The Gift of the Father – The Position of Thanksgiving

This past weekend Patty and I helped lead a Marriage Retreat in beautiful Indian Wells, California. I can’t lie the dessert sun was a nice break from shoveling snow in Colorado. We were blessed to be apart of this event that sought to refresh and revive marriages in the midst of a cultural war that continues to fight against this union of a husband and wife that God has ordained from the beginning of creation.

I started out the conference by sharing Paul’s epic prayer found in

Ephesians 3:14-21.

For this reason I KNEEL before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name…

Paul goes on to pray that these children of God would be filled with the power and love of Heaven that words can’t describe and leads to the Father being glorified through their lives. The challenge that I presented was to kneel together before the Father for the next 40 days and pray that the Holy Spirit would fill them with resurrection POWER of Christ and the sacrificial LOVE demonstrated by Christ on the cross. With these indescribable gifts of the Father a richer and the fuller marriage is possible and a richer and fuller life as individuals as well.

At end of the retreat Patty and I kneelt down and asked the others to join us as together we pleaded for the Faithful Father’s power and love to flow down like a mighty river our marriages. It was a powerful moment as the tears begin to flow and the Spirit was released over that room. The picture of that moment will be seared in my mind for a long time as we acknowledged our weakness and total dependence on the Father and desired His good gifts for marriage.

To me kneeling is such a powerful position to offer with a spirit of Thanksgiving. At the beginning of this prayer in Ephesians, Paul states that he is going to the ground before a glorious, humbling himself before a Holy Father who is the only one worthy of praise and who can provide His children. Being on our knees is a picture of total dependence and I believe is a powerful action that shows our absolute need for the Father and this action gives Him glory and praise.

Maybe before you have your Turkey and all the other yummy dishes to get down on your knees and give your Father thanks by showing how needy and dependent you are on Him for everything in your life. May this spiritual posture carry you through the Christmas season! Go ahead and ask your Good Father to flood you and your loved ones with Heavens power and love and wait with great expectations for the unveiling of these gifts that are on their way.

Happy Thanksgiving from Oceans and the Spykstra family!