Praying With Thanksgiving

How do you pray? No, not the position you assume for prayer, the tone of voice or type of language used, whether loudly or quietly, for an audience of one or a thousand, but what do your prayers reveal about the condition of your heart? After all, as the Scriptures remind us, it is from the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks (Luke 6:45).

For some of us, prayer is the presentation of a laundry list of petitions to God. For sure, we add the right amount of religiosity to our petitions but the essence of those prayers remains the same. Always about us, our needs and wants, and for good measure we throw in that of some family members, maybe our local church, and a few other people we embrace as friends. Interestingly, when it comes to basic needs, Jesus was rather clear: “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? . . . Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?” (Matthew 6:25-26, 30, KJV).

This does not mean that we should not take our petitions and cares to our heavenly Father. He invites us to “come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). However, lest we forget, ours is a relationship. God is not a cosmic genie catering to our every wish, but He is the King of kings and Lord of lords; one worthy of our praise and adoration. It is no wonder the apostle Paul reminded the church at Colossae, “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving” (Colossians 4:2, ESV), or as The Amplified Bible puts it, “Be earnest and unwearied and steadfast in your prayer [life], being [both] alert and intent in [your praying] with thanksgiving.”

We have much for which to be thankful. To paraphrase the words of the hymn-writer, were we to stop and count our blessings we would be surprised at what the Lord has done. The next time you pray, instead of just offering a list of petitions, how about wrapping those petitions in thanksgiving? Even when we do not understand the twist and turns along our paths, we can thank Him that He can use all things for our good and His glory. Remember, “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). “In every thing” includes even while in prayer. Now is as good a time as any to start doing so.