Intercession: John had just discussed Christian confidence in prayer, that God answers when we pray according to His will (5:14-15). He now points us to a specific area of God’s will, the restoration/sanctification of a brother. When a repentant man (a brother) is struggling with his sin, it is our duty to help him (1 Thess. 5:14) and pray for him. We are to be the spiritual community which prays and restores him in a spirit of gentleness (Gal. 6:1). We guard each other (Heb. 3:12-13) and lock our shields together to form the testudo[1] and protect each other against the threats of sin (Heb. 10:24-25). We do this with prayer.
Protection: But we are not left to ourselves to fend for ourselves. Jesus our good shepherd guards us (John 10:11-15). He ensures that no one will snatch us out of His hand (John 10:28). He loses none whom the Father has given Him (John 6:39; 18:9). Jesus is God Almighty, the second person of the Triune God. He possesses divine power that supersedes all other powers as Him who is co-equal with the Father (John 10:28-30). If this Jesus guards us, no one can ruin us, not the world, not demons, not even the Devil himself. So long as He is in charge, “not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven; in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.”[2] The God and eternal life (1:2) who watches over us is the Lord Jesus Christ. Belief in any other Jesus is a man-made religion (2:22; 4:2-3), a damnable idolatry (5:21). We cling to the Son of God incarnate (4:2), the propitiation for our sins (4:10), the Savior (4:14), the eternal life (1:2), our refuge and our fortress (Ps. 91:2).