Day 3033 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Philippians 4:6 NIV

Scary how failing to see two simple words, simple enough for our ego to overlook, can completely undermine the entire purpose of what is in and of itself a gift undeserved.

Within that sadly terrifying irony you'll find what forms the very foundation of most of humanity's many mistakes and misunderstandings. We have an amazing ability to fix our eyes on only what we want to see. This is done in what we watch, what we witness, what we read. We've learned to float through life with selective sight, and as such, we tend to conveniently miss the things we're shown that we'd rather not be responsible for having known.

Much like selective hearing, a debilitating disability that I hear affects mainly married men, selective sight is a dangerous trait to retain. Why? Well, because like a husband who hears only roughly 1/4 of his wife's words, seeing only a fraction of that which has been so kindly laid out before us in order to help us learn and grow and refine ourselves and our faith results in quite the opposite.

We flounder. We falter. We fail and fall short. All because we carry these eyes that refuse to acknowledge anything we don't want to recognize, as we know that should we recognize it we must also embrace the responsibility of it.

With thanksgiving.

Somehow those two words fell through the cracks as this passage was passed down through all the generations that came and went before us. I guess maybe that's one of those unfortunate aspects of a historical text; it's seen as something that's somewhat antiquated and thus mostly out of date and out of touch and therefore out of this reality we've found ourselves to have forged all these years and advancements later.

But our ability to discount something simply because we don't want it bothering our current complacency is yet another sad symptom of a fallen man thinking themselves high above those who've gone before.

Back to the point of today's post. While those two words, with thanksgiving, may have been lost to many throughout history, they still bear the same weight and importance as they did when they were first written into this instruction meant to guide us into a deeper and therefore more strengthened and resilient faith. A lesson all of us still need, in fact arguably more desperately, even all these years advanced.

Because just because we have tiny computers in our pockets and entertainment all around and even this new form of intelligence, albeit artificial (a topic sure to be considered in a coming discussion), well, that doesn't mean that we're not still far dumber than we like to consider. In fact, I tend to agree with a quote from a person of whom few have likely ever heard, "The further we advance technologically, the further behind we become."

It hit me the other day driving down the road and watching the world fly by just how fast we've forgotten the simplicity of nearly everything. And while that's sufficient in regard to most worldly things, as all worldly things really just don't matter, the same hurry and lack of urgency to consider the severity of something like faith oughtn't be allowed in our minds if we truly believe in both the power and the meaning of this faith we say means something.

I mentioned this yesterday, but I still feel it deserves its own post. Of the many things we've learned from the world around us, and learned to water down both from the world around us and the fearful yet arrogant complacency within us, the failure to fully appreciate prayer is among the most severe. Prayer has been turned into a report card, a service request, a repetition of repeated rhetoric aimed at appeasing ourselves first and foremost.

But that's not the point of prayer. It's not to merely present God with a list of demands we wish met in exchange for our continual interest in this faith of His. It's not a time to regurgitate the prayer we repeated that morning after rehearsing it the night before. It's not about telling God only what we think of His plans, His work, His timing, and how tired we are of all of them not lining up with our versions. In truth, prayer's not about us at all.

Yet, that's what it's become as we've become so advanced that we've run out of places to grow, and have thus resorted to growing inward in a kind of selfish dilution that has rendered us all but incapable of considering anyone or anything other than ourselves.

And this shows up perfectly, tragically within the prayers we toss before a God we barely know.

It's no wonder most of mankind is walking around with such this visual weight crushing down upon them. They say that anxiety weighs down the heart, Proverbs 12:25, and it shows all around us. So much to be anxious about anymore. A daily drama. A nightly report. A weekend debacle unfolding as more are off work for the week and finally find themselves with time to gather together and protest. A constant continuation of the chaos that seems never ending with no interest in doing so.

And in the midst of the mindless madness, we tend to find ourselves struggling to keep our priorities lined up in proper placement. Why? Well, because something as simple as prayer has been allowed to be seen as something simple. We've chalked it up on the board of things watered down so blandly within our understanding of faith that we've stripped it of its meaning. And as we’ve lost the meaning of prayer, so too have we lost access to the peace that prayer brings. That’s what the next verse here in Philippians 4 points out.

Yes, sadly we've glossed over the two words that remind us that it's not about us, and since our advanced arrogance hates that, we've missed the purpose of prayer and now find ourselves struggling to stop sinking with all the stinking stupidity swirling around us.

Might it be that anxiety can only rise as thanksgiving is allowed to fall out of consideration?

Let me ask you this, when's the last time you thanked God for the struggles you're facing? When's the last time you thanked Him for the previous prayers that have yet to be answered? When's the last time you thanked Him for the prayers that were answered in a way other than what you wanted? When is the last time you thanked God for anything?

