Request With Thanksgiving

This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, November 22, 2020.  The Bible verses used are Philippians 4:4-9.

It’s the Sunday before Thanksgiving.  It hardly seems possible.  I don’t know if it’s the pandemic or what, but my whole sense of time seems to be off these days.  It seems to me like Thanksgiving should still be at least a month away.  And yet, here it is. 

           We know that, as Christians, we’re supposed to give thanks to God.  There are all kinds of Bible verses about it.  You probably know a lot of them.  We read one of them last week:  “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.”  That’s Colossians Three, Fifteen.  “Be thankful in all circumstances.”  That’s First Thessalonians Five, Eighteen.  There’s the one we read today:   Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”  And we could go on and on.

            We know we’re supposed to give thanks to God.  The question is whether we’ll do it.  Because I’m thinking a lot of us are not feeling very thankful right now.  The world is in chaos.  A lot of our communities, and our schools, are in chaos.   There’s an extent to which our families are in chaos, as a lot of us are not going to be able to have family Thanksgiving gatherings.  

None of this is meant as a criticism of anyone, don’t get me wrong.  Everyone’s doing the best they can.  None of us has all the answers.  But it’s tough.  I don’t know anyone who likes it.  And it’s really hard to feel very thankful in these circumstances.  

Now, I don’t mean to be painting with too broad a brush here.  Some of us probably do live up to that statement of being thankful in all circumstances, even these circumstances.  Others of us probably remember to give thanks when things are going well, but are not so good at feeling thankful at times like now, when things are not going the way we want them to.  Others of us probably are not even very good at giving thanks when things do go well.  We’re all at different points on the spectrum.

God understands why it’s hard for us to feel very thankful right now.  I don’t think God is mad at us for how we feel.  But I think God would like us to feel thankful anyway.  Not because God needs to hear our thanks.  But because we would be happier, we would feel better, we would live better lives, if we could feel thankful, even in these times.

            But the thing is, how?  How can we do that?  How can we get to where we really do feel thankful, even with all that’s going on right now?            

Well, let’s look at what the Apostle Paul write in his letter to the Philippians.  Look at how he starts out.  “Rejoice in the Lord always.  I will say it again:  Rejoice!”

            How many of us have ever done that?  Put the current circumstances aside.  How many of us have ever truly rejoiced in the Lord?  Even if we sometimes give thanks to God, even if we are truly grateful for what God has done, how many of us ever actually rejoice in the Lord?

            In fact, how many of us even know what it means to rejoice in the Lord?  That word, rejoice, means to feel or show great joy or delight.  And those words, joy and delight, mean to take great pleasure.

            How many of us, when we think about God or when we pray to God, feel joy or delight?  How many of us, when we think about God or pray to God, take great pleasure in doing that?

            I’m guessing not very many of us, and not all that often.  And I base my guess, quite frankly, on the fact that I don’t feel those things as often as I should.  I do sometimes, but a lot of times I don’t.  

Now, maybe that’s not fair.  Maybe you’re a lot better at this than I am.  Maybe you feel great pleasure and joy and delight every time you think about God and every time you pray to God.  I really hope you do, and if you do, that’s awesome.  That’s wonderful.  You probably don’t need to hear any more of the message today.

            But for the rest of us, for those of us who are still listening because you feel like you can improve on this, what do we do?  How do we get that feeling of great pleasure and joy and delight?  How can we get to where we rejoice in the Lord?

            Well, let’s look at what Paul says next.  “The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

            The Lord is near.  The peace of God will guard your hearts and minds.  That would great, don’t you think?  To know that the Lord is near?  To have the peace of God guarding our hearts and minds?  I mean, that’s really what we all want, right?  If we felt the Lord near, if we felt the peace of God guarding our hearts and minds, we’d be able to do what Paul said.  We would not be anxious about anything.  And how awesome would that be?  To not be anxious about anything.  Because my guess is that almost every person here is anxious about something.  It may be a big thing or it may be a small thing.  It may be something that some people would think of as a small thing, but it’s a big thing to you.  

