Practice Your Thanksgiving

Alright, we are continuing our series on / / Giving Thanks with a Grateful Heart. Last week we started by talking about the fact that if we are going to have a truly grateful heart like God desires us to have we have to learn to give thanks through Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Remember what we said at the beginning, / / We give thanks through Christ, as we are becoming more like Him, by the power of His Spirit.

That was our main thought from last week. Paul talks a lot about being IN Christ, which is very similar in thought to operating through Christ. If you are IN Him you are operating through Him. We read from Colossians 3:17 that said, / / …whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

/ / “do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus.”

This is why baptism was such a big deal last week, and it’s why we celebrate it. If you remember what we’ve talked about when we say the “name” of God, we aren’t just talking about his actual name, but it means his character, his reputation, what and who He is, what He stands for. Which is why when we talk about the commandment, Do not use the Lord’s name in vain, we’re not talking about using it as a curse word, although you shouldn’t do that, that’s basically the kindergarten lesson of that commandment, but it’s using his name to represent something that he does not represent. That’s using the Lord’s name in vain. Using it for our own gain, or in a negative or contradictory way than what and who God actually is and what He does. So, when we baptize someone in the NAME of the Father, Son & Holy Spirit, baptize means to fully immerse. So we are not just immersing you into water, and we aren’t just using the Lord’s name to make it official, it’s a way we, as the person being baptized, make the conscious decision to immerse ourselves fully in all that God is about, Father, Son & Holy Spirit. It’s like saying, “All that you are, all that you stand for, all that your character is and what you have said and done, I want to immerse myself in that.”

And Paul takes it a giant leap of a step further and says, “do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus.”

We are marrying ourselves to the reputation and character of God when we get baptized, and so then our lives should be lived out of that, right?

That’s why we concluded in our series on faith that / / Faith is for salvation, but having faith in God should lead to a life of faithfulness.

I am being baptized into all that you are and I want to live out of that place, of being fully immersed in You.

So, when we read then that Paul says we should give thanks to God the Father THROUGH Jesus Christ, now we’re starting to see what that means.

We are being fully immersed into all that He is, so that whatever we do, whether that is word or deed, is coming out of our immersion in all that Jesus is.

Jesus said in John 15:4, / / Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.

Bearing fruit, or our lives being fruitful, is a byproduct of us being immersed in all God is. Abiding means to remain, or make our home in. Jesus also encourages us to not just abide in him, but that his words must abide in us.

I think we read that last week, it’s what John is alluding to in 1 John 2:6, / / Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did. The ESV says, “whoever says they abide in him...” John 15:4 and 1 John 2:6 both use the same greek word that is translated to abide.

And of course, not to recap all we went through last week, but, as we become more like Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, it is of course much easier to live our lives through Him. It’s more natural for us to operate out of who He is if we are becoming more like Him.

And all I will say on that is that where we ended last week, with just taking a few minutes to focus on what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:18, / / And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.

This is the goal, true, lasting transformation. I know that’s what I’m praying for in my life. I know I don’t want to stay the same, with the same problems, the same hang ups, the same issues. I want to truly be transformed by God and this verse gives me the key. Beholding the glory of the Lord.

Remember, that word means to stare into a mirror and reflect.

Taking time to stare into the face of Jesus. I know, it might not feel like he’s right there. Physically we are looking like, “Where are you?” But there is a reality that Christ, the hope of glory is right here with us, he has given his very spirit to us.

So, keep all of that in mind this morning as we move into a new aspect of Giving Thanks with a Grateful Heart. If I were to give this sermon a title it would be / / “Practice Your Thanksgiving”

Practice Your Thanksgiving

I’m not talking about having a pre-turkey dinner just to make sure you got your cook right, although, not a bad idea, and if you do, invite me over.

