Last fall, I battled discouragement. Thankfully, my temperament is such that I have never been deeply depressed, and when I do get discouraged, it doesn’t normally last very long. But in October, I got “down in the dumps” for several weeks, and my wife (who is not high in mercy) was encouraging me to “snap out of it!”
When I do get in a funk, something that helps me “snap out of it” is to analyze why I’m down. It’s beneficial to define reality and identify the source. I determined three issues were negatively impacting me. First, I had an ongoing concern about the direction of the country. Second, I was worried about my granddaughter, who was in the hospital battling a serious illness. And although I hated to admit the third issue because it was so shallow, I was really disappointed in the University of Louisville’s football team. I know that’s weak, but that’s the truth!
Another thing that helps when I’m down is to try to follow the advice and claim the promise of Philippians 4:6-7. It reads, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7).
That familiar passage has an unexpected phrase. It says, “by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” If we were reading that Scripture for the first time, we’d expect it to read, “Pray with intensity” or “pray with faith,” but instead, it says, “pray with thanksgiving.”
Even when life is difficult, we’re commanded to “give thanks in all circumstances.
Jesus is the best example of someone doing exactly that. First Corinthians 11:23-24 reads, “The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.'” There are two words you seldom find in the same sentence: – “betrayed” and “thanks.”. On the most stressful night of His life, when friends sold Him out, Jesus gave thanks. That had to be a major contributing factor to this amazing description of Jesus in Hebrews 12:2 (KJV): “…who, for the joy that was set before him he endured the cross.”
So, one morning last fall, I decided to try it even though I didn’t feel like it. As I knelt before God to begin my day, I took time to give extensive thanks before presenting my requests to God. The following is a condensed version of that prayer:
“Lord, I thank you for my upbringing. I had such great Christian parents! Thanks for a Godly mom and dad who are in heaven with you and for the example they set before me every day. The more I see of other homes, the more I realize how privileged I was to be raised by two parents who loved you and loved each other.
Heavenly Father, I am grateful for our little church and for the preachers, D.P. Shaffer and Bob Phillips, who faithfully taught us the Bible. Thanks, Lord, for that morning, when I was eight years old, and I accepted Jesus as my Savior and was baptized into Him. I remember wearing that white tee shirt and those special white pants my mother bought for just that occasion. Thanks for the assurance, “though your sins be as scarlet, He makes them white as snow.” Thanks for Jesus forgiving my many sins and guiding my path each day.
Thanks for the work ethic I learned growing up in the country, like baling hay, milking cows, and weeding in the garden. Thanks for that tiny two-room schoolhouse where I went to grade-school and for Mr. Seniff, who challenged me to want to learn. What a unique teacher he was!
Thanks for my siblings –- especially my brother John and our friendship over the years. Thanks that I attended a small high school where I got to play sports. If you could stand up, you got to play! I’m grateful for the many lessons learned from athletics. Lord, I even thank you for that horrible defeat in the state tournament that wound up shaping my future.
Thanks for my Bible College Education — for gifted professors like John Wilson and Lewis Foster. Thanks for the life-long friendships I made there. Lord, I’m so grateful for that day when I spotted Judy Kay Thomas singing in a girls trio, and that my heart skipped a beat, and that it still does sometimes. What a wonderful wife she’s been for 55 years. You knew just what I needed! We’ve had such a great life together.
Thanks for Monterey Christian Church, where I cut my teeth in preaching -– what a perfect place to begin. Thanks for Butch Dabney asking me to visit their new church called Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky. Thanks for good elders who helped me so much over the years. Thanks for the lifelong friends we’ve made there. And thank You for bringing me through a few challenging times and always coming out stronger on the other side. What a glorious experience I had at Southeast for forty 40 years! So many answered prayers! I knew I was in way over my head, but You did abundantly more than I could have asked or imagined!
Thanks for my two sons, their wives, and my seven grandkids. I’m so blessed that all my grandchildren know you and our entire family is on the same page spiritually. Thanks for my financial blessing -– I want for nothing. I don’t have money pressures. Thanks for my health. At 77 years of age, I can still walk without pain and play golf and enjoy life.
God, I am so spoiled. Thank you for spoiling me! I love and appreciate you, Lord. You’ve cared for and provided for me so well over the years. I just want to say thank you, thank You for being so good. In the Name of Jesus who gave His life for me. Amen.”
By the time I was finished reviewing my life, I was blubbering with thanksgiving and overwhelmed with God’s providence. I felt confident what God had done in the past He would do again, and I experienced a renewed “peace that transcends understanding.”
There is something therapeutic about taking time to pray with thanksgiving.
The hymn-writer understood that years ago.
“Are you ever burdened with a load and care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings.
Name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.”
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