Giving Thanks

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I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.
- Ephesians 1:16
 
If you could listen in on Paul’s prayer times, you’d hear him thanking God for the Ephesian church regularly. He doesn’t just intercede for them every day; he takes time to express his gratitude to God for them.
 
The practice of regular prayer can prove difficult for us. Out of a desire to avoid rote and formulaic prayers, we fail to settle into a rhythm in our prayer lives. We pray when we have time or when we feel led, which means that all too often we only pray over our community when there are specific needs that come to our attention.
 
What are we missing when the focus of our prayer lives is only asking for things? God is eager to be involved in our lives and encourages us to invite him into each and every situation and rough spot. So, there’s nothing inherently wrong with asking God for help or for stuff or for his intervention. But special things happen when we pray prayers of thanks and gratitude over our community, our friends, and our families.
 
First, when we pray joy-filled prayers of thanksgiving for the people God’s placed in our lives, we’re seeing them as God sees them. God’s primary posture toward humanity is that of a joy-filled parent, celebrating and rejoicing in the joy of his children. God doesn’t see us primarily as objects to be fixed but as children who are loved.
 
Secondly, taking a moment to thank God for people forces us to acknowledge that God’s already at work in their lives. We aren’t asking him to jump in somewhere where he’s been absent. We’re just asking him to continue to grow, nurture, and expand the good work that he’s already doing. Thanking him for his already-in-progress work shapes the way we ask him to intervene.
 
Thirdly, thanking God for people strips away a layer of anxiety around our time of prayer. As Alex said in a message years ago: “Anxiety and gratitude cannot coexist in the same brain.” Once gratitude blows the clouds of anxiety away, we can see more clearly how to pray.
 
Finally, praying prayers of gratitude for people fills us with compassion and kindness to offer them in our next encounters with them. Our prayers – even when they are about other people – always transform us.
 
Who do you need to thank God for today? If you could take up Paul’s practice of regularly thanking God for someone, who would be on your list?

1 Comment

My heart is full of thanksgiving as I see God working in small details and huge ones right now during my husband's recent health issues. I see such goodness in people it almost can knock me over. I see the restoration a bad situation can bring to a relationship between father and son. I can see a veil fall from my eyes so I can see more clearly the beauty of the day, and not to borrow troubles from days ahead. To Fear Not ,because God is with us. He will not leave us nor foresake us. Perfect love Does drive out fear! I am thankful for this church family as well!!!

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