Praise & Prayers

Luke 17:11-16 “On the way to Jerusalem He was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as He entered a village, He was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.’ When He saw them He said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving Him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan.”

When I pray to the Lord, I am trying to be mindful of when He has answered my prayers. This is something that has taken some work for me to recognize and be mindful about and I must admit, it’s still a work in progress. Perhaps some of the things I have worked on will be of use to you all as well.

I have prayed before that the Lord will enlighten my mind as I read the Scripture. It could be easy for me to appreciate what I read next and forget to give thanks that He provided understanding. I have prayed before that the Lord would humble me. In a day or two something will happen that will knock my pride back causing me to rethink myself. It could be easy for me to miss that the Lord answered my prayer because indeed I was humbled in that moment, but not in the way or time I was expecting. Here are some other types of prayers that could be easy to forget to give thanks for:

Prayers for a safe journey there and back again. Prayers for the food to be blessed. Prayers for a night of tranquil sleep, free from all evil dreams. Prayers for someone to recover from an illness.

Have I been grateful to the Lord for all of these answered prayers or am I one of the nine lepers who asked the Lord for something, but didn’t return to say “thank you”? And when I say “thank you”, is it a momentary check-in to say thanks or am I falling on my face to praise God? That one leper who returned, fell on his face in great humility before Jesus with a loud voice praising Him. What a truly beautiful picture of gratitude and praise. May I strive to give praise for answered prayers like this leper.

May we never forget that we serve a loving God who is worthy of our praise, who hears our prayers, and again, He is worthy of our praise.