Praying & Thanking

As I opened my Bible this morning, I somehow turned exactly to Philemon. That may not sound like such a big deal, but I have a "slimline" Bible. That means it is small and the words are even smaller. So, Philemon is on page 1106, that is it. And really only a little over half the page at that. So to turn exactly to that page is less than probable. I know whatever.

Anyway, I know that Paul starts out many of his letters by letting his reader know that he is praying and thanking God for them. His line is something like it is in Philemon, "I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers..." So it occurred to me that if this is something Paul did consistently and he has many writings published, maybe it is something I should be doing.

Really, why is this a problem for me to do consistently. I have thoughts all day about people. I am sure it happens to you. I am sitting at my desk and Kelley's name will come across my mind or one of my girls (Dresden & Sierra) or someone in my Crown group or a co-worker, someone I met at the ballpark, whoever. Now that I think about it why would those names just pop into my brain while I am doing something totally unrelated? And this doesn't even count the names that come up related to what I am doing. Could it be that God is giving me those names?

Here is my problem with praying & thanking. Simply, it is my ritualistic thoughts about prayer. Its the close my eyes, bow my head, complete silence, 3 minute prayer for everything that I can think of type of prayer. If I stopped and did that every time a name popped up I would never work, or be with my family or sleep. And, God forbid, I wouldn't have time to eat.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:17-18, "pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." Another letter from Paul. He says to pray continually. Give thanks. This spoke to me.

If I am to pray continually and give thanks and still work and show love to people and eat and sleep, I can't pray in my ritualistic style. These have to be prayers like, "thank you God for Kelley, protect her today," or "God, thank you for Dresden & Sierra allow them to be a light for you today," or "God grant grace and peace to Niki today." Nothing wrong with that.

I thank God for my wife, who not only is a great partner in marriage and a great mother to our kids, but she is making a difference in the lives of people at our church and in our community. I thank God for my two girls, they are very special, they love others and are leaders in their area of influence. I thank God for my friends and co-workers I can't mention them all by name here, after all, I have over 90 friends on Facebook. They have all had an impact on my life and this world. All of them love people and are striving to make a difference in our community and this world.

God thank you for giving me such incredible people to walk with as we all work toward being more like your Son and bringing the world with us.

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Philemon 1:3