07/31/2020
How should our day begin each morning, and in what way should each of our prayers continue to open throughout our day? Praise is good, but it is my custom to thank God for all His many blessings that have proceeded this moment before I begin to praise Him, and finally to convey any need, or desire, I might have. How do you begin your day, and your next breath of prayer? Do you thank Him enough?
“give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
1 Thessalonians 5:18 ESV
When we consider God, it is tempting to envision Him as a spirit that moves in and out of our lives, but He is far more than that. Compare Him with the air that surround us at all times. He is with us always even when we neglect to realize it, and without Him, we have, and can do, nothing. Typically a man can live without food for approximately three weeks, and without water for three or four days, but he can only live a short time without breath... typically a man can hold his breath for thirty to sixty seconds before unconsciousness ensues, and brain damage begins to occur shortly thereafter; three to four minutes later. It is no accident that God BREATHED life into us, and in this way of describing life we are not only surrounded by Him, but we contain the very breath of Him within us...
“then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”
Genesis 2:7 ESV
I have heard people ask what they should thank God for. They can’t think of a reason, so they just move on in their lives taking ungrateful step after ungrateful step, and it breaks my heart. I like watching the movie “The Way” with Martin Sheen. As this movie begins a man has already lost his wife, but in the early minutes of this film he also loses his only son, who is in Spain on a pilgrimage. As he is preparing to go there to retrieve the body, and bring it back to the United States, there is a very heart wrenching scene in which Martin’s character is sitting with a priest, and is asked if he would like to pray... Martin’s response is “For what?” In his moment of absolute grief, he is at a loss for anything in his life to be thankful to God for. He has reached a crisis of faith in which he has lost hope. His little faith was not sustaining him even though God had not abandoned him... the breath of life was still surrounding him; it was within his lungs, and coursing through his veins, but was going unrecognized.
“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 ESV
Martin Sheen’s character spends the rest of the movie as a bitter man being pursued by God until at last he opens his eyes to find that the Lord is still there, and that His breath of life is still in him. So how many breaths must we take in our lives before we realize there is much to thank God for, and actually thank Him for them? How long must we breathe in and out the grace of God before we begin our prayers with thanksgiving? I was reading a Puritan devotional this morning and read a wonderful quote by William Cooper, an English clergyman who lived in the 1600s; listen to his thoughtful words...
“Thanksgiving demonstrates a spiritual and noble frame of the soul in the highest pitch of grace.” - William Cooper, Puritan Sermons
We praise God for all that He is, and does, but we thank Him for all He specifically is, and has done, in our own lives. If it is not your habit to give thanks to God as you begin your prayers, then think about this, and bring to your mind every blessing you have taken for granted since you last thanked Him. If you find yourself at a loss, then simply begin by thanking Him for the air you breathe, and every breath you take... it is by His grace that this happens, and each morning when we rise there have been so many that have been taken without our first word of thanksgiving.
“Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.”
Psalms 100:4-5 KJV
Prayer:
Father, thank you for your many blessings, and for the very air we breathe that contains the life you first breathed into the nostrils of Adam. Thank you for your Son Jesus Christ who you sent to suffer, die, be resurrected, and to ascend into heaven, all that we might be forgiven our sins, have abundant life, and spend eternity giving thanks, and praising you in worship. This is your day Father, and I thank you for it. I trust in your provision, and protection today, and thank you for my faith and trust which feeds my hope in it. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God who is worthy of all thanksgiving and praise. Perfect are you in your love, and goodness. Help me Father by strengthening me in my belief, growing me in faith, and giving me reason to thank you and praise you for each moment of my life... now, and forevermore. Your grace abounds Father, and my thanksgiving is founded in it as i lift up my hand to praise you, and shout Hallelujah! Hold me close Father, and let me whisper “thank you” in your ear, even as Jesus does. Hear my words and know my heart. Bring me into your house, and seat me at your table where I can all those there offer eternal thanks for your grace and provision.
“Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted.”
John 6:11 ESV
Rich Forbes