In truth, it’s probably been a while. Probably been some time since you’ve taken time to pray simply because you had so many things to be thankful for that you wanted to get started on showing your appreciation for them all before you started to forget a few. But of how much importance is gratitude within your walk? How much time is spent recalling the things we’ve been given as compared to rehearsing how to ask for all we still want?

That’s the problem with our modern approach to prayer. It’s done only in times of preference or panic. We either want something or to avoid something. And when we come before Him with our worries or wishes going before us, the humility that should lead the way is nowhere to be found. What we find instead is a list of demands being given to Him for the blessings we want rather than giving to Him our humble appreciation for the gifts we’ve already been given.

And we wonder why there seems so much anxiety and unrest and unhappiness and uncertainty alive in our world, in our neighborhoods, in our lives, in our minds, in our hearts. Might be because we’ve forgotten those two little words caught in the middle of all the others found in this lesson we’ve been given yet somehow still failed to learn.

With thanksgiving.

Sure, prayer is a means to let God know what's on our hearts. It's a chance to unload some of the weight that's crushing down upon our minds. It's our time to ask for help to navigate through all the trouble and turmoil that's bringing such anxiety that our hearts can barely keep up. It's a chance to tell Him all about our hopes, our dreams, our fear and our failures. But to do any of the above without gratitude in our hearts is to miss the point.

Because being thankful demands the humility He deserves. We cannot approach Him as the arrogant people we tend to live our lives as down here. We can't come before Him with only a list of things we want Him to do, to give, to take off our plate. We cannot allow prayer to be merely a means of trying to make God see it all our way. Prayer isn't about changing His will to meet ours. It's about surrendering our will thanks to the reminder that we’re to come before Him with gratitude leading the way.

We may live in a society so selfish that most cannot see anything outside themselves. But friends, self is what we've been asked to sacrifice in exchange for a greater measure of the One we can't live without. And something so drastic as first denying and then ultimately dying to self is something that does take practice. Prayer is our practice. Prayer is meant to be a time of breaking out of our minds and instead seeking shelter in His presence.

Prayer is our freedom from all we're trying to fix, figure out, find and find a way to leave behind. But, we can't do anything about anything if everything is always allowed to remain all about us. There must be a sacrifice in this faith in order for it to grow into what it's meant to be. Letting go of ourselves is all we can offer to the One who gave Himself for us to have the chance to share in the experience to walk out of the death we've been living as we've been living like a world that's dying.

We have to stop worrying so much about only what's worrying us. Not that it doesn't matter. Not that He doesn’t care. Not that He doesn't want us to be open and honest and lay our struggles out before Him. He does want that because He does care. But friends, our faith and our every chance to approach it and grow it cannot be successful if our perspective remains the one we focus on the most. And I think the easiest way for us to figure out where we stand in our faith is to look at what our prayers are saying.

Not what we're saying while we pray, but what does what we pray say about us?

Do our prayers show that our minds are set on things above? Do they speak a confidence in God's benevolent provision and power? Do they instill courage to fight against the grain of a society seeking to pull us away from Him? Do they show thanksgiving for even the things we wish we didn't have to go through as we understand that we're going through them because God's ordained them for our growth?

Or do our prayers only show that we're still first in our lives?

With thanksgiving. With humility. With gratitude, not attitude. With God's will being done and ours being lost if and when the two do not run the same direction or according to the same purpose. With the ability to lay down all we care about so that we can better learn to care about what God cares about.

Prayer isn't a means to make God see life through our eyes. It's a way to remind us that His perspective is higher, that His ways are higher, that His plans are higher, and that as ours are lower, they must be let go.

If we're to come before Him, let us do so with thanksgiving as it shows that we understand that the sheer opportunity to even let our words approach His ears considering our lives have let Him down is an extraordinary gift we shouldn’t have. We don't deserve the gift of prayer. And it's time that we stop allowing ourselves to forget the undeserved gift that it truly is.

Prayer brings peace as it brings us into the presence of the One who defines peace and kindly gives to all who seek Him with hearts willing to forsake themselves. We can present Him our requests, our hopes, our fears and ask for Him to intercede. But we must first bring thanksgiving because to be thankful is to be humble. And of all we already owe Him, humility is one of the few that we can ever offer.

Maybe we should concern ourselves with what we have to offer via gratitude and appreciation and contentment and joy and thanksgiving as they all show that we’re learning the humility that faith must have in order to grow. Maybe those things are truly of greater importance than what we tend to think is important. Because while we may want life to go a certain way, if we don’t follow humbly His path paved by The Way, we’ll never find life because we’ll just stay in the way.

Prayer should be so little about us, and until it is, we’ll likely continue to find little peace and much anxiety. And if that’s in fact what we’re finding, then we should try and find where we’re going wrong in something that He’s made so simple as two words.

With thanksgiving.

#LeaveNoSoulUntold