Thanking God for His Work Abroad

For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of Wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better. (Ephesians 1:15-16 NIV 1984)

On the above passage, D.A. Carson notes in A Call to Spiritual Reformation:Priorities from Paul and His Prayers:

In the same way we give thanks to God when we recognize His quiet and effective work in our lives, so also [should] we thank God when we hear of His work in others. If we hear of a substantial number of people in another city or country who have been genuinely transformed by the gospel… we [should] thank God for so working in them that they have become Christians. That is what Paul is doing.

So, if we intend to imitate the prayers of Paul, we will be attentive to reports of the progress of the gospel, not only in circles immediately around us, but also from places we have never visited. We may subscribe to a missionary organization’s newsletter; we may receive the pray letters of some who are working abroad; we may glance at the news reports found in some Christian magazines. When we find reliable reports of people who have, by God’s grace, become Christians, we [should] learn to respond as Paul does: we [should] immediately turn to the God whose grace has sovereignly intervened in their lives, with such happy result, and offer Him praise and thanksgiving.

If even the angels of Heaven rejoice over a single sinner who repents [as Jesus indicates they do], it does not seem too much to ask the people of God to offer thanksgiving at the same news.