thankfulness – The Scriptural Truth

Thoughts From 1 Chronicles 28:9

“And Solomon, my son, learn to know the God of your ancestors intimately. Worship and serve him with your whole heart and a willing mind. For the LORD sees every heart and knows every plan and thought. If you seek him, you will find him. But if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.
1 Chronicles 28:9 NLT

Devotion is the word we use to describe participating in a short Bible study and discussion, like the one we are having now. But the word devotion also refers to the attitude that drives us to seek God.

Thoughts From 1 Chronicles 16:8-10

“Oh, give thanks to the LORD! Call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples! [9] Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; Talk of all His wondrous works! [10] Glory in His holy name; Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the LORD!”
1 Chronicles 16:8 – 10

If you ever need a praise role model, you need to look to David. He was a shepherd, a giant-killer, a warrior, a musician and the most beloved king in Israel’s history. More important than all that, is the fact that David knew how to praise God.

Thoughts From Psalm 40:13

“Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me; O LORD, make haste to help me!”
Psalm 40:13

God loves to answer the prayers of His people. Many times in the Bible, He tells us to pray to Him, to ask Him for things and to call out to Him. He even tells us that there are some things that we do not have simply because we have not asked Him for them.

Folks, God wants us to pray to Him because He enjoys helping us. He cares for us deeply and knows that our lives are full of hard things. We get sad or hurt or sick or just plain confused about what to do next. Praying for help is good for us because it causes us to slow down and pay attention to God.

Thoughts From 2 Chronicles 7:14

“Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.”
2 Chronicles 7:14 NLT

In this verse from 2 Chronicles, God offers Israel forgiveness and healing. But first, He asks for four things from the Israelites: that they be humble, that they pray, that they seek Him and that they turn from their wicked ways.

Notice that the first step is humility. Folks, before we can accomplish anything for God, we must be humble. We must recognize that we are servants of God and that we are put on this earth to glorify God, not ourselves.

The second step is to pray. God hears the prayers of the humble. When we are humble, we pray the way we were designed to pray. When we are humble, we approach God as if He really is the God of all creation. We ask God to meet our needs so that He may be glorified. We pray to God that His will may be done. And folks these are requests that He happily grants.

Thoughts From James 4:3

“And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong-you want only what will give you pleasure.”
James 4:3 NLT

Sometimes God does not give us what we ask for. According to this verse this may happen because we are not asking for the right reasons. Have you ever stopped to think about why you want what you want? God is interested in the “whys” behind our requests.

When our motives are purely selfish, meaning that we only want something for our own pleasure, God may not give us what we want. He wants us to be concerned with things bigger than our own desires, such as how what we are asking for might affect other people, or whether it is something that will help us love God more, or if it might come between God and ourselves.

Folks, the next time you ask God for something think about why you want it. And if necessary, ask God to change your motives so that they honor Him.