Did you know that too often we pray our sized prayers when God actually wants us to pray His sized prayers? We might call them WILD PRAYERS! A well-known English Bible scholar named Matthew Henry was once attacked by thieves and robbed of his purse. He wrote these words in his diary: “Let me be thankful first because I was never robbed before; second, because although they took my purse, they did not take my life; third, because although they took my all, it was not much; and fourth, because it was I who was robbed, not I who robbed.” Reading this, I was reminded that thanking God for hard things is hard! However, the blessings of God are bountiful when we are obedient in giving thanks to Him in every circumstance. (Ephesians 5:20)
God taught me graphically about being thankful when our son was five and entering kindergarten but was still stuttering. I wanted God to heal him over the summer so that he would not have this hardship when he started school. I asked a friend to pray for us and she asked me, “Have you thanked the Lord for Tim’s stuttering?” Of course not, I wasn’t thankful. But as I meditated on the scriptures she gave me, I decided to be obedient and thank God for the stuttering even when I didn’t feel thankful. Amazingly, once I was honest with God, a thankful heart began developing. My prayers changed, and very shortly Tim stopped stuttering! He has never missed a syllable since! After praying for three years that God would heal Tim–when I was finally obedient– God did just that!
Interestingly enough, after learning what it means to be thankful for all things that summer, I had six or eight months to put that into practice. Then, the following April, I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). A whole new lesson in thanksgiving had to be learned and practiced. Over the next 40 years, praying wild and audacious prayers taught me to thrive while living with MS. I could write a book about how giving thanks changes everything!
Are you thanking God for the challenges you are facing? It might be something that happened yesterday–or many years ago–and you’re still carrying the burden of that hurt or disappointment. God will bless us without our giving thanks, but thanking the Lord for hardships frees the Holy Spirit to enable us to be obedient and rejoice in all circumstances. There is not a problem that is too big for our God. As a sister in Christ, and mentor of other women, my challenge for you is to expand your patterns of thanksgiving and see what wild and audacious things God will do for you.
Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:19-20
I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds. Psalm 9:1
Authored by Ruthann Gleason