Pastor Steven Furtick

I’m working on 2 new spiritual disciplines.  I’m calling them preemptive praise and retroactive gratitude.
Here’s how they work:

Preemptive Praise:
Give God the glory for His answers to your prayers as if they’ve already arrived.
After you’ve asked Him to act on your behalf, thank Him like it’s already done.

Retroactive Gratitude:
Calculate how fervently you’d be willing to petition God to get back the things you value the most if you ever lost them.  Things like your salvation, your health, your children, your house, your job, and your daily bread.
Convert those would-be-petitions into expressions of praise.  Worship the Lord as if your blessings depended on it, realizing He could take it all away at any time.

Preemptive praise lays a foundation for present tense blessing.
Retroactive gratitude counteracts apathy.

Together, these two habits form a powerful tag team to defeat depression and despondency.  They draw our attention away from our hurts and needs, focusing our affection on the character of our faithful God.