Faith Is Thanking God in Advance

[Faith Is Thanking God in Advance]( Current Teaching Series [Leaving a Lasting Legacy]( [Listen to Today's Broadcast]( [Faith Is Thanking God in Advance]( By Rick Warren — 06/21/2021 [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Pinterest]( [Email]( “When you pray and ask for something, believe that you have received it, and you will be given whatever you ask for.” Mark 11:24 (GNT) Faith is not just believing God can do something. Faith is not just hoping he will do something. Faith is thanking God in advance. Jesus said, “When you pray and ask for something, believe that you have received it, and you will be given whatever you ask for” (Mark 11:24 GNT). You say, “Wait a minute! I’ve got to thank God in advance before I get it in order to get it?” Yes. If you thank God after you’ve got it, that’s gratitude. When you thank him in advance, that’s faith. Gratitude is good and right. But your goal should be to become a person of deeper faith. To do that, you have to thank God in advance. If I handed you a check right now for a thousand dollars, would you wait until you cashed it to thank me? No! You’d thank me right now. But the money wouldn’t be yours until you actually cashed it, because that check is really a promise. When I gave you that check, you’d say, “Thank you, Rick.” You’d believe that I was credible and that I had enough money in the bank to cover that check for a thousand dollars. In the same way, faith is thanking God in advance. It’s believing that what God has promised, he will provide. It’s saying you love God for who he is and not just what he can do for you. It’s showing you trust him to do what he’s said he will do. One day two blind men followed Jesus to the home where he was staying. They shouted at him to have mercy on them, and Jesus asked them if they had faith that he could heal them. They answered that they believed, and Jesus said, “Because of your faith, it will happen” (Matthew 9:29 NLT). What I’m saying is this: If God tells you to go after Moby Dick in a rowboat, take the tartar sauce with you. You’re going to have a fish fry tonight! [PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick >>]( Talk It Over - Think about some of the common phrases you use in prayer. Do they reflect faith in God? - How would your perspective and attitude change if you truly believed God was going to provide everything you asked for? - How would your prayers change if you were truly praying in faith? Take some time to pray now, using language that communicates your faith. The post [Faith Is Thanking God in Advance]( appeared first on [Pastor Rick's Daily Hope](. [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Pinterest]( [Email]( [Get the Re-Energize Your Life Guided Experience Book when you give a gift to support Daily Hope]( Now more than ever, people are tired, stressed, and searching for a hope that won’t disappoint or disappear when life gets real. 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[LEARN MORE]( [Series Summary]( Message 1: Generosity is Love in Action Message 2: Leaving a Legacy of Faith Message 3: Leaving a Legacy of Hope Message 4: Living by Your Convictions [PLAY TODAY'S BROADCAST]( Pastor Rick Warren [Facebook]( [Instagram]( [Linkedin]( Enjoy today's devotional? Listen to Pastor Rick’s daily audio teaching at [PastorRick.com]( Did someone forward this devotional to you? [Subscribe to Pastor Rick Warren's Daily Devotional.]( As the founding pastor of Saddleback Church with his wife Kay, Dr. Rick Warren leads a 30,000-member congregation in California with campuses in major cities around the world. As an author, his book [The Purpose Driven Life]( is one of the best-selling nonfiction books in publishing history. It has been translated into 74 languages and sold more than 50 million copies in all formats. His book [The Purpose Driven Church]( was named one of the 100 Christian books that changed the century. Rick also founded [The PEACE Plan]( to address five global issues—spiritual emptiness, self-serving leadership, poverty, disease, and illiteracy—through the power of ordinary people in the local church. You can listen to Pastor Rick’s Daily Hope, his daily 25-minute audio teaching, and sign up for his free daily devotionals at [PastorRick.com](. © 2021 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission. You can unsubscribe by clicking the link below. Sent to: {EMAIL} [Unsubscribe]( Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, 23182 Arroyo Vista, Rancho Santa Margarita, CA 92688, United States