Philippians 4:6
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
Worship the King - Mark Condon
This last Sunday in the evening service I shared a testimony from a number of years ago.
It was on a Sunday morning I was leading in songs in the worship service. One of my jobs as the song leader was to pray for the prayer requests that had been turned in prior to service. The way this prayer requests were turned in is that the person making the request would write their need on small green piece of paper and bring it to the pulpit. While I was getting ready to pray for these needs the Lord quickened me to do something different. He told me I should read the request on each piece of paper and then have individuals in the congregation take each paper and just praise God while bringing the request to Him. I don’t remember if I had Philippians 4:6 on my mind at the time I was just trying to do what God was telling me. It so happened that several of the prayer requests were for people who were visiting the service that day to be saved. These individuals came up and took the papers with their names on them. When people began to praise the Lord a dear brother came and prayed with these individuals and they all received the Holy Ghost. It was really cool.
Praise is the expression of thanks to God. Truly our praise is powerful when it comes from a heart of thanksgiving. I wrote a post on this subject called A Passion For Praise.
I think about the story of the ten lepers from Luke 17.…
Jesus heals ten lepers
11 And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: 13 and they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.
14 And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.
15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.
17 And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?
18 There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.
19 And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.
The man who was healed expressed his thanks with a loud voice glorifying God, and bowing at the feet of Jesus. His thankfulness was expressed with acts of praise.
We lift our hands in praise to God. I’ve been told that we raise our hands just like an enemy surrenders to authority. I’ve also heard that we raise our hands because we know who the answer is.
I truly do want to have my will surrendered to God and I am sure that Jesus is the answer to every sin, disease, poverty or any need. His blood washes away every stain! The root meaning of the hands raised in ancient history is and expression of thanks. Remember that the next time you raise your hands to God in praise. It is a beautiful thing.
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise.
The Hebrew word for thanksgiving so I’m told, is a word that expresses a very deep heart felt gratitude. Even though Psalm 100 doesn’t talk about the heart yet there are a number of songs that use the word heart in reference to this song.
I will enter His gates with thanksgiving in my heart, I will enter His courts with praise.
Come into His presence with thanksgiving in your heart and give Him praise, and give Him praise.
With my hands lifted up and my mouth filled with praise, with a heart of thanksgiving I will bless thee oh Lord.
In Everything Give Thanks
Lashun Pace
Philippians 4:6
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
16 Rejoice evermore. 17 Pray without ceasing. 18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 1 Thessalonians 5