Do not be anxious about anything—but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. Philippians 4:6, TLV

With Thanksgiving.  I love the book of Philippians. There are a lot of quotables nestled within those few chapters. Today’s verse is one of those memorables.

We have been discussing prayer over the weeks. Right now, I’m working on a devotion for an online devotional about prayer. But, what caught me today was “with thanksgiving.” Before we begin our prayers we need to come to our Father with gratitude.

Gratitude is actually part of our core. Being thankful begins with our taking the first crying breath when we were born and continues to taking our first spiritual breath (also most likely crying) when we were born again. That second birth is only possible because of Jesus’s last shuddered breath on the cross — for our sins.

Rejoice in the Lord always—again I will say, rejoice! (vs. 4, TLV)

Rejoice? Always? Is that even possible? Praise, thanksgiving, and joy are all a choice. Even though at our core we are grateful, sometimes there are burdens covering our core. Illness, grief, money problems, family problems, disappointments. It’s too easy to horde those burdens and forget that our very hearts were made for worshipping God.

So how do we “get to that place” of praise, thanksgiving, and joy? Perhaps we can shove the burdens aside and thank the LORD. Begin simply with the fact that we woke up this morning and breathing.

This is the day that ADONAI [the LORD] has made!
Let us rejoice and be glad in it! (Psalm 118:24, TLV)

That we took our first spiritual breath because our Father sent His Son.

Yeshua [Jesus] answered him, “Amen, amen I tell you, unless one is born [again], he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3, TLV)

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16, TLV)

Then, keep going. Remember all He has done for us. Those burdens? Yes, they’re there, but the load is no longer who we are, they are the battles we face with the Creator of the Universe and His Son who sacrificed His life for us.

I begin my day in prayer before I get out of bed. Before my mind kicks in — with whatever burdens crowding my previous day and will inevitably try to carry over to today — I pray. Beginning with, “Our Father” and ending with “This is the day that You have made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.” Everything else in between is between us and precious.

Is the joy bubbling up? Yes? Then with thanksgiving take those burdens and lay them before our Father. Who knows what wonders we will experience!