Thanksgiving

Philippians 4:5-7 "Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing; but in everything with prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

The focus of this message will be on thanksgiving. So many times we pray and seek the Lord but we forget to thank him for what is about to be performed by his Spirit. It is vitally important to put our faith into action. We are also to be patient with God when making our request known. Psalm 27:14 "Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart: wait, I say, on the Lord." This is where patience comes in to play. James 1:3 "Knowing this, that the trying of our faith works patience." When we pray and do not instantly receive though we have thanked God for it, what is the problem? Maybe nothing…it could be a test of how much we trust God. When we pray are we expecting to receive? If we are expecting to receive then we should be thankful in advance. James goes on to say in verse 4 "But let patience have her perfect work that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing."

Another thing to understand is God will not disappoint us if we are praying from our heart in love seeking his will. If we pray from the mind we will want things which are contrary to God. Praying from heart means letting all fear subside and allowing God to tell us what to pray 1 John 4:18 "There is no fear in love; but perfect love cast out fear: because fear has torment. He that has fear is not made perfect in love."

What is there to be thankful for you might ask? Thank him for his promise, for being trustworthy, for never leaving us nor forsaking us.

When faith touches God he moves. St Luke 8:43-44 "And a women having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any. Came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her bleeding stopped."

If we are committed to God's work and trust him, we will seek those things from the heart. God will establish his thoughts with us (Proverbs 16:3), and he will bring to pass the desires of our heart (Psalms 37:4).

We should be thankful if we are serving the Lord because he is taking care of us (St Matthew 6:25-26). 1 Peter 5:7 "casting all your care upon him: for he cares for you."

God does not want us in bad health or needing anything 3 John verse 2 "Beloved, I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers."

The believer in their request and thanksgiving to God should be at ease and feel God's peace come to them, 1 Philippians 4:7 "And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Though I covered more than a few subjects within this message, the important aspect of a believer's prayer life is to be thankful. Why are we thankful? We are thankful to God because we know that if we pray believing we can ask anything in the name of Jesus and it will be done (St. Matthew 21:22).

In Christ Jesus,

Dale Thompson