HOW TO PRAY WITH THE RIGHT ATTITUDE
I THESSALONIANS 5:18
How seriously do you take the commands of God? I know that when that question is asked, that there are some who will immediately think of the Ten Commandments, and that’s good. However, there are more than just the Ten Commandments in God’s Word. One of those commands is found in the passage of scripture that I just read to you. This command is a very simple command and it is easy to understand. But, I have a confession to make. I don’t always find this command easy to obey. Let’s read it again, Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. You may want to ask, “Pastor, what do you find to be difficult in that passage?” I want you to notice, “The words ’in all circumstances.’” If Paul had said, “In most things, give thanks,” I would have no problem. It is the fact that Paul said, “In all circumstances,” that gives me trouble. Paul gives similar admonitions in Ephesians 5:20, Always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I may be expressing more of my humanity than you want to know, but I have trouble giving thanks for everything that comes my way. When those times come I remind myself of what God’s word say’s in Romans 8:28. And we know that all things work together for good to then that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. If I believe what that scripture is saying, and I do believe it, then I will do what God commands in the scripture. I will give thanks to God in everything and for everything because I know that God is going to work all things together for my good and His glory.
The title of this sermon is “Prayer Changes Attitudes.” Many of us here this morning could use an attitude adjustment. I know that all of us struggle with a bad or negative attitude from time to time. Our attitude will determine our outlook on life. I will admit that when attitudes are bad or negative it is difficult to give thanks to God during that time. Paul says, “ It is God’s will for you and me, ” God wants us to give thanks in all circumstances. He did not say it would be easy. He did not say we would always feel like it. He said, “It is God’s will that we give thanks to Him in all things.”
If you think about the Apostle Paul for a moment, you will realize that he did not always have the best of circumstances come his way. As a matter of fact, when he wrote these words, he was sitting in prison. So, Paul understood what he was asking. For Paul, giving thanks was a way of life. As children of God, we should have similar attitudes.
I. WHY SHOULD WE GIVE THANKS TO GOD IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES?
There are four reasons why we should give thanks to God in all circumstances.
1. When you and I are giving thanks to God, we are telling God that we are aware of His continual presence.
The truth is this. God wants us aware of His presence in our lives all of the time. There are times when we simply forget that God is with us. It could be in the good times as well as the bad times. Sometimes we can get so caught up in the good things of life that we forget that God is with us. I remember reading a story about a young lady that went on a double date with one of her friends. She and her date were riding in the back seat talking about what a wonderful time they were having, when the driver pulled up in the parking lot of a disco club. The driver turned around and said, “ I would like to go in there.” The young lady in the back seat said, I have a friend with me that wouldn’t like that place.” Her date replied, “ Oh, I want mind going in there.” The young lady looked at her date and said, “ I wasn’t talking about you, I was talking about my other friend, Jesus. I’m a Christian and Jesus wouldn’t like that place. ” This young lady was aware of God’s continual presence.
God is also with us during the bad times. Sometimes we allow our bad circumstances to blind us of this truth. When things become difficult we sometimes question, “ Where is God? ” When the storm clouds of life darken your sky so that you can’t see the Son Light. You need to remember that He is still present, even if you see no evidence of His presence. I remember when flying to Pittsburgh when I was 17, during the trip we encountered a storm. The plane was being tossed around like a toy because of the turbulence. The Captain announced over the intercom that we would be climbing to a higher altitude to try to get above the storm. We were all waiting patiently when all at once we broke through the clouds. The whether was calm and peaceful, and guess what? The sun was shining. The storm clouds and bad whether had darkened our sky, but it had not removed the sun presence from the sky. We just had to climb above the storm clouds and bad whether to see it. Maybe that is what God is trying to get us to do; Climb a little higher, get a little closer to Him in order to get a glimpse of His wonderful Glory.
2. When we are Giving Thanks to God we are announcing to God that we are Dependent on Him.
When we are thanking God, we are acknowledging that God is the source of our blessings. When we are thanking Him, we are acknowledging our absolute dependence on Him. It is an act of submission on our part to thank Him for all things. We are saying, “ God we need you to help us to make it through this difficult time of our lives. We need you to give us the strength to make it. We can’t make it on our own; we are forever dependent on you for strength and guidance to make it through life.
3. When we are giving thanks to God for all things, we are saying God, we Trust You.
When I am thanking God I am expressing my trust in Him. “Lord, I am not sure I understand what I am going through, but I am going to trust You with the outcome of this situation.” There is much about life we do not understand. When we give thanks to God during those times of little understanding, we are placing our trust in Him.
God has never acted in any sort of way toward us but good. By nature, God is good. He has never done anything in your life or mine that was not good. We may have done many things that were not good, but God has not responded to our sin and failure in any other fashion than good. This is the only way He can respond because He is good.
