Praying with Thanksgiving

We have a tendency to fall into the trap of only going to God in prayer when we need something. When we think about the purpose and function of prayer, we often times view it as the avenue by which we present to God our requests, petitions, supplications and entreaties. And to be sure, this is, at least partially, the purpose of prayer (cf. Romans 1:10; Ephesians 6:18; 1 Timothy 5:5; Hebrews 5:7). But prayer, communication with God, is about much more than simply asking God for things. It is also about thanking Him for what He has done.

Over and over again throughout the New Testament, we are instructed to be a people who give thanks to God. “Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father” (Ephesians 5:19-20). “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father” (Colossians 3:15-17). “Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). The idea of “thankfulness” or “giving thanks” in these texts is that of expressing gratitude and appreciation for the benefits and grace that we have received from God. The ways in which we might express this thanks to God are also numerous. Sometimes the method by which we give thanks is left unspecified. But in the verses above, there are at least two clear ways in which we are told to express our thankfulness to God: 1) through song (Ephesians 5:19-20; Colossians 3:16); and 2) in prayer (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). I would like to focus on this later expression of thankfulness here: Thanking God in our prayers.

There have been several acronyms that have been developed to help us easily remember what should be included in our prayers. One example of such an acronym is ACTS: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. Perhaps a simplified version of this same concept is the acronym PATH: Praise, Apology, Thanks, and Help.  I, myself, have often used a three-part division of prayer: Praise, Thank, Ask. I believe we see all three of these distinct parts in David’s prayer when he made preparation for the construction of the temple of God in Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 29:10-19).

He began his prayer by praising God: “Blessed are You, O Lord God of Israel our father, forever and ever. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty; Yours is the dominion, O Lord, and You exalt Yourself as head over all. Both riches and honor come from You, and You rule over all, and in Your hand is power and might; and it lies in Your hand to make great and to strengthen everyone” (29:10-12). That David began his prayer to God by extoling the greatness and majesty and power of the eternal God is certainly consistent with Jesus’ model prayer (Matthew 6:9), and it is absolutely an appropriate way to begin our prayers today.

Once David had praised God, he transitioned into expressing his gratitude and thankfulness to God: “Now therefore, our God, we thank You, and praise Your glorious name. But who am I and who are my people that we should be able to offer as generously as this? For all things come from You, and from Your hand we have given You. For we are sojourners before You, and tenants, as all our fathers were, our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no hope. O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided to build You a house for Your holy name, it is from Your hand, and all is Yours. Since I know, O my God, that You try the heart and delight in uprightness, I, in the integrity of my heart, have willingly offered all these things; so now with joy I have seen Your people, who are present here, make their offerings willing to You” (29:14-17). The abundance of the offering presented to the Lord on this occasion for the construction of the temple was indeed a significant amount (cf. 1 Chronicles 19:1-9), but David is not tooting his own horn here. He is openly acknowledging that anything they had to give to God was because God had first given it to them. This whole section is an expression of David’s gratitude to the Lord for enabling him and his people to serve God in this way. When we contemplate our own prayers and the things for which we should express gratitude and thanksgiving to our God, what should we include? Let me make just a couple of suggestions which go beyond just our physical blessing. First, we should thank God for our brethren (cf. Romans 1:8; 16:3-4; 1 Corinthians 1:4; Ephesians 1:16; 1 Thessalonians 1:2; 2 Thessalonians 1:3; 2:13; Philemon 4-7). We so often take our brethren for granted. But make no mistake, the strength, encouragement, accountability and fellowship that we receive from our brethren is a gift from God. And one for which we should be more thankful. Secondly, we should thank God for our salvation (cf. Romans 6:17; 7:24-25a; 1 Corinthians 15:56-57; 2 Corinthians 9:15). Perhaps this should have been mentioned first. The reality is that we only enjoy a relationship and benefit from our fellowship with our brethren because we have first been brought into fellowship with God when He saved us from our sins (cf. 1 John 1:3). Furthermore, this gift has direct implications not only in this life, but also the life to come.

Finally, after David had praised God and thanked God, he then turned to humbly asked the Lord for something: “O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, our fathers, preserve this forever in the intentions of the heart of Your people, and direct their heart to You; and give to my son Solomon a perfect heart to keep Your commandments, Your testimonies and Your statutes, and to do them all, and to build the temple, for which I have made provision” (1 Chronicles 29:18-19). Wow, I am so impressed here by David’s prayer, because even when he does finally present his petition—only after praising God and thanking God—we see that this is not a self-centered request. He asks God to be with the nation, and specifically his son Solomon, that they will have hearts totally devoted to God. So, even his request is focused on God. What an example of how to pray.

And this leads me to one final observation: the whole of our prayers should be characterized by thanksgiving. They should be permeated and saturated and “oozing” with gratitude. Whether your ACTS, PATH, or PTA, make sure that thanksgiving, the expressing of gratitude to God is a part of your prayer. Our praise, our requests and even our concerns should issue from thankful hearts. “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6). We need to be more intentional in our prayers to express gratitude to God, especially when times are difficult, dreary and uncertain. Let me encourage you to “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving” (Colossians. 4:2).