Let’s read from 1 Thessalonians, and see what we really mean here. 1 Thessalonians is not a long book. It’s a letter that Paul has written to the church in a place called Thessalonica. Let me give you a bit of back story here that I think is helpful. If you read of Paul being in this city in the book of Acts, it paints an interesting picture. Paul and Silas, who was a guy traveling with him, are on what’s called Paul’s Second Missionary Journey. Through Scripture Paul makes three missionary journey’s before he is imprisoned, put on trial and ends up being sent to Rome to stand trial, and he’s in prison there for years.

So, on this second journey he finds himself in the city of Thessalonica, and Acts 17:2 says, / / As was Paul’s custom, he went to the synagogue service, and for three Sabbaths in a row he used Scriptures to reason with the people.

This was kind of his thing. He would go into a new city, find the synagogue where the Jewish people would meet, and then convince them through scripture that the Messiah had come and his name was Jesus Christ. And he shows them how the Messiah had to suffer and die rather than come in like a warrior king.

And it worked. Many believed him and Silas. But in this particular city things were a bit challenging. Not everyone was happy about it, and Acts 17 says that the people end up in an uproar, and those who believed in Jesus, these new Christians, had to smuggle Paul and Silas out of the city in the middle of the night.

Not the best way to start a church, right? But, a church was started. Even though it was off to a rocky start.

Now, the reason I tell you all of this is because we’re going to read from the last little bit of Paul’s first letter to this church. He writes two letters, 1 & 2 Thessalonians. These are letters of encouragement, direction and teaching. And I want to read the last little bit of this first letter. Your bible might have a title over this section. 1 Thessalonians 5:12-22, it says, “Paul’s Final Advice”. So, this is important. Pay attention, right?

/ / Dear brothers and sisters, honor those who are your leaders in the Lord’s work. They work hard among you and give you spiritual guidance. Show them great respect and wholehearted love because of their work. And live peacefully with each other.

Brothers and sisters, we urge you to warn those who are lazy. Encourage those who are timid. Take tender care of those who are weak. Be patient with everyone.

See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to all people.

Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

Do not stifle the Holy Spirit. Do not scoff at prophecies, but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good. Stay away from every kind of evil.

Just a great passage of scripture to keep your head right in this thing called life.

But, smack dab in the middle of this passage is this encouragement that Paul goes as far to say is the very will of God for our lives.

/ / Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

And that is why I’m calling todays message, “Practice Your Thanksgiving”, because, let’s be honest, being thankful in all circumstances is not easy, it’s going to take some work!

We are also looking at how this is about being transformed. That we aren’t just giving thanks with our words, but we are believing for true transformation in our hearts, minds and lives as we continue to follow after Jesus and learn what it means to live a life of gratitude, of giving thanks. And again, like we saw last week, not just in words, but THROUGH or IN Jesus Christ.

So, we’re going to talk through some things that will help us reach that goal.

First, we are going to look at three reasons we should do this, or some foundation for giving thanks in all things. And then we’ll look at three things we need to do to make it happen. Ok, so first part of the foundation:

/ / 1. It matters WHERE you direct your thanks

Ephesians 5:20 says, / / And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

That’s bringing in a bit of last week and a bit of this week. Giving thanks in the name of Jesus, but also, giving thanks for everything.

But look at what he says, give thanks for everything TO GOD the Father.

I have met people that have taken this idea of giving thanks in all things, or all circumstances too literally and end up either misdirecting their thanksgiving, or thanking God for something that I’m not sure we should be thanking God for.

Let me explain.

When you are going through something really hard, is thanking God for that the first thing you think of?

I would imagine no, right?

Second, should we thank God for the situation, or is there another way? It may seem like semantics, but I think it’s important. / / Giving thanks TO God in the midst a difficult situation is very different than thanking God FOR the difficult situation.

You don’t have to thank God for difficult situations.

“I’m thankful for the trial”…why? That makes no sense.

But didn’t Paul say he rejoiced in his suffering?… Yes. Exactly my point. He rejoiced IN suffering, not FOR suffering.

