Tag: thanks

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

adbLeave a comment

Thank You That I Am a Christian

Gracious Father,
On this Thanksgiving Day, I am filled with gratitude as I reflect on how good you are to me. The countless physical blessings surrounding me are daily reminders that you not only richly provide for my daily bread – my necessities – but also for so many of my wants. Thank you that having to go without basic needs is really an unfamiliar experience for me.

Surpassing the abundance of physical blessings, however, are the spiritual blessings that are also mine daily. These start with and flow from the name, Christian, which I bear solely because of your grace. This title, this name, carries with it a significance that is mine for eternity – to know that I belong to you and am yours! I stand in awe of my underserved status before you as a perfect man of God. Even the faith to grasp this reality is your gift to me! As a Christian, I rest in a daily peace that cannot be found anywhere else, a joy that cannot be filled from anything else, and grace that cannot be fulfilled by anyone else. Thank you that I bear this name: Christian!

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

adbLeave a comment

For All the Hardship I Never Experienced

Gracious God,
In this month of Thanksgiving, I am grateful for all of the hurts and the hardships that you kept me from experiencing in my life. I naturally get so hyper-focused on any difficulties or challenges that DO come into my life that I fail to comprehend how many you’ve spared me from over the course of my life. Even when I have had bad experiences, I can always thank you that they weren’t more frequent or extensive than they were.

Thank you for the injuries I never sustained, for the sicknesses I never contracted from someone else, and the accidents I was never involved in. Thank you for the heart-wrenching conversations that didn’t ever come up, the abuse and trauma that are not a part of my story, and the time in a hospital or a prison that I didn’t have to spend. Thank you for guarding and protecting me from so much more than I could ever know, and thank you for your promise to work good even out of the bad things that have come into my life. You are always good, and always good to me. Thank you. 

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

adbLeave a comment

For Our Veterans

Compassionate Lord,
Sadly, on this day of remembering our veterans, we acknowledge how often and how easily they are also forgotten. Many who are struggling – often as a direct result of their service to our country – do not receive the care they need, whether it be physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually. Provide them with those much-need resources, as well as the knowledge and ability to access them. Extend to them the healing and support they require to overcome any struggles or setbacks they are facing. Through all of these outlets of compassion, may they know how much they are valued and appreciated.

Thank you, Lord, for the sacrificial spirit of our veterans. They stand out in a me-first society that is more inclined toward individualism than what is best for the greater good. They were and are willing to submit and follow orders that frequently result(ed) in the displacement and relocation of their families to different states and even other countries. Being deployed and apart from spouses and children meant many family milestones were missed. Finally, many also faced the cruel tragedies of conflicts and battles, and saw and experienced unforgettable anguish and trauma. May we always be grateful to our veterans for all of these sacrifices, and for so many other sacrifices they’ve made of which we are unaware. Bless them with your favor for their service today and always.  

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

adbLeave a comment

For Your Protection

Almighty God,
Thank you for the many ways you provide me with protection on a daily basis. There are so many standards and safeguards incorporated into things like construction permits, product manufacturing, transportation & travel, and so much more, that are all designed with people’s safety in mind. Though so few of them are ever even on my radar, thank you for them!

I also thank you for the people who serve in so many different capacities to offer me protection and care. Our military protects our nation from foreign and domestic threats. Police are dedicated to protecting and serving citizens from danger, often putting their own lives on the line. Firemen, too, put their lives at risk to rescue lives and extinguish burning buildings and wildfires. First responders can often be the difference between life and death for those seriously injured. ER doctors and nurses make life-saving decisions in an instant. As I reflect on all of these ways by which you guard and protect me, I am filled with gratitude. Thank you, Lord!

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

adbLeave a comment

Gratitude for Technology

Dear Lord,
When I pause to consider all the good gifts you give me, I am overwhelmed with gratitude. Not only do you provide for my every spiritual need, but you give me all that I need physically, too – and so much more than just the necessities. Your generosity is so abundant!

