“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.” Romans 8:1-2
I asked the congregation to be seated and then took my seat behind the pulpit with a familiar anxiety. Polly, a regular volunteer to lead “the prayers of the people” who was consistently inconsistent, stood at the lectern and, with a voice that was more threatening than welcoming, asked the congregation to stand and share what they were thankful for. Daniel, a man in his mid-50s with some mental issues, eagerly stood and began his weekly soliloquy. Polly shut him down quickly to the discomfort of the room. Then, a kind, elderly woman with her gray hair in a bun, stood. Madge stood and gave heartfelt thanks that a cyst she had under her arm had disappeared! I looked over at my 6-year-old son in the second row of the sanctuary. Her “thanksgiving had him climbing under the pew with a grimace on his face. So, it is worth asking, “What is the point of thanksgiving in prayer?”
Today’s post is the third of four on a method of prayer known by the acronym “ACTS.” I recommend ACTS as a prayer workout because many people whom I would like to emulate in prayer have found that regular practice of Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication in their morning routine focuses their minds, reduces their sense of guilt, and increases their enjoyment of life and their ability to makegoodhappen. Today we are going to focus on the third part of our workout: “Thanksgiving.” It is important to begin with the first two parts, “Adoration” and “Confession” because what happens there provides the content for what happens in phase three.
Now that we are in the third part of our prayer workout, we have reflected, through Adoration, on the stellar qualities of God. In the light of Adoration, we have surfaced our own failures and have confessed them to God. These first two steps were challenging. The weight of the workout increases as we own our flaws and confess them to God. How do we get from the heavy sense of guilt to the freedom from condemnation that Paul writes about in Romans 8? It might seem as though the burden must shift before we can give thanks. But in reality, thanksgiving, the third part of our workout, is the means by which we remove our heavy burden and take on the easy yoke of Christ.
“The term “thanksgiving” is derived from the Old English words “thanks” and “giving,” meaning “the act of giving thanks”. The word was first used in the 1530s to describe the act of expressing gratitude or offering thanks for favors or blessings, particularly from God.”
It is helpful to distinguish adoration from thanksgiving. Adoration, as we saw in our first post, is focused on giving praise for the personality of God. Thanksgiving, which follows adoration and confession, isn’t simply a time to share good things that have happened with us and our loved ones. The thanksgiving that follows confession is first and foremost thanksgiving for all God has done to make our forgiveness possible.
For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again . . . Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. -I Corinthians 5: 14-15, 17-19a
There is a depth of wisdom and mystery in understanding our reconciliation to God that requires time and study to grasp. But what is most important for today is that we begin building our trust in the reality that we’ve been forgiven by God through Jesus.
Thanksgiving is a choice as much as it is a reaction. So, the third practice of our prayer workout includes the following:
Practice “Adoration” and “Confession” as discussed in the previous two posts.
Begin committing to memory the two passages above (Romans and 1 Corinthians). se
Let the two passages guide you as you begin your time of thanksgiving. Focus your gratitude on the fact that there is now no condemnation between you and God; that our confession has been heard, forgiven, and that we are now reconciled to God through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. Give thanks. Rest. Let the truth of these passages sink a little deeper in your heart. Start with 5 minutes here and slowly expand the time to 10 minutes.
Spend the next 5 minutes letting the peace you are experiencing, even if it is minimal and fluctuating, to guide you into thankfulness for the outflow of good in your life, your relationships, and your community that God’s love has made happen in your life.
Once you begin this process, it will add joy to your life as it becomes a part of the morning you look forward to as soon as you awake. Once you move through Adoration and Confession to Thanksgiving, you are ready for next week’s post on the “S” of ACTS, Supplication.
