In high-school, I had a P.E. teacher that would always ask a student to do something but would end the request with “please and thank you.” For example, she would say, “Go bring me the bag of volleyball’s. Please and thank you.” I always found it odd that she would say “thank you” before the task was completed. In fact, it would drive me nuts! I would walk away after her asking me to do something and think, “I haven’t even done it yet! Why doesn’t she say “thank you” once I am finished?” However, the other day I noticed I asked my husband to do a something but then thanked him before he had even started on my request. The words that once drove me bonkers in high school were now coming out of my mouth! I stopped to think about why I thanked him before he had even started the task, and I came to the conclusion this: I had 100% confidence that he would follow through.
Confidence: trusting in the abilities, strengths, integrity, or faithfulness of someone or something
Due to me saying “thank you” because of my full confidence in his ability and faithfulness to complete the task, led me to question if I make my requests to God with the same confidence. Do I just say “Please” but wait to see if He will follow through before I say “thank you”? When it comes to God, do I have the same 100% confidence in His ability and faithfulness like I do with my husband? Or like my P.E. teacher had with her students?
Philippians 4:6 (AMP) says,”Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests) with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God.”
I believe I do, but my actions and my words may not always convey it when I am in prayer. I am always quick to thank Him for the blessings that I have already received, but I’m not always as fervent to thank Him for the blessings that I hope to one day come. Therefore today during my quiet time with God, I wrote a “thank you” letter to Him. I thanked Him for the “usual” blessings such as good health for me and my family, a wonderful husband, a warm home, encouraging friends, a wonderful church, etc. I might have even wrote down the orange juice I was drinking. But towards the end of my letter, I included a few “thank you’s” for those things which I have said “please” to. My list included…
- a baby to be conceived
- healthy children
- healed and made whole with perfect egg follicles and balanced hormones
- pregnancy free from all complications
I encourage you to ask yourself the same question I asked myself…Do I just say “please” but then wait to see if God will follow through before I say “thank you”? If so, then from this day forward as you make known your requests to God, release your faith by always ending it with a “please and thank you,” knowing with confidence that He will follow through.
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Love the idea of the thank you letter. Man, this has been on my mind so much lately, and I’m literally flooding my days with thanksgiving. Did you see Joel Osteen’s sermon from last week? This is exactly what he talked about….thanking Him BEFORE we receive the blessings, because that is how we wait expectantly and confidently without doubt. Writing things down always adds that extra element of power too. Good for you!
no i didn’t see his sermon but I do love listening to him. Yes, I think I will make it a part of my quiet time with him on a regular basis.
Amen!
Great thoughts. I was thinking about that verse in Philippians as well. And I was thinking about how much thanksgiving is a predominant theme in the Bible. I definitely struggle with the ‘pre-thank you’…maybe b/c I am not always confident in how He will answer. But I think He is to be thanked regardless, because He will do what it right. Thanks for the reminder.
I have been studying a lot of the old testament stories/battles in the Bible and most of them were won by them just giving praise and glory to God. I especially love the one with Jehoshaphat. A great army was coming against him and he had no idea what to do but God told him the battle was His to win. So Jehoshaphat went into battle singing and worshiping God. The Bible says that the praise and worship confused the enemy so much that they killed themselves. I have always been told that the enemy gets confused and can’t stand it when we sing praises and thank God so I have been definitely trying to confuse the enemy more lately.
Love that!
This definitely made me re-evaluate the way I thank God. I have complete faith in Him, so I don’t know why I never said “Please and thank you” before (especially since I’d be one of those people that drove you crazy, Elisha – I always say it lol).
I am hoping and praying that your list is answered soon!
Thank you so much for your sweet prayers! My pastor gave an example several months ago of how we should thank God even in advance but it never really “soaked” in until now. His example was this:
What if my four girls asked to go to Dairy Queen and I said yes but they walked around wondering if I was going to take them. They didn’t thank me and they questioned whether or not I would come through. It would make me feel awful as a dad. But what if when I told them yes they jumped around and started shouting with excitement that we were going, but yet we hadn’t loaded up in the car yet. God wants us to be like that. He wants us to ask and then get excited because we know that He is a loving God and will answer our requests. Make sense? My pastor did a better job of explaining 😉 hehe
Makes perfect sense! I love it! 🙂
What a wonderful thought! I’m guilty of always saying “please” in my prayers and only sometimes saying “thank you” after the fact. How selfish of me, right? Thank you for sharing this. It really spoke to me.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving to you too!!