Today I want to thank you for the blessing of technology, which affects my life in so many ways. My phone connects me to countless people and opportunities and experiences instantly. Gaming and streaming options provide endless entertainment. Hospitals are filled with modern medical equipment that saves and sustains lives. Homes are filled with technology that makes so many things so much easier. Thank you!

I also pray that you keep me vigilant in my use of technology. Guard me from becoming mastered by it or attached to it in unhealthy ways, but like all things, to use it in moderation. Since it can also serve as a gateway to sin, protect my eyes and my heart from experiencing anything that would dishonor you, and send your Spirit to guide me with discernment in my use of technology. 

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

PRAYERS FOR GUYS

adbLeave a comment

For the Blessing of Enjoyment

Dear Lord,
I am grateful for the countless ways you provide for me. I have an abundance of the basic necessities of life, but also so many blessings beyond these that serve to bring added enjoyment into my life. A simple song can so easily shift my mood in positive ways. A familiar movie can gladden my heart. A riveting book can provide a brief and healthy escape from worries or troubles for a time. While such things are not essential to life, you provide them anyway, reminding me how much you delight in blessing your people. Thank you for all the little things that add joy to my life. 

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

The “Why” Behind Giving Thanks

adbLeave a comment

(Job 1:20-22)

Why are you thankful? I don’t ask to give the impression that you shouldn’t be thankful, of course, but rather to get right down to what is the driving force behind why we give thanks? I’d suggest there are probably two pretty prominent drivers behind why we give thanks and, while I don’t want you to walk away from this thinking that either one of those is wrong, I do believe they are lacking. They don’t really get at the heart of thanksgiving. 

You may have already experienced the first of these two without realizing it. What thoughts did you have when I asked the first question, “Why are you thankful?” Did your mind immediately begin listing all of the blessings for which you’re thankful? Then you’ve identified the first pretty typical approach to why we give thanks. We give thanks, we are thankful, because of all of the blessings we have received from God.

And this is true! We are abundantly blessed, and this approach to thanksgiving allows us to deeply reflect on how blessed we are, because even in the midst of a year like this, we can see that God has not turned off the spigot of his blessings – he has simply shown us different ways of blessing that perhaps haven’t been on our radars for some time.

This approach to giving thanks is reinforced through a number of traditions and practices. We take turns having everyone in the family include one thing for which they’re thankful in our prayers. We make lists of blessings for which we’re thankful at home. We make gratitude posts on social media. We write thank-you cards to others. My family has been covering a pumpkin with permanent marker, recording things for which we’re thankful. All of these are good and beneficial practices, but there’s a catch when our gratitude is dependent upon the blessings we receive: God’s blessings come and go in so many different ways, and we often really struggle to see them. Not that they aren’t there, but if “what-I-get” determines gratitude, we’re not always so great at appreciating what we have. And, don’t be surprised when some folks who have had a legitimately difficult hardship-filled life really struggle with giving thanks.

If identifying our blessings is one main approach to being thankful, the other is choosing to have a thankful attitude. In fact, you’ve probably even heard the phrase, “you gotta have an attitude of gratitude.” We have word art up on our walls somewhere that reminds us to “be grateful/thankful.”

I’m a big believer of this one, that the mindset one chooses to have has a lot to do with how we see things. And it does make a difference, to be sure! Applying this practice alone would be a huge step for many! If one chooses to focus on all that is wrong, on all that he or she doesn’t have, or all of life’s hardships, chances are, that person not only won’t come across as very thankful, but they’re probably also not that enjoyable to be around, if we’re being honest! So yes, choosing to have an attitude of gratitude or determining simply to be more thankful are good things. But even then, since my mindset will rise and fall like the tide, so then will my thanksgiving if it depends on my attitude.  

So these approaches that typically drive our gratitude are unreliable because they both depend on our ability to continually identify our blessings or maintain a grateful attitude and mindset. And no one is able to do either 100% of the time. Our regular bouts of ingratitude or grumbling or complaining or discontentment or… (you get the point!) make it impossible! But there is good news, news for which we can be thankful. There is a better way to think about gratitude and giving thanks, and we actually see it very clearly in a man who lost everything: Job. 

