The Power of praying with gratitude.
The bended knee that acknowledges the works of God of all creation, draws deeper into his answers to our prayers. With thankfulness you will see Jesus? His mercy will cleanse you. Your gratitude will make you whole! In the scripture below, we see the joy of receiving from God the things that we need or ask for. In this case it was the healing of lepers. Clearly they’re all joyful and even thankful. They ran off to tell everyone about this healing miracle and we can tell they told others who healed them.
However, separating the works of God from the regular, and accessing the complete benefit goes a step higher than thankfulness. It takes getting to the bottom of the heart of the receiver to retrieve the power of gratitude and its full benefit. It is gratitude that separates simple reception from full embrace. A heart of gratitude draws on the full force of God’s intended power to answered prayer. Gratitude is the acknowledgment of the source that gave the answer. It shines the attention away from the gift to the gift giver. When some one accepts something from you and simply says. “Thank, they are polite and acceptable. But if they say it adding your name, “... thank you Sam” that acknowledges the source. Gratitude is the same, it acknowledges God as the source.
Only one of the lepers came back not only to thank Jesus but also to acknowledge him as the source. In the process, Jesus revealed one of the most powerful principle in prayer, Gratitude! Many Christians don’t receive their full prayer reward because of a rush to receive and a sense of entitlement, which is really a lack of gratitude. That’s what happened with 9 of the 10 lepers. Usually only 10% will show gratitude.
Luke 17:11-19NLT
“As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem, he reached the border between Galilee and Samaria. As he entered a village there, ten lepers stood at a distance, crying out,
“Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” He looked at them and said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy. One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, “Praise God!” He fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan. Jesus asked,
“Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?”And Jesus said to the man, “Stand up and go. Your faith has healed you.
Gratitude acknowledges that as benefactors of God’s Grace and Kindness, we received more than we deserved or asked for. Gratitude produces humility, the position from which God promises to exalt us. ( Luke 14:11)
The 10 lepers asked for mercy, he gave them more than mercy, he cleansed them but for the one who showed gratitude, he was more than healed. He was made whole.
Gratitude touches the heart of the giver to pour out the rest. God “scrapes the dish” for the one with a heart of gratitude, so to speak! When we give our thanks with gratitude it adds nothing more to Him but empties more of his abilities, gifts and other goodies unto us to meet our needs . His answer to our petitions is made whole and complete.
The Bible says that do not be in haste to leave the presence of the King, you may miss out. Instead you let the king to allow you to leave his presence.
Ecclesiastes 8:3 “.. Do not be in a hurry to leave the king’s presence…”
This Bible story is of an actual event rather than a parable, and shows that sometimes the answer to our prayers is a chain of events that involves our participation and the check of our hearts’ motives.
Impact Prayer
Father in the Name of Jesus, we thank you for the unmerited favor you continually show me. Forgive me for taking the answers to my prayers for granted. Forgive me for the times I have received from you but yet I showed no gratitude. Thank you for showing me that my thankfulness is sometimes devoid of gratitude. I thank you for showing me that you want my prayers to receive the full power you intended, through the simple act of gratitude. I believe all this and thank you through the Name of your son, Jesus, Amen.
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