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“Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.” (Colossians 4:2, ESV)

When I wake up in the morning there are a few brief moments where everything feels perfect with life. Nothing on my body is hurting. I’m not focused on my list of things to do that day and my heart isn’t aching for the people I miss, that are no longer in my life. But as the morning goes on that feeling slowly changes and the reality of this world sets in. Within a few moments unhappy thoughts can easily flood my mind and discourage me. The enemy of my soul reminds me of prayers that I’ve prayed for over a decade and still God has remained silent on them.  It can easily make me feel discouraged.  Thoughts like, why should I even pray about it anymore run rampantly through my mind.

That’s why part of my daily routine involves spending my first hour of the day reading God’s Word and praying. Feeding my soul with the truth of His Word first.  Then pouring my heart out to Him in prayer, about the things that cause me pain. And praising Him for what I do have.

It’s the only way I could endure this life at all.  By choosing to daily put my Hope in Jesus.  Because if I don’t intentionally choose to think on different things than the reality of life, I can become easily overwhelmed. Then I’m not able to help anyone, not even myself.

When we’ve prayed for things day after day, week after week, month after month, even year after year and we don’t see anything changing – our humanity (flesh) tells us to give up.  To just quit praying – God isn’t listening.

As children of God, we must remember though, that the battle is not with flesh and blood but with spiritual forces of evil (Ephesians 6:12).  Those forces try to make you “feel” a certain way and give up on the promises of God.

Sometimes when we pray, our prayers sound and feel tired and sleepy.  Maybe because we’ve let the “evil forces of life” wear us down. But we are called to persevere, to be vigilant in our prayers.  It takes a great deal of effort to steadily pray for a situation when you don’t see anything changing.  That’s where thanksgiving comes in.

Our prayers should also be mingled with praise. Praise is a form of worship.  Worship is where we get our strength.  Worship is focusing on what we have instead of what we don’t.  Choosing to see (being watchful) of how God is fighting our battles for us.

Worship doesn’t only give us spiritual strength. Expressing gratitude can improve your overall mood.  People who regularly express gratitude for positive things in their life are shown to be happier/healthier overall.

“Father help us to be grateful for the things we have instead of focusing on what we don’t.”

For His Glory

Laura Holmes   (www.ephraimministries.org)
TRBC Women’s Life