Thanksgiving Prayer

God, thank you for your grace and peace.

thank you that have chosen me, even before you made the world, you chose me to love and chose me to be made holy by your love.

thank you for your sovereign plan, that you chose me to be your adopted child.

thank you that in your kindness, you purchased my freedom and forgave my sins.

thank you that you shower me with your wisdom and understanding, and your loving kindness.

thank you for letting me in on the secret

thank you that, because of Jesus, I HAVE received your inheritance.

thank you for the Holy Spirit, your guarantee of everything promised.

I am doing a bible study that encouraged listing all the spiritual blessings we have in Christ as listed in Ephesians 1:1-14. I realized, those words speak to me (and every believer) to see how the Creator feels about me.

² May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

³ All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. ⁴ Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. ⁵ God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. ⁶ So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. ⁷ He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. ⁸ He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.

⁹ God has now revealed to us his mysterious plan regarding Christ, a plan to fulfill his own good pleasure. ¹⁰ And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. ¹¹ Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.

¹² God’s purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God. ¹³ And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. ¹⁴ The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.

In Matthew 11, Jesus says to "take on (his) yoke...let (him) teach you because (he) is humble and gentle at heart ..." I want him to teach me, to change my heart. sooooo... what is getting in the way?

It is really so much of myself. I can list of a myriad of things that would interrupt my faith, but the root of them all is my selfishness.

When I can start seeing myself as the possessor of all of these spiritual blessings, then I will / am beginning to see the fruit of Jesus' teaching. And it is nothing that I am doing or not doing, it is simply receiving.

I have already received his inheritance.

I'm usually too proud to realize that I could be like the prodigal, squandering the gifts of my father, after I begged to receive that inheritance before the due time. But it is true.

God has given me his grace and salvation and I have taken it for granted.

and still, the moment I am ready to come into his household, he runs to me and embraces me, and celebrates.

I have so much to be thankful for.