August 21, 2024 Devo

This has been one of those weeks that has felt especially heavy and hard. We have lots of friends walking through some incredibly challenging stuff. Even though I had a short day today to get stuff done, I knew I had to get away and spend some time praying. For some reason, as I went into the sanctuary where I could walk and pray, instead of jumping right into the needs I wanted to bring to God, I began to think about all the answers to prayer we had experienced lately. So I started thanking God, calling out each situation where I had seen Him provide, protect, heal, and move. Tears of gratitude began to flow. For several minutes I lost myself in the goodness of God.
As I finished that time of giving thanks, I felt lighter. It wasn’t like the burdens had changed or become less heavy, I felt stronger…more confident…more assured that the God who had walked with us through all those needs before would walk with us once again. I still prayed for the needs with passion. I still laid them before God with an awareness that they were needs that only He could meet and wounds that only He could heal. But what changed for me was that I prayed with peace. I knew that the God who moved before would move again.
When I sat down with our passage today, what Jesus did jumped off the page at me. He gave thanks to God. Maybe He did it as a model for His disciples. Maybe He did it to point the glory back to His Father. But maybe He did it because thanking God for what He’s already given you and done for you opens the door for you to believe what He will do for you. Thankfulness feeds the fires of faith. Acknowledgment of what God has done gives confidence to what God can do. Remembering the goodness and the provision and the protection of God dispels the fear, dread, and doom. When we thank God for what He’s already done yesterday, the burdens of today don’t become lighter. We simply become stronger. Follow the model of Jesus. Always begin with gratitude. That’s God’s Word for you today.