Practice: Praise & Thanksgiving

Each Saturday during Lent, we will take some time as a church family to practice a different spiritual discipline or spiritual practice together. Today, we are practicing praise & thanksgiving through making an Ebenezer, led by longtime staffer Jean Ewing.

What is an Ebenezer?

In 1 Samuel 7:12, we read, “Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, ‘Thus far the LORD has helped us.’” This week we will build an Ebenezer, which more literally translates to a “stone of help.” There is nothing particularly spiritual or special about making an Ebenezer, but as human beings, we often need tangible reminders of divine truths.

How to make an Ebenezer: 

There are many ways to create a memorial of praise, an Ebenezer, but each one serves to remind us of a time in which God has been faithful and where God has helped us. As we revisit our Ebenezers, we are reminded that God is who He says He is; that God is faithful; that God is FOR us; that God will show up. Here are two ways to make an Ebenezer:

Find a number of smooth stones and simply write on each stone what God has done in your life. You can keep these stones in a jar or a bowl somewhere where you can revisit them…maybe even somewhere where visitors to your home can also experience them. 

Another way is to download the PDF we have available for you here and to hang this on your wall and to add to it as God helps you, so that each time you pass this place of your home, you will be reminded of God’s faithfulness to you. 

Here are some things to ask yourself as you work on your Ebenezer:

• How has God helped you thus far in your life? Be specific! 
• How has the Lord fought for you? 
• When have you experienced the help of God? 
• When has God been “For” you?