Prayer Reset by Bob Sorgeنموونە

Day 6 : THANKS 

Reminder: Start today by cleansing your conscience. “Jesus, sprinkle me with Your blood.” Rejoice that all accusation is silenced by the blood of Christ and draw near to Him with boldness. 

The Lord loves it when we come into His presence with thanksgiving and praise (Psalm 100:4). Sometimes, in our dis­tress, we come to Him with the agonized cries of a broken heart, and He never despises that. But even in our times of greatest despondency, our first words can still be thank You. When you step into His room, let it be with a word of thanks and praise. 

When you first meet up with someone you haven’t seen for a while, usually your greeting is gracious and welcoming. “It’s great to see you again!” Your first words usually aren’t, “We need to talk.” Likewise, God appreciates when the opener to the conversation is characterized by thanksgiving, praise, and blessing. 

Even Jesus, before he raised Lazarus from the dead in John 11, gave thanks. He also gave thanks before break­ing the loaves and fish, before instituting the Lord’s Supper, and before meals. For Him, thanksgiving was a way to open the conversation. 

When giving instructions concerning prayer, Paul spoke of the centrality of thanksgiving:

 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” (Philippians 4:6)

Thanksgiving is added to prayer much like salt to food. You can eat food without it, but salt makes the meal much more enjoyable. Similarly, God will receive us if we pray without offering thanksgiving, but thanksgiving makes the exchange more delightful to Him. 

I’ll confess my forgetfulness here. Although I feel thankful to God most of the time, many times I forget to actually verbalize it. Thanksgiving needs to be spo­ken. I need to be reminded to actually express my thanksgiving and praise at the start of my prayer time. 

PRAY. 

• Express thanks to the Lord for something specific and praise His name. 
• Ask the Lord for a way to remember to make thanksgiving the beginning of each day’s praise. 
• “Lord Jesus, I’m asking You to make thanksgiving and praise an habitual part of my daily prayer life.”