Luke 17:9 IBS

Wednesday September 3, 2014

Luke 17:9 “Does he thank the servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not.”

            For the previous Inductive Bible Studies I have taken a different outlook on these verses than what Jesus intended. When I look at this verse alone I think, ‘Well, that’s not very nice, you should thank him’. But being a servant, you put others before yourself, and shouldn’t expect a thank you in return (which touches on the verse for tomorrow, so I won’t go there). I kind of have a hard time with this. If someone is serving me, I want to thank them, although I know it was really the Lord’s doing. It’s hard because I want to encourage them and lift them up and give them “props” basically for doing the task they did. But again it’s all the Lord, it’s all to His glory. I guess my struggle is not giving thanks to those people, but giving thanks to the Lord for what He has done through those people.

Turning to prayer and coming with thanksgiving for the blessings God has given me is what I need to do instead of showing gratitude to the people themselves. I have such a hard time doing that. Prayer has always been my weakness, which is so unfortunate because it is so powerful. My mind tends to wander constantly while praying alone. In group settings, if I am tired, I start dosing off if the prayer goes on for a long time. When I really get into it, that’s when I listen. How sad is that. I know exactly what the problem is there…pride. I sometimes think, “Well God hears other peoples’ prayers I don’t really have to listen”. But what a selfish and arrogant thing to do. I genuinely want to listen to all the prayers, but I don’t take my thoughts captive and I allow Satan to get into my head with those thoughts. That’s something I need to pray for, as ironic as that sounds, that’s what will change me. I want that pride taken away, I want to become a prayer warrior and give thanks for the people God has placed in my life. What if I woke up tomorrow with only the things I thanked God for? Because of my wandering brain, it wouldn’t be much…

Application: To remind myself to go to God with thanksgiving, I will write, “What if I woke up tomorrow with only the things I thanked God for?” on a paper and place it so I see it when I wake up. And I will spend some extra time alone in prayer tonight.