So often we are so busy living our lives that we completely miss what God is doing in our lives and the world. We miss the wonder of having a relationship with our Creator and Savior. We focus on our problems, supporting our families, and even service to God, but somehow leave God out of it all.

The Bible gives us constant reminders to remember what God has done for us, to thank Him for His blessings, and to praise Him for who He is. Unfortunately, the cares of this world are very good at distracting us from our relationship with God.

Almost all Christians pray for relief from various trials. That is understandable, but we also need to understand that we are more likely to grow in our faith when we are experiencing trials, while our faith frequently stagnates when life is easy and possessions are plentiful. The Bible warns us never to forget what God has done for us or that all our blessings are from God.

When you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you. (Deuteronomy 8:10)

How often do we think we “earned” all the good things in our lives? Do we truly give thanks with all our hearts for these blessings? Do we continually give thanks for what God has done for us and give praise for who God is?

I was recently listening to an R.C. Sproul sermon on prayer and the acrostic ACTS:

A - Adoration

C - Confession

T - Thanksgiving

S - Supplication

This made me think about how I do with these types of prayers. I pray continually for the needs of others. We even have a prayer book of missionaries we rotate praying for. That seems easy.

I am thankful for many things and find praying thanksgivings easy.

I’m definitely not great at confession. I regularly pray for help with my struggles, but I rarely directly confess those sins and struggles. For example, I pray, “Please help me focus on your priorities and not my own,” rather than, “Father, forgive me for putting my priorities above yours.”

The type of prayer I’m worst at is adoration. I don’t know why. I can praise God to others all day long, but I feel awkward praising God directly. This is definitely an area I am working on. How about you? Do you praise God regularly for who He is?

Praising God helps to orient our lives toward a godly and eternal focus. It helps put the trials of life into perspective. It helps us to be grateful for all that we have, even if we have less than others.

When we praise God and thank God verbally while praying with others, it not only helps our relationship with God, but draws others to God. It can help others when they experience trials. This is especially true for our kids.

“Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments and His ordinances and His statutes which I am commanding you today; otherwise, when you have eaten and are satisfied, and have built good houses and lived in them, and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. (Deuteronomy 8:11-14) {emphasis mine}

We may not be Jews who were brought out of Egypt, but all true Christians have been saved from sin and death. We have been helped through trials. We have been encouraged in hardship. There are things that God has done for us that we need to remember and proclaim to others.

Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. (James 1:17)

Praising and thanking God daily helps us not to forget God. It helps us not to drift off course. It helps us to stay focused on the prize that God has set before us.

But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. It shall come about if you ever forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I testify against you today that you will surely perish. (Deuteronomy 8:18-19)

What do you do to remember what God has done? Do you read the Bible daily? Do you thank God for His blessings daily? Do you tell others about the great things God has done? Do you praise God to others and directly to Him? Do you live life in light of who God is and what He has done?

May God bless you in life, and may you praise Him with your words and actions. May you see how God is guiding you, even through the most difficult trials, so that you may serve Him faithfully and hear at the last trumpet, “Well done! Good and faithful servant!”

Trust Jesus

FYI, I recently bought an editor (ProWritingAid) to help me edit my book (especially my comma errors). I had been relying on friends and family, but it was taking so much time, and it is hard to find every nitpicking error. I don’t fret over minor errors in a free blog post, but feel anyone who spends money on a book deserves a well-polished book. Some suggestions, however, turn personal writing into efficient, vanilla prose. I’m trying to take the useful suggestions and ignore the ones that cause my writing to lose my personal flavor or that harm my intended meaning. Please let me know if you notice a difference and whether that difference is good or bad, so I know whether I should continue using it on my blog posts.

I will never use AI to compose my posts. They are used for spelling and grammatical errors only.

All verses are NASB unless otherwise noted.