4. When we are giving thanks to God, we are telling God that we understand what He is Doing in our lives.
We may not understand what we are going through, or we may not understand life’s problems. But we can understand that what ever is going on in our lives God is in control and is working in our lives to accomplish something. When we give thanks to God we are acknowledging our dependence on Him. We are trusting in Him and often times in the midst of this, we get a glimpse of what God is doing in our lives. When we are going through a difficult time and we continue to place our trust in God, it strengthens our relationship to God. We discover that our peace is not found in the absence of difficulty, but our peace is found in the strength we have from our relationship to Him. Our peace comes from the presence of Christ in our lives. Many of us have discovered that the wisest thing we can do during difficult times is to keep our focus on Christ. Not only is God strengthening our relationship with Him, He is also building character in us. In other words God is producing within us the character of the Lord Jesus Christ. God is more interested in our character than He is with our selfish comfort. God wants us to be Christ like in our lives. To be a Christian is to be like Christ.
II. WE SHOULD PRAY WITH THANKSGIVING BECAUSE GOD IS WORKING IN OUR LIVES THROUGH OUR CIRCUMSTANCES.
This is what I find beautiful about the Word of God. God’s Word is a guidebook for all of life. We do an injustice to what God wants us to know when we become satisfied with only learning a few select passages and call ourselves Bible scholars. God wants us to understand the entire counsel of His Word. Everything in this Book is there for a specific purpose, whether it is an account of God working in someone’s life and how it applies to our lives or whether it is a theological thesis such as the Book of Romans. The relationship that we have with God and the character that God is building in us comes as a result of His on going work in our lives. The Apostle Paul said best in Philippians 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. God as started something in our lives, and what He started He is going to finish. God does not do a half way job. According to Romans 8:29, God has predestined us to be conformed to the image or likeness of His Son. For that to happen we need to understand God’s work in our Lives.
1. God works in all things to bring about good.
We read in I Thessalonians 5:18 that it is the will of God for us to give thanks in all things. In Ephesians 5:20 we also read it is God’s will that we give thanks. So now I would like for you to turn with me to Romans 8:28, We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. We love to hear Paul use the words “All things.” In this passage we learn that God is at work in all things to bring about good. Now here is the key. If I am going to be able to thank God for all things, then I need to be able to see God in all things. If I do not see God in all things, I am not going to thank God in all things.
The key to being able to thank God in all things is the understanding that God is working in the painful situations of life for good. We need to know and understand the context of this scripture. In the 8Th chapter of Romans Paul is talking about our eternal good as well as our temporal good. We need to understand that the work that God is doing in our lives is for our eternal good not just our temporal good. The reason most of us struggle with the painful experiences of life is because we do not understand this truth. We fail to understand that our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory and The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which is to be revealed in us, (2 Corinthians 4:17, Romans 8:18). We have no problem believing God’s involvement in our life during the good times. But the Bible teaches us that God is involved in all areas of our life. We are not here by happenstance. The events of our life do not happen by chance. God is actively involved in our life and the purpose of His involvement is to bring about good. If you don’t believe that God is actively involved in all areas of your life, then you will not be thankful for long. You see these three verses link up beautifully to teach us a wonderful truth. I am to be thankful in all things. Why? Because my God, who is in charge of my life, is causing all things to work together for good. So therefore, whether I feel like it or not, whether I understand it or not, whether I can comprehend what God is up to or not, I can still give thanks. Why? Because God is up to something good no matter what.
I know there are some people who believe that God is unconcerned when it come to His involvement in their lives. They don’t think He has time to fool with them. Listen, God is not limited by time or space. He is involved in every single area of your life. He promised never to leave you or forsake you. And if God has promised never to leave or forsake you, then He must be involved in every single thing you are involved in because He is living on the inside of you. He says, “I am abiding in you.” And if God is living on the inside of His children, then He must be involved in everything His children are involved in. He is not in Heaven as a distant observer. The Bible teaches that we can have an intimate relationship with God the Father through His Son Jesus Christ.
2. God works in all things in our lives to bring about His purpose.
Turn with me to Ephesians 1:11, In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything with the purpose of His will. Now, let’s put all these things together. We are to thank God for all things. God is working all things together for good. It says here that He is working out everything in conformity to His will. So what can we learn here? We can sleep well at night, knowing that God is working in our life to achieve His will. It does not matter if it is good or bad, God will achieve His will through it if we will submit to His sovereign will. I can either, submit to God’s will and get better, or I can get bitter and hostile.
3. God work in our lives is to bring all of us to Salvation.
2 Peter 2:9 The lord is not slack concerning His Promise, as some count slackness; but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. God is a good God; God desire is that all people come to repentance or salvation. God is working in the lives of men, women, boys and girls, young and old to bring them to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. God’s method of salvation will never change. That will always be by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, not of works so no man can boast. But God’s method of bringing people to repentance and salvation will be different. For some it may be a Sunday morning message by the Pastor. For others it might be a worship song that makes God’s presence a reality that can be felt by the sinner and they know that they are in the presence of a Holy and Righteous God. Yet for others it may be something good that may have happened to them and still there are those that experience something catastrophic in their lives. God may not be the cause of these circumstances, but he can and does use them to serve His ultimate purpose, and that is to bring people to repentance and salvation. God wants to forgive all of us of our sin. He wants to have a relationship with each of us. He wants us to experience His love for us. Let us give thanks to God in all things, because He is working these things out for good. Let’s pray that our attitudes will change to reflect a heart of thanksgiving.
