Reflection and Gratitude

Built into the Israelites’ daily rhythms were designated times to stop and think about God's faithfulness and provision. These times that were built in for God's people were when they woke up, when they went to bed, and before each meal. They also had certain prayers that they would pray during these times. 

Challenge yourself to have some intentional rhythms in your daily life that are committed to expressing gratitude and thanks to God for his provision, as the Israelities did. A great time to do this, just like God's people did, would be in the morning when you first wake up, just take four or five minutes to thank God for his provision and blessings. Then at night before you go to bed, look back on your day and express gratitude to God for the way he works things together for good. During this time, you can express your trust in him, and tell him things that you're anxious about for the next day.

One of the best ways to build these spiritual disciplines into your life is to find something that you already do consistently, like driving to work or having meals, and then stack the habit of prayer on top of these consistent things that you already do. But while there are some things for us to grab a hold of when it comes to changing our habits, what really slows us down and gets in our way more than anything is a misunderstanding of who God is and what God is looking for. In our lives, when we really understand who God is, then it allows us to be free to be who he's made us to be. It’s a matter of gaining a better understanding that God is creator and God is our shepherd.

DISCUSSION/REFLECTION QUESTION: What are some ways that you could attempt to “habit stack” this week, where you add prayers of gratitude into your schedule by adding them to things you already consistently do each day?