Ephesians 1:13-16
Verse 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.
An important part of our prayers need to be the acknowledgement of God’s role in everything. Part of showing we know this is in our giving thanks to God for all He has done, continues to do and will do in the future. This can be done by an in the moment giving of thanks like when we thank Him for the beautiful sunrise or sunset, lovely flowers or when we reach the end of a journey. It can also be a time of intentional prayers of thanksgiving where we give Him thanks for all the various reasons we have to be thankful.
There is no end to the things we can and should be thankful for. Our very breath is because of God and that is just the tip of the iceberg. There are the physical things we can thank Him for, things like our house, car, job, family, friends, pets, hobbies, weather, heat, air conditioning and the list could go on and on. There are also many spiritual things we can be thankful for and this is what Paul had been writing about and so it makes sense this is what he was thanking God for about his friends.
Paul added his prayer of thanks for his friends at the beginning of his prayers for them. In fact, Paul says his prayers are part of his thankfulness about their faith. Their faith came to Paul’s mind as he was thanking God for His mighty works, including salvation. Of all the things we have to be thankful for, salvation should be one we never fail to give thanks for.
But we can’t just thank Him for our salvation, we need to be thanking Him for the faith and salvation of the other members of His army as well. He has chosen His army, choosing each one for a specific purpose, a job He created us for to further His kingdom. This too is something we should thank Him for, He didn’t place us in life without equipping us for what He has for us to do.
Our words shouldn’t be the only thank you we are giving to God. We should be living our lives in such a way it shows we are thankful to Him for all He has done, is doing and will do in our lives. Our hearts should always be ready to thank Him for who He is and thank Him not just for our salvation but also the salvation of all His people.
Making It Personal
What are you thankful for today? Why are you thankful for it? How can you show God you are thankful for it?
Making It Personal Kids
How can you thank God for all He does? What are you most thankful to Him for? Have you thanked Him?
Closing Prayer
Father, thank You for all You are and all You do. Please give us hearts to be thankful in all things and to live lives of thankfulness to You. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Commentaires