Thankful For Friends Series

4 I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, (Phm 4)

Are there people in your life that you are thankful for? We don’t think about this enough. I think that is always my biggest lesson when I am separated from family and friends, is how much we take them for granted. It takes a deployment to truly understand what their friendship and their love means to me.

We need to be thankful for those that God has placed in our lives.

But it is not enough, just to be thankful, we need to remember them in prayer.

2. Are you remembering your friends in your prayers, thanking God for them?

These people that come to mind as the people that you are thankful for, do you wait until Thanksgiving Day before you will acknowledge to God how special they are to you?

Paul made a habit of thanking God for his friends.

To the Romans, Paul says;

…I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. (Ro 1:8, ESV)

To the Corinthians, Paul writes;

4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, (1 Co 1:4,ESV)

To the Philippians;

3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, (Php 1:3,ESV)

The Colossians, he says;

3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, (Col 1:3,ESV)

In his letter to the Thessalonians he says;

2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, (1 Th 1:2,ESV)

To his friend Timothy, he writes;

3 I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day.(2 Ti 1:3,ESV)

Paul makes a habit of giving thanks to God, in prayer for his friends. Many of them co-laborers of the faith, many of them are from churches that he started. All of them, he brings before the Lord in thanksgiving.

And I particularly like the fact that he tells his friends that he is bring their name before the Lord in prayer and thanksgiving. This is important, the people that we are thankful for need to know that we are thankful for them as well as God. We need to tell them.

In your prayer life do you include your thankfulness of the people in your life?

It maybe a coworker, a subordinate, or simply a battle buddy.

Do they know that you thank God for them?

Do they know that you appreciate them so much that you thank God always when you remember them in your prayers?

And as we thank God for our friends, do we even know what we are thankful for?

Have we even gotten to the point that we haven’t even thought through what we are thankful for…what we admire them for…how they impact our life?

And in your prayers,

3. Are you being specific in you thankfulness of them?

Look at this whole passage from Philemon. Verse 4-7;

4 I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, 5 because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, 6 and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.1 7 For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you. (Phm 4-7,ESV)