Sure, in hindsight sometimes we see how the trials and difficult situations we go through have prepared us for other things, or the outcomes because of God were good. We’ve looked at that recently, right, that God does work for our benefit when we trust him and love him and follow his ways. So, I get being grateful for a positive outcome from a difficult situation, but again, that sounds different than being thankful for a difficult situation, doesn’t it?

I am personally going through some difficult situations at the moment, and I am not thanking God for them. I don’t like them at all. But what I am doing is looking, praying and asking what I can thank God for in the midst of that situation.

And this is an important distinction.

It keeps my attention focused rightly. In the midst of difficult situations is the very time our eyes wander the easiest. It’s harder to have faith when life is rough, right? It’s more difficult to keep our eyes on God when the world is kicking us. When life has got us down. When we are struggling.

As humans we tend to have some interesting responses to difficulty. We often want to try and fix it ourselves. Or we want to run and hide. Sometimes we want to deny it is even happening. Turning to God is what we are supposed to do, but the enemy does everything he can to try and get us to do anything but that. Well done when you do! Honestly. And that’s the goal. And that’s why this foundation matters. Give thanks for everything TO God. Why? Because it brings me back to center.

It refocuses my attention where it is supposed to be. And that is true whether we are in good or bad times. It can be just as easy to forget about God when things are going well, because we don’t need him.

So, first things first, whatever your circumstance, give thanks for everything TO God. Direct your attention to Him.

/ / 2. It matters that you do this, whether you want to or not

Repetition works. I think we all know that.

When the going gets tough, turn to God. Look to Him. Thank him. For what? Not for the difficulty, but maybe in financial struggle you thank God that he is your provider, even if you don’t see it at the moment.

Thank God that He is your healer, even if you’re in pain.

Thank God that He is your counselor, even when your heart hurts.

Thank God that He is the bringer of truth, when you feel like you are surrounded by lies.

Thank God for wisdom, when you are feeling lost.

Thank God for discernment, when you are feeling confused.

Now, watch for this hangup, “But, I feel like I’m just trying to convince myself of something I don’t even know that I believe.”

I get that. I struggled with this. So, as a baseline I’m going to speak in faith and believe these things based on one of three things.

/ / You’ve seen it in your own life, so you know He does it.

/ / You’ve seen it in someone else’s life, so you know He does it.

/ / You’ve read it in the bible, so you know He does it.

You know me, I’m always advocating for biblical literacy, right? Well here’s another really good reason to know what the Bible says, because / / if you don’t know what God says he can and will do, you can’t believe him for it. And how do you employ a heart of gratitude toward something that you don’t even know exists.

Because the danger is that you begin to thank God for something He didn’t say he’ll do. The other side of biblical literacy is correct biblical interpretation. We don’t thank God because He’s a genie in a bottle we can manipulate for wishes or to do our bidding. He’s the God of the Universe, the creator of all things, and he loves us with an everlasting love.

So, if you’ve seen it in your own life, God’s done it before, thank Him for doing it and thank Him for being who He is. If you’ve experienced healing before, “Thank you Lord for healing my body in the past. I thank you that you are my healer. I put my trust in you again...”

If you’ve seen him come through financially. “Thank you Father that you have seen my needs and provided for my family. Thank you for being a caring, loving, provider. I trust you see me now. I trust you see my situation. I believe you can work again like you have in the past.”

We don’t dismiss that we are going through something. We don’t ignore the difficulty. But the worst thing you can do is allow your physical situation to determine what God can do in your life. Why not let what you know of God determine what you will believe about life? Let God’s truth be your anchor instead of what you see and feel.

I’m going to say that again: / / Do not let your physical situation determine what you believe God can do in your life.

Yes, life is tough sometimes. But don’t let that tell you God can’t or won’t move in your life. Learn what God says so you can tell your situation how big your God is rather than living in fear of your situation.

