Prayerfully Re-Center Around God
1 Thessalonians 1:2-3
We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
~ Apostle Paul
Pondering Point
Let the Apostle Paul’s grateful heart encourage you in your own life of prayer: What stands out in his prayer above?
Take note of the thankfulness, partnerships, the faith-generated fruit, love-inspired labor, the endurance and hope. Let’s prayerfully re-center around God using Paul’s approach to prayer.
Review
Who am I grateful for? Do they know that I appreciate them? Who are my partners in life (think marriage, work, exercise, faith)? Is God in the middle of these partnerships? Who currently inspires you to want to love and serve others?
Repent (if necessary)
Who have I overlooked or taken for granted -- counting family? What should I do about that? If you have left God out of or on the sidelines of key partnerships in your life, repent of that as well.
Return (as necessary)
Thank God for the people that you initially remembered and also include those you previously overlooked or took for granted. Thank God specifically for your family. Thank Him for the opportunity to have partners and ask Him to be central to all relationships you have. Submit even your partnerships to God.
Prayer
Father God, I am a disciple of Jesus serving in ways that glorify You. Raise up in me a genuine heart of thankfulness, awareness and appreciation for those around me, including my family and my partners in life. May I labor out of love for You and them, inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name I pray, Amen.