Thanksgiving!

Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. NIV

Gratitude goes beyond the 'mine' and 'thine' and claims the truth that all of life is a pure gift. In the past I always thought of gratitude as a spontaneous response to the awareness of gifts received, but now I realize that gratitude can also be lived as a discipline. The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowledge that all I am and have is given to me as a gift of love, a gift to be celebrated with joy. Henri J. M. Nouwen

When Paul uses the word "prayer" The word carries the meaning of close, up-front, intimate contact with someone else. A face to face contact!  The inherent in this word is the idea of an exchange—giving something to God in exchange for something wanted or desired. So instead of carrying your worries and burdens, you are to take the first step Paul gives you in moving from a place of turmoil to peace: Come close to the Lord in prayer. Once you are in that intimate, face-to-face place with God, take that opportunity to give Him your worries, fears, and concerns. Then ask the Lord to give you something back in exchange for the worries you have given Him—ask Him for peace! When you give God your problems, in return He gives you His peace.

The word "thanksgiving" that Paul uses in this verse is the Greek word eucharistia, This compound word describes an outpouring of grace and of wonderful feelings that freely flow from the heart in response to someone or something.

By using this word, Paul teaches us that when we earnestly ask God to do something special for us, we must match it with an earnest outpouring of thanks. Although the request has only just been made and the manifestation isn't evident yet, it is appropriate to thank God for doing what we have requested. Thanking Him in advance demonstrates faith.

So always make sure to follow up your earnest asking with earnest thanksgiving! Make it a goal to be just as passionate in your thanksgiving as you were when you made your request.

Don't worry about anything—and that means nothing at all! Instead, come before God and give Him the things that concern you so He can in exchange give you what you need or desire. Be bold to strongly, passionately, and fervently make your request known to God, making certain that an equal measure of thanksgiving goes along with your strong asking. You have every right to ask boldly, so go ahead and insist that God meet your need. When you pray, be so bold that there is no doubt your prayer was heard. Broadcast it! Declare it! Pray boldly until you have the assurance that God has heard your request!" {SGG}

Prayer and Confession

Lord, I thank You for allowing me to come boldly before You in prayer. I know that You love me and want to richly meet the needs I am facing in my life today. My temptation is to worry and fear, but I know that if I will trust You, everything I am concerned about will turn out all right. Right now I reject the temptation to worry, and I choose to come before You to boldly make my requests known. By faith I thank You in advance for acting to answer my requests!

I confess that I am not ruled by worry, fear, or concerns. I go to God with those things that are on my heart, and I clearly articulate what I feel, what I need, and what I expect Heaven to do on my behalf. Because of the promises in God's Word, I know exactly how to boldly make my requests. I always match my requests with thanksgiving letting God know how grateful I am for everything He does in my life. Heaven is on my side; therefore, I know I will survive and victoriously overcome each and every attack that ever tries to come against my family, my relationships, my business, my finances, and my life. I declare this by faith in Jesus' name!

 Source: Sparkling Gems in the Greek