And the more you do this, the more natural it becomes. That’s kind of the point of repetition, right?

Ok, the third foundation we want to lay for this:

/ / 3. Thanksgiving and a heart of gratitude are cyclical

This is clinically, scientifically, psychologically, physically proven. Gratitude changes the heart and mind, and as we change it is easier or more natural to be grateful.

Let me read you a couple things here:

Dr Robert Emmons, professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis, said, “Gratitude is good medicine. Clinical trials indicate that the practice of Gratitude can have dramatic and lasting effects in a person’s life. It can lower blood pressure and improve immune function… Grateful people engage in more exercise, have better dietary behaviors, are less likely to smoke and abuse alcohol and have higher rates of medication adherence.”

So that’s good. I’ll take improved immune function and less likely to succumb to addictive substances, right?

Now, that’s the effect of the brain initiating feelings or attitudes of thanksgiving. It’s good for the body, mind and heart. Now, listen to how this becomes a big ol’ circle.

“A group of prestigious and internationally recognized leaders in physics, biophysics, astrophysics, education, mathematics, engineering, cardiology, biofeedback, and psychology (among other disciplines) have been doing some brilliant work over at the Institute of HeartMath. Their work, among many others, has proven that when a person is feeling really positive emotions like gratitude, love, or appreciation, the heart beats out a different message, which determines what kind of signals are sent to the brain.”

Listen to what they say:

“Most of us have been taught in school that the heart is constantly responding to “orders” sent by the brain in the form of neural signals. However, it is not as commonly known that the heart actually sends more signals to the brain than the brain sends to the heart! Moreover, these heart signals have a significant effect on brain function - influencing emotional processing as well as higher cognitive faculties such as attention, perception, memory, and problem - solving. In other words, not only does the heart respond to the brain, but the brain continually responds to the heart.”

Ok, this isn’t becoming a science lesson. That’s not what we are here for. And I don’t think I even understand it all, that’s for sure. But I am always amazed when the Bible directs us to do something, and then the world of science or medicine, or some other purely physical or practical academic research backs up what the Bible was telling us to do all along.

The world seems amazed at the fact that gratitude has physical implications. “WOW!”

And here we are, we’ve had Psalm 100:1-5 for over 3000 years...

/ / Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth! Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before him singing with joy. Acknowledge that the Lord is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation.

And Psalm 103:1-5, / / Let all that I am praise the Lord; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name. Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies. He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!

Give praise, Give thanksgiving. Why? Because the Lord is good and it produces good things in our lives. Glad the world is catching up.

The more we employ gratitude from our brain, meaning, we choose to do this, the more our heart responds in a way we can’t actually make happen on our own.

That’s why I’m calling this Practice Your Thanksgiving. You have to choose to do this. You have to make the conscious decision to be grateful in your life, both to God, and to those around you.

Ok, so that was the foundation:

/ / It matters WHERE you direct your thanksgiving

/ / It matters THAT YOU DO IT, no matter how you are feeling

/ / Doing it changes you, which encourages you to do it more

Now, let’s look at three ways to hep in the “it matters THAT YOU DO IT”… because lets be honest, sometimes we have to force good behavior in ourselves, because it’s not the most natural thing to do.

We’re going to go back to the verse we read earlier from 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, and although the whole section we read was really good. let’s just look at three verses here, and reading it this time from the ESV.

/ / Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Ok, I like the ESV version here because it shows the full thought, where the NLT which we read it from early cuts it up into three sentences. But the ESV makes it a little clearer that it is these three things that Paul is saying is the will of God for us. Now, I’m not going to argue that this is the ONLY thing that the bible says is the will of God for our lives, but when someone like Paul says, “Hey, this is the will of God for your life.” I think we should take pause and make sure we’re paying attention. Also, remember this is in the last little bit of this letter to a church that was birthed in a pretty stressful scenario and so this is the encouragement that Paul is giving them. These are his final thoughts, or final instructions for this letter. Alright, so how do we force gratitude in our lives?

