A Prayer of Thanksgiving

Be Blessed and Inspired
1 day ago
2 min read

Thanksgiving isn't just a day we celebrate each November. Gratitude is a perspective and practice that should impact our hearts and minds every day! Counting our blessings and thanking the Lord as the Giver of all good gifts, refocuses our minds, comforts our hearts, and refreshes our spirits. Thanksgiving is a mindset that turns our frowns upside-down.

And most of all, it is an act of joyful worship!

1 Thessalonians 5:17-18, “pray continually, ¹⁸give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit.”

In case we ever wonder what God’s will for our lives is, He spells out it quite clearly in His Word--and it's not complicated. The first encouragement is to pray continually. The more we invest in and grow our habit of prayer, the more amazing blessings we reap. The second exhortation is that we give thanks in all circumstances, not just when things are going smoothly and the sun is shining down. We are to give thanks on good days, bad days, through easy times and the days when we want to stay in bed and pull the covers over our head. Giving thanks acknowledges that our blessings come from God’s hand. Far too often we allow negativity to steal our attention and cause us to spiral. We can stop this descent with the simple act of thanksgiving, and by redirecting our minds onto things lovely and true. God's Word and His promises are a great place to start!

There is a good reason I have for inserting the topic of thanksgiving into our prayers. Giving thanks to the Lord before presenting our requests is a reassuringly wise practice. Gratitude replaces our angst with His peace. It reminds us that God heard and answered our past prayers—even the ones that weren’t clearly spoken, and that builds our confidence in bringing new petitions before His throne. He met our needs before, and He will surely hear and respond to our requests now.

God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He is always faithful, good, kind, merciful, powerful and generous. Counting our blessings begins with acknowledging His loving character and His perfect ways.

Pause right now and thank God for whatever comes to mind--the ways He has provided in the past; ways you've felt His love or seen His protection. Times when He guided, directed, or even doled out some correction. Thank Him for the breath in your lungs and pulse of your heart. Thank the Lord for never leaving or forsaking you, and for His love and mercy that follow you all the days of your life.

A gratitude journal or even a blank page are invitations for you to jot down your blessings and keep as a testimony.