            It would be so wonderful to be able to get rid of all that anxiety.  It would be so wonderful to not have to worry about anything.  It’s our worries that keep us from feeling that the Lord is near.  They keep us from feeling the peace of God.  And because we cannot feel the Lord near, because we cannot feel the peace of God, we cannot rejoice in the Lord the way Paul tells us to and the way God wants us to.  And because we cannot rejoice in the Lord, we cannot live with an attitude of thankfulness the way we know we’re supposed to.

            But does saying that help us any?  Probably not.  Saying “do not be anxious about anything” is easy.  Actually not being anxious is hard.  How do we do it?

            Here’s what Paul says.  “In every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”  Paul says that if we do that, we will feel the peace of God.  And then, we’ll be able to rejoice in the Lord and live with an attitude of thankfulness.

            So let’s break that down a little farther.  What are we supposed to do?  Present our requests to God.  That means any requests.  There is nothing too big for God, but there is also nothing too small for God.  That’s one of the amazing things about God.  God loves us so much that God is interested in every aspect of our lives.  God is interested in the big things, but God is interested in the small things.  Remember, this is the God who knows the number of hairs on our heads.  Basically, if something is important to us, it’s important to God.  That’s not to say God will always do what we want, and we know that.  We have no ability to order God around.  But there is never a time when we request something of God and God says, “Ah, that’s not important.  I’m not interested in that.  I’m not gonna pay any attention to that.”  God is interested in everything.  God pays attention to everything.  Everything is important to God.

            So no matter what’s on our minds, we can present that to God.  If it’s COVID concerns, we can present that to God.  If it’s other health concerns, we can present that to God.  If it’s more of a mental or spiritual health concern, we can present that to God.  If we’re feeling lonely, if we feel like no one understands us, we can present that to God.  If we’re worried about our finances, we can present that to God.  Whatever it is, whatever our requests may be, we can present them to God.

            By what method are we supposed to present these requests to God?  By prayer and petition.  And when are we supposed to present them?  In every situation.

            In other words, we don’t need to wait until we have a specific prayer time to talk to God.  It’s fine to do that, don’t get me wrong.  I have a specific prayer time of my own.  But we don’t need to limit our prayers to that time.  In fact, we’re not supposed to.  We can pray to God in every situation.  No matter where we are, no matter what we’re doing, we can pray to God.  We can present our requests to God.

            Now all that should help.  Knowing that we can pray to God at any time, that we can present our requests to God at any time, knowing that there’s nothing too big or too small for God to be interested in, that all can help us feel the peace of God.  It can help us be able to rejoice in the Lord.

            But here’s the big thing.  How are we supposed to present our requests to God?  With thanksgiving.  Paul says we should present our requests to God with thanksgiving.

            Think about that.  Present a request with thanksgiving.  Does that make sense?  I mean, I can understand being thankful after our request is granted.  But Paul says we’re not supposed to wait for our request to be granted to be thankful.  We’re supposed to be thankful as we’re making the request.  We’re supposed to present our request with thanksgiving.

If we’re thankful to God as we’re making our requests to God, what does that mean?  It means that we trust God.  It means that, as we’re making the request, we trust that our request will be taken care of.  Whatever request we make, whatever the situation is, God’s going to handle it.  Once we’ve prayed to God about it, it’s over.  It’s in God’s hands, and we trust that God will take care of it.

            It’s trust.  It’s faith.  It’s believing that, once we’ve prayed, we can turn the situation over to God.  We can leave the situation in God’s hands.  Again, that does not mean God will do exactly what we want exactly when we want it.  That’s not what we’re thankful for.  What we’re thankful for is that we can trust God to do what’s right.  We’re thankful that we can trust God to do what’s best.  We’re thankful that we can trust God to take care of things and handle them in the right way, not just for us but for everyone involved.

            Even in today’s chaotic world, we can trust God.  So, let’s present our requests to God.  When we present our requests to God, we’re turning our problems over to God.  When we turn our problems over to God with thanksgiving, trusting that God will take care of them, we can feel the peace of God guarding our hearts and our minds.  Then, we truly will be able to rejoice in the Lord.  Because we will truly know that the Lord is near.