We’re given a pretty glowing description of Job when first introduced to him. “This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil” (v.1b). “He was the greatest man among all the people of the East” (v.3). Job was two things: blameless and blessed. While we’re not accustomed to measuring wealth in terms of livestock, Job’s animals and the assets required to maintain them would have easily placed him in multi-millionaire status. We’re then told that Satan contended before God that Job’s piety was only a result of his transactional relationship with God; in other words, Satan presumed that Job was only good because God was good to him. If Job didn’t have it so good, Satan reasoned, then surely he would shun God. So God allowed Satan to put his theory to the test by declaring it open season on Job. Satan took advantage of it and wiped Job out, stripping him of his sheep and servants, and even his sons and daughters. Not only that, but Job received this devastating news all at the same time in successive waves, one gut-wrenching message after the other. 

How does Job respond to this financial and family ruin? “At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head” (v.20). Guess what? It’s OK to be hurt and angry when bad things happen. Doing so isn’t inherently sinful. Those are normal feelings and emotions. Read through the psalms and you find plenty of pain and anger. But how one manages those feelings determines whether or not they are allowed to breed sin. My advice? Take a page out of Job’s book and do what he did next: “Then he fell to the ground in worship…” (v.20).

Take note. Job shifted his focus away from his loss. He didn’t react to his loss by reasoning that the solution would be to make a list of all the things he still had so that he could somehow find a bright side in blessings. Neither did Job rely on having the right attitude, as if a commitment to a positive vibe or good thoughts would be the fix he needed. No, what did Job do? He focused on the Lord. “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised” (Job 1:21). If we reflect especially on those last words of Job in this verse, it reveals how and why Job could respond the way he did.  

“May the name of the Lord be praised.” Everything flows from this. Clearly, under the circumstances, it’s quite obvious that Job’s adoration and admiration were not conditional. Job had just lost it all, and his response was to praise the Lord. That conviction provided him with the proper perspective, that he brought nothing into the world and would take nothing out of it, and that the Lord is free to give and take as he pleases. But his praise of the Lord wasn’t dependent upon his situation or condition, but rather on the simple understanding that the Lord is ALWAYS worthy of praise.  

What then was the key to Job’s ability to stay positive, to not spiral into depression or suicidal considerations? He didn’t dwell on blessings, which as he had just experienced, could be snatched away in the blink of an eye; he didn’t resort to positive affirmations, telling himself, “Stay positive, Job, stay positive. Keep thinking good thoughts.” No, he focused on something far more reliable and unchanging: God’s goodness. And that was the source of his praise, his thankfulness, even in the midst of such devastating loss. 

Why are we thankful? Because God is good. Say it with me. God is good. Say it like you mean it. God is good. Do you believe it? Then we always have reason to be thankful, because God is always good. 

But how do we know that? Isn’t this really just something we need to tell ourselves to get through loss – a coping mechanism, of sorts? Absolutely not! We know God is good because that is how he reveals himself in the Bible. It is true. It is unchanging. God is good. Where would you like me to start when it comes to the number of times and the different ways the Bible details God’s goodness?! “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever” (1 Chronicles 16:34). “Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him” (Psalm 34:8). Jesus himself said, “No one is good – except God alone” (Luke 18:19). But you know there is more to the goodness of God than the Bible just calling him good; God shows how good he is. 

In one month we celebrate the Savior born to the world. God is good. That Savior’s perfect life achieved for us the holiness necessary for heaven. God is good. That Savior’s sacrificial death paid off in full the entire debt of our sin. God is good. That Savior’s resurrection promises us that our own death is not the end. God is good. The Holy Spirit brought you to faith to believe all this, and keeps on pouring out the richest spiritual blessings on his people, today and always. God is good. And THAT is why we are thankful.