/ / 1. Rejoice Always

Another reason I like the ESV for this verse because the NLT says, / / Always be joyful, where the ESV says, Rejoice always. That feels like two different things, doesn’t it.

Not that the NLT is a bad interpretation, but I think the ESV is clearer and more helpful. Have you ever gotten advice like that? You’re struggling financially and someone says, “Ya, well, just make more money” or you’re sad, and someone says, “Just don’t be sad, come on, be happy.” or maybe you’re trying to lose weight and it’s always been a struggle, I know nothing about this, and people look at you and say, “Just eat less, and exercise more...”

Sure, it’s that easy, AND if it was that easy, we’d all be doing it, right?

So I find that the NLT saying, “Always be joyful” kind of falls in that category of, “ya, if we could, we would, trust me. I’d love to be happy all the time, but some days it doesn’t really feel like it’s happening...”

So, the ESV says it a bit clearer, telling us what we need to do to be joyful. Rejoice.

The greek word is chairo, it means to be “cheerful” but as a salutation in meeting or parting. Which means, this is an encouragement to give a good greeting to someone. But remember the context that Paul is talking about here. He’s calling us to look to God. So, this isn’t a “rejoice always” like you need to be on your face before the Lord singing and dancing and worshipping at the top of your lungs and efforts. But this is a “Constantly give good greetings to the Lord who is your God.” That’s how I read it. At every part of my day, am I looking up to heaven and saying, “God, I love that you’re with me. Thank you for being my Father. Thank you for giving me life.”

I know, sometimes that’s harder than other times. I have had a few moments lately where I feel like I want to fall at the foot of the cross wailing before God for help. And then as I was working on this sermon, sitting in Starbucks, I was just kind of thinking about God, directing my thoughts toward Him at moments, like, “I see you.”

Rejoice Always. or, constantly give salutations, or invitations let’s say, to God to be with you and work in you and through you.

I don’t know about you, but when I think of God, it is a big step closer to gratitude flowing out of my heart and mind and lips or thoughts. And that is regardless of what I’m doing or going through.

I was reminded of something Saint Patrick is attributed to saying that I felt kind of sums up this thought of ever being aware of and inviting God to be with us. I take this as a constant awareness and invitation.

Saint Patrick said:

“Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me, Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me.”

There’s this sort of reminder that God is always with us, but that is different than us being aware of and receptive of that fact. Yes, God is always here with us. But am I rejoicing always? Am I giving him kind salutations to be present and active in my life?

/ / 2. Don’t Stop Praying

Second thing Paul encourages the church in Thesselonica to do is to NOT stop praying.

So there’s a bit of progression here, right? If rejoicing is being aware that God is with us, and not just aware, but inviting or acknowledging that He is by giving him a greeting, of sorts, then what happens next? If you see someone approaching, are happy to see them, and you great them, what do you then do? Probably start a conversation, right?

“God, Thank you that you are here with me. I acknowledge your presence. I am glad you are with me. I am grateful that you are here. Now, in regards to some of this stuff I’m going through...”

Remember, this is Paul writing his letter to a new church that is struggling with the people who ran him out of town! There’s need for prayer.

Prayer is one of the most powerful things we have, and yet, it’s so easy to not do it. The enemy will try to get you to not pray by any means he can. Not worth the time. Not effective. God already knows, so you don’t need to. You’re too busy. etc… whatever the reason, we need to learn to throw it out and start praying more.

Paul actually echoes these verses from 1 Thessalonians 5 in Philippians 4. Probably a more famous rendition of the same thoughts, but Philippians 4:4-6 (ESV) says, / / Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Rejoice, Pray, Give thanks.

Again, This is part of Practicing Your Thanksgiving. Remind yourself to pray. There is just so much encouragement in scripture to pray.

