By Chris Bates I’ll have to admit…Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. It’s a great time of sharing in the joy and love of family and there’s very little “commercialization” to consume one’s attention. Americans typically use this day to enjoy being with relatives that perhaps they otherwise do not see as much as they would like, and to enjoy the favorite American “thanksgiving pastime” of football. Too, thoughts reflect on the freedoms that we enjoy as Americans and the difficult roads that those before us traveled so that we might enjoy what has come to be known as “the great experiment in self-government.” But for the Christian this “reflection” is on a much more serious level. His “thanks” centers around spiritual things more so than the physical joys of this life. To be sure, among men there should be no more thankful person on earth than the Christian. In this article we consider some things for which the Christian should be thankful, not only on t...

Introduction         Last week we asked the question, Is Prayer Pointless? And the answer is based on whether an individual believes in God or not. We also showed that action is just as necessary and that we (Christians) don’t believe that we are simply handing over our problems for God to fix for us.         This week we look at the purpose of prayer itself and look at some of the examples that are given in the scriptures. Why Do We Pray?         The main reason we pray is to talk to God. If God is, indeed, the creator of all things (Gen. 1:1) then we have a responsibility to talk to Him in regards to our life. Whether we are thanking Him for: the air we breathe, the ground we walk on, and the people we associate with; or when we voice our concerns for things that are going on in our life; whether good or bad.         We ...