9 The coming of the
lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all
sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie,
10 and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing.
This is a reminder to me that Satan is not only real but a real threat. The threat is everywhere and we must be awake and sober as Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 5:6
6 So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober.
Moreover, we have encouragement in our God through faith and love:
[L]et us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. (verse 8)
My Prayer: Lord, I know that You love me and You have blessed me and protected me. You are a great God. Yet I know there are many areas of my life where I am weak and I know I am a work in progress - that You are not done with me yet. So I ask that You forgive me for my weakness and I also ask that You continue Your work in me. Take me, purify me and refine me so that my faith and love in You will serve as Paul writes to be a "breastplate, and [my] hope of salvation as a helmet".