One short little story here. Luke 18:1-8, / / One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up. “There was a judge in a certain city,” he said, “who neither feared God nor cared about people. A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, ‘Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.’ The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people, but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!’”

Then the Lord said, “Learn a lesson from the unjust judge. Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly! But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?”

Not the first time Jesus tells a story like this. In Luke 11 he tells the story of the neighbor you ask for bread in the middle of the night, and you just keep asking and asking and asking and he says, Not because he’s your friend, or neighbor, but because of your shameless persistence, he’ll get up and give you whatever you want.

What’s the judge say …because she is wearing me out with her constant requests.

The result in Luke 18 and Luke 11 is the same, Jesus says, “How much more will your heavenly father give you what you are asking for if you do not give up.”

Now, there’s lots to be said about prayer, and about asking God in alignment with His heart. We’re not just praying for more stuff, or punishment on those who have hurt us or anything like that. Jesus also teaches a lot about how we should treat people, right, so our prayers should line up with his heart, his character, his actions, his teachings - we can’t just hear, “You’ll get whatever you ask if you ask enough.” How loving would he be if he gave us everything we asked for? Honestly.

Anyone with kids knows that you don’t give a yes to every request.

So, with right perspective and attitude, get those prayers out! Get that conversation with God going!

/ / 3. Give thanks in all circumstances

Alright, we’re full circle here, right?

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, / / Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Now, let’s just get the word ‘will’ in there in the right context. It means what one wishes or has determined shall be done. So, this is what God wants for your life, that you rejoice always, pray about everything, give thanks in any and every situation. That’s his desire, his plan, his wish for you. Because he knows that having this kind of attitude is going to cause your life to be better than if you try to do it on your own, never pray about anything, and get upset and discouraged about stuff.

And Philippians 4:6 echoes the same thought, / / do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Again, let’s just bring this back to the idea of practice. Because we know that God having a desire for our life doesn’t mean it’s just going to happen. God doesn’t force his will on us, he shares it with us and let’s us follow Him. So, he says, “If you do this, it will go well for you...” Then we choose. Do we do what God has shown us will be good for us?

What do we need to do to remind ourselves to do this?

What can we do to put these things in front of our faces as often as possible?

It’s good for our health, it’s good for our heart, it’s good for our mind.

This is probably why Paul also encourages us to take every thought captive, because our thoughts betray us, don’t they? The enemy will do anything and everything to try and get us to be negative, think the worst, fear results we don’t even know are for sure going to happen, live in anxiety, worry and stress…

We have to actively push that back, not just by trying NOT to do those things. That’s not actually the best way to do anything. The best way to overcome the negative is to fill yourself with the positive. Don’t just try to NOT do wrong, but put every opportunity to do right, as often as you can, in front of you, so that you choose that.

Ok, so let’s just recap on those foundations.

First, / / it matters that it is God who you are directing your gratitude towards.

Second, / / it matters that you do it, repetition works!

Third, / / Doing it changes you, which encourages you doing it more.

Then that leads us to, we just gotta do it.

/ / Rejoice always - begin to work at reminding yourself that God is present, and when you remember that He is present, remind yourself to acknowledge that. Give him a kind welcome to your day, your moment, your situation.

/ / Pray without ceasing - start the conversation. Even if you are upset or angry, maybe you’re really not liking how things are going. Ok, let God know. He’s a big boy. He’s resilient. He can handle the worst of the worst out of us. And he is faithful to listen. And even if we’re praying something He’s never going to answer, the comfort of the Holy Spirit might just bring us to a place where we recognize we’re praying ineffective prayers because they are selfish, or misplaced or whatever.

/ / Give thanks in everything - Remember, you don’t need to thank him for the trial or struggle. But what are we thanking him for in the midst of that trial and struggle? How can I direct myself away from the negative or anxious feelings I’m going through and see how God has done in my life, or someone else’s life, or that scripture says He is aware of and capable to work in and through my life.