Thanks

An incredible challenge came to me this evening. I was sitting in a Bible Study at the church doing an inductive study on Philippians 4:1-9. For the purposes of what I’m going to talk about are verses four through seven which states:

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. and the peace of God. which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
~Philippians 4:4-7~

These verses completely blow my mind… First off, lets focus on the the rejoicing part. How often do we get up out of bed and rejoice? How often do I rejoice in the hard times not knowing whats the next turn? It’s so easy to rejoice in the good times of life. Those times when you know that God is all around you and taking care of you… quite frankly when life just seems plain simple. Recently, I’ve very much come to the more falling deeply in Love with God. It’s been an amazing journey becoming closer and closer to God, but do I truly rejoice ALWAYS?

That was my first mind blower and challenge in my own life.

Second, how often do I spend in genuine prayer? Now, I am very much of a person that likes to talk with God all throughout my day. It’s truly a wonderful feeling… To be constantly talking with God.

I was in my car the other day and I talked with God about something that has been on my mind a lot lately. So, I sit down in my car and start out with, “alright God you know what’s on my heart, but now I really want to talk to you and pray about this to you.” Within a minute I’m completely distracted and thinking about some random topic and lose track of my prayer. I started getting frustrated with myself because I know what I need to talk to God about is a serious matter yet I’m getting myself distracted from praying about it. This happened several times during that car ride until I finally got home and distracted myself again with other things.

Supplication. In verse six it says that we should be in prayer AND supplication. I’ve always partially known what supplication was but out of curiosity I looked on google what a definition of supplication was. This is what I found:

sup·pli·ca·tion

noun: supplication; plural noun: supplications

the action of asking or begging for something earnestly or humbly.

“he fell to his knees in supplication”

(Google definition)

Typically when I think of begging I don’t usually think about me sitting there praying in my head. When I think of someone that is begging its usually in a kneeing form, or even on their hands and knees! When do I get on my knees, let alone my hands and knees, to pray to God? Now, in my own life I need to get on my knees more especially what’s been going on in life and my future.

Is there something in your own life that needs prayer. I’m not talking about the “praying while driving and get distracted” kind of prayer. I’m talking about the “It’s time to get on my hands and knees” kind of praying. I know I do.

“If life gets too hard to stand, kneel.”
~Tony Evans~

“Sometimes I think …

I just prayed …

and God just LISTENED to me …

and He just ANSWERED me!

Is there anything more amazing,

anything greater than that?!?”
~Francis Chan~

“We ought to see the face of God every morning before we see the face of man.”

~D. L. Moody~

Thirdly, in verse six it also talks about thanksgiving. God is teaching me so much about being in constant thanksgiving to Him. The little things in life I take way too much for granted. It’s been a great challenge in the past couple weeks to constantly be thankful for all the big things God has placed in my life all the way to the most minute thing in life.

I was watching a sermon with Francis Chan and when the video started there was cheering and clapping. Francis was praying and thanking God for a great worship time. He finished and told the congregation of a gentleman that was cured of cancer. At that moment I heard a shout, “THANK YOU GOD, PRAISE GOD!!!” I’ve really never heard someone genuinely cry out to God at the top of their lungs in praise like that before. When’s the last time that we truly cried out thanking God for all the things He as done in my life, not worrying about what other people think about us?

Finally, at the end of verse six it states:

“…let your requests be made known to God.”

Philippians 4:6

What was an amazing reminder that an all knowing God wants to know what we need and want. He already knows so why should be telling him what he already knows? The only reason that I could think of (and they’re might be others) is that He wants to hear us talk to Him. Now I may not be in a relationship here on earth with anyone, but I know that if I had an attraction for someone I would want them to talk to me. I would want to hear their voice. Taking that a step further… If someone was married and knew absolutely everything about their spouse and what they were thinking, yet still wanted their spouse to tell them what they need want could only be a picture of genuine love to their spouse.

This thought is nearly overwhelming to me. GOD, The Almighty, wants to know what’s on my heart and my requests even though He already knows them!! That is an amazing picture of His love for us!

Once again, I am completely overwhelmed by the love that God has for us and what He has in store for our lives. It shows more and more that we just need to trust Him and to invest our lives into this relationship that we have in Christ.

It’s time to get on our knees and truly be in prayer and

supplication with thanksgiving to God.

Flying down the open roads of the LaCrosse area, taking hard turns and enjoying the time on my motorcycle. I came up to a ninety degree corner, feeling very confident, at about 30 to 40 miles an hour. There were bushes and trees on the corner of the lot prohibiting me from seeing what was on the other side of the corner. Still confident I entered into the corner enjoying the thrill. In a spit second I realized my life-threatening mistake. There was a large truck right in my lane, that was no more than 20 feet in front of me, headed my way. In a split second I tried to go around the left side of the truck, instead the bike slipped underneath me and took me across the road into a ditch that lead into a corn field. I was inches away from going head on with the truck…

I find it an absolute miracle that: 1) God didn’t take me home to be with Him that day and 2) I didn’t break one bone in my body. Needless to say, I was scrapped up a little bit but it definitely could have been far worse.

As I got up, while still in shock, I pushed my bike out of the corn field and up the ditch to get it on the road. I immediately sat down on the side of the road and felt almost every bone in my body to make sure i didn’t break anything. It took me several minutes to get back on my bike.

…I was horrified…

There was no way I was getting back on that thing, but I had to get back to my grandparents (where I was staying at the time). I very reluctantly threw me leg over my bike and started it back up. I knew I had to at least get back to my grandparents. I didn’t go faster than ten miles an hour the entire way back. In the back of my mind I constantly reminded myself that I almost killed myself.

I got back to my grandparents and looked at my bike. Thankfully, there wasn’t much damage to the bike either. However, I wasn’t getting back on that thing for a while.

I very much look forward to riding my motorcycle. The motorcycle that I was in the accident with has recently been sold mainly because I lost my trust in it.

Now, it could have completely given up on riding a motorcycle. I cringe just thinking back at the experience knowing that it could have been my last ride, and it only happened last summer.

I’m not one to talk about this story because it was very difficult to go through. Why do I tell you this story? The reason I am writing about it is because of certain recent events that has happened that made me remember it.

I learned two lessons from this experience.

The first lesson is that we need to give all of our praises and thanks to God at all times and through all circumstances. I will admit, I was very upset at myself for going too fast around the corner and for the trucker to be in my lane. However, I thank God that I was barely injured physically. I thank God that I am alive. Most of the time I speak very lightly of the matter, but I know if God didn’t help me avoid that truck I wouldn’t be here today.

Above all I am thankful I got in the accident. WHAT?!?! DID HE JUST SAY THAT!?! Yes, in fact, I did. I know how close I came to be taken to my heavenly home, but I know God had a better plan for me. I am thankful I got in the accident because it taught me to take my time and not to be so confident in myself especially when it comes to my safety and the safety of others around me.

~ 1 Thessalonians 5:18 ~
“Give thanks in ALL circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.“

The second lesson that it taught me was God is always in control. Even when I knew I had no control over my motorcycle God had control over me. He could have taken me home to be with Him, instead gave me a quick response to avoid a head-on collision. God will always be in control even when we feel we are out of control.

~ Joshua 1:9 ~
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

A Begging Prayer

He is in Control…