Pastor's Corner

As we come together with family and friends this Thanksgiving, may we truly thank the God of heaven and earth, from whom all blessings truly flow! Throughout history, there is a common thread woven through God’s most widely used servants…thanksgiving and prayer. No kidding. It’s true. If you are a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ and you are experiencing very little of God’s prevailing power or peace in prayer, there’s a good chance that your prayer-life is missing the all-important ingredient of… thanksgiving.

On the occasion of the Ark of the Covenant being brought into the Tabernacle, we see David launching into a prayer of praise, thanksgiving and exaltation.

He begins with these words: “Oh give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples!” (1 Chron.

16:8) Notice that anyone (not just those of us in full-time vocational ministry) who proclaims Christ is given the order of effective proclamation: 1.

giving thanks 2.

petition 3.

proclamation of His deeds (as they are passed down through the Word).

How often do we go running into the presence of God and begin with our petitions without consulting His revealed Word and giving Him thanks and praise for what he has done, not only in times past (Biblical history) but also in our own lives and generation?

In my own experience, there is a marked difference in the spirit, attitude and power of my prayer life when I begin my prayer time reading/studying God’s Word (which not only reveals God’s glory and will, but also turns His inescapable light on any/every sin in my life), followed by a period of confession, praise and thanksgiving to the One that I am about to petition.

In fact, it is quite common for God to change the whole direction of the way I thought I was going to pray about a given situation, having begun my prayer time in His Word, confession, praise and thanksgiving.

Jesus said, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you” (John 15:7).

Is this not what the Scripture means by “praying with/in the Spirit…and understanding” (1 Cor.

14:15; Eph.

6:18)? God the Holy Spirit is the One who authored the Word of God through the writers of Scripture (2 Peter 1:20-21).

After Christ ascended back to the Father, He sent the Holy Spirit with the words He wanted to convey to those authors so they could record them in those [New Testament] Scriptures (John 16:12-15) so that they, with the Old Testament Scriptures, make up the one complete canon of Scripture, “the faith once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).

Psalm 37:4-5 says, “Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.” So, if we follow the admonition of Scripture to “let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly” (Col. 3:16) and thus abide in Christ and have His words abide in us, we soon begin to experience unspeakable power through prayer! Why? Because when His living Word is abiding in us in such abundance and we are truly delighting ourselves in Him, our hearts and minds are transformed to the point that His desires become our desires so that we begin to pray according to His good and perfect will (Rom. 12:1-2).

Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Be anxious for nothing, 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 through Christ Jesus.” God’s power and peace through prayer…it comes on the wings of His Word, confession, praise and thanksgiving. May you and your family know God’s power and peace this holiday season!

Dean Ellis,

pastor of Evangelism & Outreach

First Baptist Church