Thank Jesus BEFORE You Have an Answer

Jesus loves to hear our prayers. He wants to know what's on our minds, what's troubling us, what we need. Jesus longs to answer our prayers.
Today the devotion from "Jesus Calling" makes the suggestion to thank God for the answer to our prayer even before we see it. Instead of constantly repeating our request ... and instead of focusing on what we want but don't have ... let's begin offering prayers of thanksgiving before God gives us an answer. Matthew 21:22 assures us, "And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."
Having a thankful heart is the "believing" part. We are so certain that we will receive an answer from Jesus that we can thank Him ahead of time.
As I John 5:15 makes plain, "And we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests we have asked from Him." We can thank Him because we already have what we asked for. We can acknowledge and be grateful that Jesus is setting events in motion that will bring about an answer to our prayer. We can be grateful that He is working behind the scenes to give us our heart's desire. Colossians 4:2 tells us, "Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving." 
While we wait for God to act, we can start asking if we need to change our perspective, if we should take some action, if we can be more receptive, so that we will be ready to recognize God's answer when it comes.
The answer may not be what we first expected. God may say "Wait;" He may even say "No;" or He may do something totally amazing, beyond what we imagined. But we will see the answer more clearly and accept it more willingly, when we have already been thanking Him for answering our prayer.