who does not care for us, even if it can seem that way at times.

These operative words need to have meaning in our lives. We really must read scripture deeply enough to well understand what God is trying to convey. There are three other operative words in this scripture as well, can you pick them out? See if you can before reading on, I’ll wait….

The verse speaks first to God who is Faithful. Then it speaks to us in how He will Establish, You. You see, this very short verse in scripture tells us all we need to know about God’s nature toward us. He is for us, He will establish us and He will guard us! The operative nature of these words is definitive.

Reflect on: How you read scripture. Are you looking for the operative words and God’s definitive nature?