Thankful

I ordered a devotional last week, thought that it would be a good step in my daily "get close to God" routine. Which is really rockin' if anyone wanted to know :) Anyways, it has worked, though I'm only on day 3 of 90 I made a wonderful choice in devotionals "Daily Steps for God Chicks" because the first part of it actually walks you through devotions and scriptures on WHY you should do a devotional and get closer to God. Day one was about bringing your requests and prayers to God in the morning, day two was about not worrying or fretting to turn your worries into prayers, and today was about devoting yourself.

The scripture for today was Colossians 4:2 "Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart."
The meaning of Devote - v. to give or apply (one's time, attention, or self) entirely to a particular activity, pursuit, cause, or person.

This made a lot of things run through my head, first off, the scripture... having an alert mind before 9am is a HARD thing for me!! Most people who know me, know that I'm not a morning person and 50 cups of coffee wouldn't make any difference at all! Used to be I could pop open a coke or pepsi and be okay in the mornings, but since no more carbonated drinks you're just out of luck if you have to deal with me in the mornings!! But, as I have been getting up and spending time in the Word and prayer (even before my devotional) I have found myself being in a much better mood in the morning... and being ALERT when I wake up! The second thing that jumped out in the scripture was praying with a thankful heart. I know so many days I come to God with more of a "begging heart", my prayers consist of "please do this, please heal this person, please help me get through one more day, please please please please!!!" When we should be coming to God thanking him... "God, THANK YOU for my health, my friends and family and their health. Thank you for my job and the money it provides to keep us in a home and food on our table." Then remind Him of the desires of our heart. "God, touch my family, save the ones who are not with you, bring wellness and healing into the ones who are sick, etc." I say remind because God already knows the desires of our hearts, He just wants us to bring them to Him. He wants us to know that we need Him, what better way than to remind us to rely on him and bring our prayers and petitions to him! The last thing that jumped out to me about this devotion was the meaning of devote... to GIVE of one's time, you cannot sit down with your bible or to pray and say "Oh man, I have 5 minutes, I hope God is listening, because I'd really rather be doing ______." to give is to give FREELY not grudgingly. Not saying that God will not hear you in your 5 minutes, but you are definitely causing "static on the phone line" between you and Him if your heart is not in the right place. My prayer today was thankful for all my friends and family and everything that God has provided for me. I pray that God continues to work in and through me in everything that I do and help me to do it was a devoted grateful heart. I know I'm not always chipper and happy, that I can be snappy and mean, but I need God to help me with that. I need to rely on Him!