Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Forever Thanks
As I read these words from Mark Roberts:
Many people talk about "stepping out" in reliance, but often it is simply a matter of learning that we are reliant right where we are. The way we express that is by being thankful. What we have is gift, not entitlement. All that we have, all that we are is because God has made it so. We do not need to "step out."
Having trouble with the whole learning how to rely on God thing? Stop trying to learn and start being thankful. You already are reliant - you just need to acknowledge it.
faith reliance thanksgiving
To begin, you might try imitating Paul's example of nonstop thanksgiving. When he says that he has "not stopped giving thanks," Paul does not mean that he is literally praying every moment. Rather, he's speaking of a thankful frame of mind that finds expression in consistent prayers of gratitude. Perhaps daily, or perhaps several times throughout the day, Paul briefly thanked the Lord for those believers who were faithfully living as God's people in the world.
I try to structure my life with regular times of gratitude each day, including morning devotions, praying before meals, and evening prayers. But, often my prayers of thanksgiving are brief and relatively predictable. How might my prayers be different, I wonder, if I spent a few additional moments thinking about how God has blessed me? What would happen if I asked the Holy Spirit to bring to mind blessings I had never even considered before? What if I asked the Lord to help me live each day with a consistent sense of gratitude? What if I paid attention to each gift of the day, offering thanks to the Lord? How different my faith would be! How different my life would be!It dawned on me that being consistently thankful is an important part of being reliant on God in all things. In thankfulness we grant that God is in fact responsible for all that we have.
Many people talk about "stepping out" in reliance, but often it is simply a matter of learning that we are reliant right where we are. The way we express that is by being thankful. What we have is gift, not entitlement. All that we have, all that we are is because God has made it so. We do not need to "step out."
Having trouble with the whole learning how to rely on God thing? Stop trying to learn and start being thankful. You already are reliant - you just need to acknowledge it.
faith reliance thanksgiving
