Thank You Jesus!
I don’t know about you but when I pray, I flood God’s inbox with requests, prayers for my family, prayers for friends and prayers for our country. I am one of those who believes the verse: You do not have because you do not ask God. (James 4:2) So I ask and I ask and I ask again. Every morning and throughout the day I lay my requests on a blanket before God, just like a huge picnic spread at the park.
As I ask, I also BELIEVE that God can and will answer my prayers if they are within his will for my life. I believe He wants the communication with me and believe He wants me to rely on him for ALL my needs so that I am totally dependent on Him.
This being said, I have seen many answered prayers, not always in the way I imagined. Sometimes the answers come in miraculous ways. Through his amazing care for the details of my life, I know that God has heard my prayers and acted on them.
Are you like me? Do you lay it all at the cross?
If you do, then you have more to be thankful for when those answers to prayer start rolling in. Often times that’s an element of prayer we miss. GRATITUDE.
I was convicted about this when I read the Biblical account about the ten lepers who approached Jesus for healing in Luke 17:11-19. They cried to the Lord, Jesus, Master, have pity on us! Jesus had mercy on them and told them to go show themselves to the priests where Scripture says they were cleansed.
But here’s the sad part. Only ONE of the ten lepers who was healed came back to THANK Jesus for his healing. The leper praised God and threw himself at Jesus’ feet. Jesus wondered where the other nine were. They had forgotten to thank him. When Jesus responded to the gratitude with Rise and go, your faith has made you well, I wondered about the other lepers. Was their healing temporary due to their lack of thankfulness? Were there other emotional aspects of their life that were not healed? Scripture leaves us hanging, but it is food for thought.
It was then that I realized I am often no better than the nine lepers who were cleansed and forgot to return to the source of that cleansing. It came to my mind how important gratitude for answered prayers is and that it is a NECESSARY part of my prayer life. While I do thank God for answered prayer sometimes, I forget to be grateful a lot of times. I receive the answer and continue to move forward rather than return to my knees to say “THANK YOU!”
When I pray for safe travel, I need to thank Jesus when I get to my destination safely. When I pray for a child to do well on a school exam, I should thank the Lord when he does. When I pray for victory in my life in some area, I need to express my gratitude when I am healed. When I think about all the times I’ve prayed and not thanked God for the answer, I am ashamed.
If you look at the writings of the Apostle Paul, he generally begins his letters with gratitude to the Lord for answers to his prayers concerning the people he is writing to. In 1 Corinthians 1:4-9 he says, I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge—God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Paul saw tremendous growth in the churches he planted but knew this only happened through God’s strength and power. He was thankful.
Think back on all your answered prayers. It’s not too late to run back and thank Jesus for them.