Thankfulness: Prayer
Psalms 30:1-12
We cry out
to God, being thankful to him for hearing and helping us
in all our
trials and tribulations, realizing that without him by our side
we would be
nothing. We should give thanks to him
forever.
Thankfulness is closely bound with
prayer, as we find in Philippians 4:6.
It is through prayer that we ask of God and thank God both. God does want us to request the things we need
and want, but he also requires us to express gratitude for what blessings we
have. (1 John 3:21-22.) We must find a balance between supplication
and thanksgiving.
There are many examples of what to
be thankful for, but two things in particular are repeated often enough, they
bear looking into with a little more depth.
We will be addressing other blessings next week. For this week, let’s look at the aspects of
thankfulness in prayer at mealtimes, as well as thanking God for our brothers
and sisters in Christ.
In Acts 27:33-36, we find Paul just
before a shipwreck, encouraging those on the boat with him to eat. In verse 35, it says, “he took the bread, and
giving thanks to God in the presence of all he broke it and began to eat.” Today it is tradition to say a prayer before
a meal, giving thanks for the food. It
is easy to fall into the habit of doing this, making it an automatic series of
words we say without thinking. However,
sincerity in prayer is essential. Jesus
addressed this problem, as we can read in Matthew 6:5-8. They lacked the sort of sincerity that God
looks for in our prayers.
Our country’s wealth makes meals a
given for most families, which can incline us to taking it for granted that we
will have food on the table. In previous
eras, this was not so. There have been
times even in our own country when families have been deeply grateful for
whatever was on the table. However, our
thankfulness should not be driven by lack or abundance (Phil. 4:11-12). Let us remain mindful of what exactly we are
thanking him for, guarding ourselves against giving insincere thanks.
God gave us our brothers and sisters
in Christ in order to strengthen us and build us up, as well as to teach and
guide us. The gift of our relationship
with other Christians is essential to our spiritual health. This is why we are told we should not be
“neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one
another” (Heb. 10:25).
The word “brothers” is used 46 times
in Acts alone in referring to those who are not actual family. Some of these are when the Jews are being spoken
to, but predominantly it refers to fellow Christians. This should indicate to us how important such
a close relationship to each other is, and how much we have to be thankful for
in one another. Paul often gave thanks
for the brethren to whom he was writing, once when he was in particular need
(Acts 28:15). God should be thanked
often for the blessing of our brethren!
Besides giving thanks in prayer for
our brethren, we also need to have an attitude of thankfulness towards our
fellow saints. In Romans 16:3-4, Paul
expresses strong gratefulness for a couple who had put their lives on the line
for him. This should not be the only
reason we thank one another, though! We
should follow Pauls’ example by being thankful to and for others, including
acknowledging their work in the Lord. We
should feel a sense of brotherly love for each other and a desire to show our
appreciation (Rom. 12:10). This applies
to the church in general, to the Christians we know in our own congregation,
and includes those Christians we may have briefly met or heard. We should be grateful to meet a brother or
sister from another state or country, and should thank God upon hearing about a
faithful congregation, even if we ourselves have not yet been there.
Let’s not take each other for
granted! In prayer, let’s remember why
we are thanking God, and what for. Next
week we will find more examples of what to be thankful for, keeping in mind
that we should thank God for all our blessings.
(Questions that went with this lesson are available upon request.)
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