Prayers to Remember
Materials: Pen and paper can be helpful, but they are not necessary.
“For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal men and birds and animals and reptiles.”
—Romans 1:21-23
Many of us tend to focus on the negative. We remember and dwell on past mistakes rehearsing them over and over. We worry over past opportunities missed and nurse old wounds. It’s no accident. We have an enemy that is always at work to accuse and discourage us. He wants to deflect us from the very real work that God is doing in our lives.
Thankfulness is one of the best ways to defend against these attacks as well as build our faith and give God his due. But thankfulness is no accident. We need to take time and remember what God has done. We also need to search our lives to spot the moments of grace lest we begin to merely take God’s work for granted.
Individually:
This exercise has two purposes: to recognize God’s work and to give him thanks for it. It will be easy to come up with the first few things to be thankful for, but you want to go beyond that. You may find your mind wandering toward the negative, but shake it off and continue to look for God’s hand in your life.
You will want to remember God’s work in all parts of your life: the past as well as the future. It is important that you don’t just live in the moment. The Israelites would build monuments so that they would not forget God’s acts. We should do the same thing in our personal lives. You will also want to remember the ways you have experienced God’s grace in the faith community you are part of as well as what God has done for you personally.
Taking consistent time to concentrate on thankfulness will establish this habit in your life, helping you to begin to give thanks in all things.
As a Group:
The exercise is much the same as above, but to make it a community activity take turns giving thanks for what God has done for each member personally, for you as a group, and for the greater community of God.
There will be a point when the members of the group have to take a bit of time remembering and re cognizing God’s work. Don’t stop at this point. This is where you are learning to see what you had taken for granted. Thoughtfulness in prayer is a good thing.