RIGHTLY THANKFUL?
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Opening Prayer
Jesus, you are the Way, the Truth, and the Life; draw my heart to dwell on that. Cause thankfulness to rise in me because I can trust in you.
Read EPHESIANS 1:15–23
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Thanksgiving and Prayer
15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit[a] of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
Footnotes
- Ephesians 1:17 Or a spirit
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
How hard is it for you to be thankful when things are difficult or not going as you would like them to or think they should?
Thanksgiving is always the second word, never the first.1 When we are thankful, it is a response to something that has happened to us. Our thanksgiving often arises out of pleasant and prosperous external circumstances. Your life takes a turn for the better and the natural response is to be pleased; we can turn this into thanksgiving that our Father has given us a good gift.
Paul is thankful, not because this life is going well for him but because God is actively at work in himself and others. Paul has been beaten, imprisoned, rejected, and shipwrecked, and yet he chooses to be overflowing with thanksgiving, something he also instructs the church to be.2 How can he respond like this? His eyes are fixed on what truly matters, trusting in the Lord Jesus and loving others. When he does so, he gives thanks. Paul uses hyperbole to show how thankful he is that the Ephesians have faith and that they show love: he says he never stops giving thanks.
It is from this place that his prayer for the church is born. He prays that the church will grow, not in material ways (though these can be blessings), but in wisdom and revelation so that we may know God better. He prays that we may be enlightened to know the hope of a glorious inheritance and the power of God to raise us from the dead. As God has placed Christ as head over all things and disarmed the powers who stand against him, our hope is secured. Therefore, we always have a reason to give thanks, even in the darkest moments. This is our buttress against the temptation to despair. Thanksgiving is always the second word, never the first.
Apply
Set aside ten minutes to focus on giving thanks to God, not for circumstances but simply for the gift of Jesus and the Spirit.
Closing prayer
Forgive me Father, for those times when I am focused on my earthly concerns and not remembering to appreciate the things of eternal value that you pour out on me.
1 PT O’Brien, ‘Thanksgiving’, in Dictionary of Paul and his Letters, ed Gerald F Hawthorne and Ralph P Martin (IVP, 1993) 696. 2 1 Thess 5:18
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