How do we show our gratitude for our brothers and sisters when their names come before us and our hearts are moved to express in some way what they mean to us?
We cultivate remembrance by counting our blessings in our association with them. We think back and we remember how God has led us to know each other. We communicate verbally in some way as we consider what God is doing presently in His people who we love in the Lord. We remember divine promises in relation to our future together with our Lord, and how He will be glorified in His people in the eternal future.
We remember fellow believers as those whose life in Christ give us a commonality even though we are different and have different responsibilities in life and in the kingdom of God. There is a constraining love in our hearts toward our brothers and sisters whose warmth and affection is genuine and unmistakable. Our life in Christ and our love in Christ gives us a sense of gladness – real joy – when we hear the names of those believers we have met or of whom we have heard. They have been objects of our intercession and thanksgiving.
Paul was thankful when he remembered the Philippian believers, not only because of their reception of the Gospel message he brought to them, but also for their support of the on-going ministry of the Gospel in which he was engaged. Thanksgiving is a very important part of our prayer life.