Things to be Thankful For- Nov 9, 2011

Nov 9, 2011

So today's blog might be a little different, but after mine and Chip's devotional time last night, I have to get this off my chest because it is something that was such a simple revelation for both of us. Today what I am thankful for is that I have SO much to be thankful for... Last night after our friends left for dinner, Chip and I were talking and we hadn't had devotional time together in a while and we both felt like we needed it... So we pulled out his devotional that I gave him as one of his birthday presents for his "Birthday Week" and we opened it up to Day One... It was about prayer. The devotional for each day has an actual devotional part, quotes about the topic from people, and then a whole page of scriptures. So as we were reading there was one quote that really struck home for me and Chip both... 

"Prayer shouldn't be casual or sporadic, dictated only by the needs of the moment. Prayer should be as much a part of our lives as breathing." -Billy Graham

I know Chip and I are not the only two people that feel that our prayers consists of these qualities sometimes! Right? We feel that our prayers so much of the time are "God, help me with this..", "God, heal this person...", "God, protect me from this..." SO WHATS MISSING? Philippians 4:6 says:

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."

Yes, the Bible tells us to present our requests to God, but have we thanked Him for everything else leading up to this point? So often times we come to God and ask, ask, ask... but we never just say "Thanks!" How much would our perspective change if this was the mindset that we had? ...if we could honestly go before God and just say thank You without asking for anything back! And lets be honest- theres not many people who NEED anything else in their life- we don't! Yes, there are things that we might want, but nothing we need. If you have a place to sleep and food to eat, you don't NEED anything either! So what if we changed those prayers? What if they went from:

"God, I need financial breakthrough" to "God, thank You for being my Provider and never leaving me" 

"God, heal (person's name)" to "God, thank You for the life they have had up to this point and the people they have touched"

"God, I need direction in this area" to "God, thank You for all the times you have guided me, I completely trust You now."

Am I saying it is wrong to pray for direction or discernment in situations? Or asking for God to heal a person? NO, NOT AT ALL!!!!! But when we pray- thinking we know how the outcome should be... We aren't fully entrusting God with the situation, because we already have "the solution" planned out! And then what if "our solution" isn't the solution God intended at all? Do we blame him for not coming through? 

So I dare you to change your perspective... Instead of asking God, thank God! We all have so much to be thankful for... Lets not take it for granted another day!!!

Thank You, Jesus for giving us so much to be thankful for!