Thursday, April 11, 2013

Thanksgiving, Prayer, Praise, and the Face of God

This morning in my quiet time with God I was thinking about how we are faced every day with options for good and for evil. It seems that a part of the daily battle we face is in somehow actively choosing the good. If this is true, then God must have a plan and a method for us to do this. As I considered this, I thought of several scriptures that included the word thanksgiving. It seems there is a relationship between victory, prayer, thanksgiving, the face of God, and praise.

In Psalm 95:2 in the Hebrew it says we come before His presence (face) with thanksgiving (hands extended as if throwing or giving something actively). In Psalm 100:4 we enter the gates (opening) with thanksgiving (hands extended) and courts (walled in space) with praise (songs with instruments). In Psalm 147:7 we Sing (pay attention) to the Lord with Thanksgiving (hands extended).

Moving to the New Testament the word “thanksgiving” appears in places like Philippians 4:6 where it is tied to the requests we make to God through prayer with thanksgiving, Colossians 2:7 as a grounding to our faith, and in Colossians 4:2 where it is tied to prayer and watching. The word here in the Greek means actively grateful. Since these were written by Paul, a Jew well versed in the Hebrew scriptures and language, it is possible he chose this word because he knew about raising his hands. But what about a practical application?

In Exodus 17:11 there is a battle between Israel and Amalek. As long as Moses hands were up, Israel prevailed. As long as his hands were down, Amalek prevailed. It seems possible that Moses was giving thanksgiving for a battle that he knew God would fight along side them, and be victorious. If we will have faith and ask God for the victory by prayer and petition with our hands extended in thanksgiving, then we too can have God with us in the battle to prevail, even for something as simple as the battle for our thoughts in our minds.

Prayer
Father, thank you for the victories in our lives. Thank you for giving us the power over sin and death through the sacrifice of Your Son. We want to be Your people, and we hold out our hands to You to actively say, thank you. We praise You. In Jesus name. Amen.