Saturday, September 24, 2016
Philippians 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God...
A PRAYER PRIMER (6)
With Thanksgiving
"But, Pastor, I just don't know what to pray for..." so said the student when I asked him to close the session by leading us in prayer. We adults don't have to think too hard to find things that come to mind: Our children, our country, troubles in the workplace, fellow Christians who are sick or dying. On the other hand, sometimes our children have trouble. Life is sometimes pretty good.
It's good to begin with thanksgiving. When we begin by remembering God's gifts to us in the past we are put in the proper frame of mind to ask. When we acknowledge our sin and consider the lengths to which our Father went to solve our problem of sin, we rejoice! When we remember difficult decisions in time past that "worked out better than we hoped," we ought to give thanks to our Heavenly Father for His goodness. When we think how God has protected and defended us from dangers and granted us freedom to worship Him in this country, we have good reason to give thanks and pray.
It doesn't take long before we see all the reasons we have to thank God. We also see why we can pray confidently. Moreover, we may simply ask that His kindness continue, knowing that it will simply because He loves us.
Don't be gloomy about the future, our God has it in hand! Consider how He has directed and governed your life thus far!
Let your requests be made known to God-- with thanksgiving!
