Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Gratitude as Faith in Action

While pondering the principle of Gratitude and how it can affect every aspect of our lives, I happened upon the following scripture in Phillipians 4:6

6 aBe bcareful for nothing; but in every thing by cprayer and supplication with dthanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

The greek words starting this off are "meden merimnate" meaning Be not anxious, as it is also used in Matt 6:25.  The next combination however is even more instructive, "in every thing, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving," so it is saying even though we are to not worry about our needs being met, for they certainly will be, we are to pray and even supplicate, which is a bit stronger word, implying an awareness of lack or need, with an attitude of thanksgiving.

In The Secret, and in many of Bob Proctor's works, though they do not always endeavor to acknowledge God as such but many times speak only of the Universe or of some higher power, they are constantly talking about understanding the power of gratitude as a way and a means of submitting our desires to God.

In this point they are in strict agreement, whether by some cosmic accident or because it is apparent enough that gratitude is an eternal principle, and as Michael Beckwith at one point says "Gratitiude is Faith in action" quoting Larry James. 

Gratitude in other words, is not separate from Faith, but is a way that we manifest our Faith in God, and to Him.  Gratitude as a means of praying or putting our supplication to God for things we have need of, helps us to take the focus off of our lack of those things, as the first point makes clear, "Be careful for nothing" and allows us to see through our gratitude that we are putting our supplication up to a Father in Heaven who cares about each sparrow, and the lillies of the field.

With our focus on gratitude, our supplication becomes a faith-filled acknowledgment of the goodness of God and a grateful acknowledgment of his promises to us.