Most of the Christmas gifts have already been painstakingly bought and carefully wrapped. Some have been mailed to distant relatives and acquaintances.
However, it all began with a list. You meticulously crafted a list in order to ensure that you bought the appropriate gifts for everyone on your list. It was a list of things to present to the people you care about only.
Because it's so simple for us to slip into the trap of generating lists of what we want to receive rather than what we can give, it's a good thing that we do that.
Sadly, this occurs much too frequently in our prayer life. We often create prayer lists that resemble a child's list of things he wants for Christmas because we need God's assistance so frequently.
Perhaps it would be beneficial to keep two different prayer lists: a needs list where we bring our difficulties to the Lord and a giving list where we give Him our praise in order to prevent being one-sided in our prayer. The following verses in Psalm 16 list things for which we can always give thanks to God: protection (vv. 1, 8), goodness (v. 2), care (vv. 5–6), and counsel (v. 7).
We require a giving list in prayer, as in all aspects of life. Praise for God comes top on the list.
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