Imagination Prayer: Cultivating Thankfulness

November 19, 2017 ~ Prev | Intro | Next

During November we are focusing on imaging and cultivating our desire for God.

The reciprocal of desire is gratitude, our response when we receive God’s bounty. As we prepare for Thanksgiving this week, we will focus on what we are most grateful for, which can reveal to us our hearts’ deepest needs.

Unlike desire for things or for people, who can never live up to our expectations, our desire for God, properly directed, can be fulfilled. Sometimes it is fulfilled even without our realizing it. It is only when we stop and reflect that we may find that God has already offered to us what we long for.

Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving.
Colossians 4:2

First, center yourself and open yourself to God.

Next, think about what you are most thankful for. Sit with it for a few minutes to see if the object(s) of gratitude remains constant. Feel your gratitude as fully as possible.

Is what you are thankful for something that you had previously desired or did you realize its significance to you only after receiving or experiencing it? What does your gratitude reveal about what is important to you?

Place your gratitude in God’s hands to accept and multiply. For what else do you feel gratitude in your life? Ask God to open your eyes to the ways that God meets your deepest desires, even before you know what they are. Cultivate an attitude of gratitude.

Thank God for being present with you in prayer and for helping you to see how God is working in your life.

Lord, make us what you want us to be.

Adapted from Teresa Blythe, 50 Ways to Pray