Thankful Prayers

My devotion this morning took me by surprise. I love when that happens. When words that I have read before are read with fresh eyes and an open heart. How I can open the Bible to a verse that has already been underlined, yet it jumps off the page to me in a different way than before.

Colossians 4:2, "Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful."

The Lord wants us to bring our hearts and our requests to Him. We shouldn't feel selfish or silly to ask God for things because the Bible tells us to make our requests known to God (Phil. 4:6). He has always invited us to speak candidly to Him; to be honest and "real." We don't have to come before Him will rituals or certain words/phrases to speak to Him. He already knows our hearts, and all He wants is for us to share them with Him.

But Colossians 4:2 tells us to watch and be thankful. God wants us to thank Him for the answers that He will bring long before we ever see any proof. To thank Him with our faithfulness of knowing that He will respond. Wow, that's a game changer.

So often I just keep praying the same prayer over and over because I have had the "Devote yourself to prayer" down pat. But what God wants is me to trust in Him that He is good; that He will provide. I can go ahead and thank Him because of my faith that the answers are on the way.

To keep praying over and over for the same things is almost like doubting that He heard me the first, second, or fiftieth time. But to Thank Him over and over is to trust Him.

I love this. I love so deeply how good and loving our Father is, and how we can be our complete faith in Him.