The Prayer of Thanksgiving

The prayer of thanksgiving is probably one of the most important prayers to pray. Various biblical texts refer to the thanks we should give to God on a regular basis. The psalmist David begins Psalm 9 with these words,

 "I will thank you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done. 

I will be filled with job because of you, I will sing praises to your name, O Most High." 

  

And 1 Chronicles16:34 says, "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good."  

          

Remember Luke's account of Jesus healing ten lepers, but only one came to thank him. Jesus questioned him about the other nine, then said to the man, "Stand up and go. Your faith has made you well."  

     

We all know the importance of being thankful when we pray, but we need to know the concept of thanking God goes beyond thanking him at mealtime, or when we first wake up, or when we go to bed at night.  The thankful heart is one that is constantly recognizing God's direction and work in our  lives and is always ready to offer him praise and thanks.  

   

I know God receives pleasure when his children are thankful to him for all he has done, but I want to show you some additional benefits.  1. Being thankful to him, helps us to continually recognize him as God, while we recognize ourselves in constant need of his presence.  2. Our thankfulness to God is an example to others of our intimate relationship with our Heavenly Father. 3. Thanking God for the gift of his Son, keeps our hearts and minds on Christ. 4. Being thankful to God takes the emphasis off of us, controls our pride, and allows us to focus on God.

Paul told the Thessalonians, "No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God's will for those who belong to Christ Jesus."  1 Thessalonians 5:18

From a little prayer book by Rachel Quillin, comes this prayer, 

"Thank You, Lord, that You have a perfect plan for my life. i know I don't always understand it, but You know what's best, and everything that happens is for a reason--that You might be glorified. I'm so glad that You are in control and that I need not worry."  

                          

Today I am thankful to God for you who read these messages. Regular visits here or just once in a while, makes you a great blessing to me.  God continues to give us increase in the number of people who  come to this site. My prayer of thanksgiving to him continues daily that we may be a thankful people in all we do, remembering God's great love for us, and our love toward one another. 

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