Prayers of Thanksgiving

Introduction

There was one category that I struggled to find in the Lord’s prayer and yet I knew I was missing something. As I studied this week, I finally made a connection I needed to make and somewhat had a feeling was there. Thanksgiving was not directly stated as a form of prayer in the Lord’s supper. As I studied, I am more and more convinced that thanksgiving is a sub-category of praise and worship. So as we looked at the doxology last week, thanksgiving would have fit there.

Thanksgiving is not something we do very well in our culture. Our society instills a sense of discontentment. Advertisements are always intended to tell us we need more. A new electronic device comes out every year and WWDC tells us we need to upgrade and get the newest one. Game developers come out with new games at just the right intervals so when we finish one there is another one to get. Discontentment is easily triggered in us because of an underlying sense of entitlement. We all feel we ought to have all of those things and when we don’t we get upset, put out, angry or just sullen. There is a reason why ingratitude was mentioned as the beginning of man’s depravity from God.

Ingratitude is like plagiarism. I have two separate bachelor degrees and the equivalent of an unaccredited masters degree, but in most of my course work, I had to write a lot of papers. Some classes required a paper every week. When I got my degree in English education from Southern New Hampshire University all of our papers were filtered through a software program that would detect plagiarism. Plagiarism is ultimately claiming someone else’s work as our own without giving credit to our dependence on their work. When we forget, refuse or don’t acknowledge our gratitude to God, we are in essence saying we didn’t need Him for the things we have in life. We are taking the credit that He is due.

Prayer as we talked about is not merely about getting things from God. It is about communion with God. Relationship with Him. Let me ask you a question parents: How do you feel when your kids never say thank you for the things you do for them, the things you buy for them or the things you sacrifice for them? Does it make you feel unappreciated, maybe even a little used? Maybe it saddens you or even upsets you that you are treated with so little gratitude. Now how do you think ingratitude affects our relationship with God?

Tonight I want to challenge us with thanksgiving in prayer. We will begin by looking at biblical theology of thanksgiving in prayer and then move on to one passage in the Psalms that illustrates thanksgiving in prayer and finally some practical tips on giving thanks.

Biblical Basis of thanksgiving in prayer

1. Ephesians 1:16 “Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;”

Here, Paul introduces his letter to the Ephesian believers by telling them that he prays for them all the time. In his prayer, he thanks God for them. Have you ever thanked God for someone in the church? But here we see that thanksgiving isn’t just something we do when we have a praise service and you give a testimony; it should be something that we do in prayer. All of these passages are going to tie thanksgiving to prayer.

2. Hebrews 13:15 “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.”

The second passage highlights the fact that thanksgiving is an act of worship. We don’t offer burnt offerings on an altar for the priests to sacrifice. I am glad of that. There isn’t a river of blood flowing from the pulpit tonight from all the lambs that I would have to skin and butcher. Our offerings are the words of our mouths. Do you struggle to open you mouth to say thanks to God? How often do we receive God’s blessings and forget to say a thing to him?

3. Philippians 4:6 “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”

Here we see that the antidote to anxiety and worry in life involves developing a consistent heart and practice of gratitude. Anxiety tells us to focus on all the things we don’t have or that we don’t like or that might happen. Gratitude tells us to focus on what God has done or what we know God will do because of how great he is. It pushes us to trust God for things we can’t see right now. There is a strong connection between faith and gratitude. If you struggle with anxiety, develop a practice of consistent gratitude.

4. Colossians 4:2 “Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;”

We know that we are to pray without ceasing, but thanksgiving is to be part of that unceasing prayer. The word watch is key here. Watch means to be on alert, staying awake. So we are to be on alert lest we slip into ceasing to give thanks. It is easy to just let it slip or to say the words without meaning them. It takes consistent effort to maintain a prayer life of gratitude.

An example of thanksgiving prayer

Psalm 95:1–2 “O come, let us sing unto the Lord: Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, And make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.”

This passage begins with an invitation to corporate thanksgiving prayer. Tonight at the close of the service, we will enter into a time of brief corporate prayer of thanksgiving. But I also want us to notice that thanksgiving is tied to coming into God’s presence. Elsewhere we read that God inhabits the praises of His people. Just like God’s presence can be experienced in His word, we draw near to God in praise.

Next notice what they are giving thanks for. Psalm 95:3–7 “For the Lord is a great God, And a great King above all gods. In his hand are the deep places of the earth: The strength of the hills is his also. The sea is his, and he made it: And his hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down: Let us kneel before the Lord our maker. For he is our God; And we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice,”

God is great. There is nothing to hard for God. Whatever it is that you are worried about, whatever it is that you think could never happen, God has the power to do it if it is in His will. A prayer like this takes a lot of faith. It praises God for what it knows is still to come.

God is our maker- We have a special relationship with our God. Can you give thanks for the life you have today? God made you, but God didn’t just make you. We are the people of his pasture. He takes care of us. How has God taken care of you this week?

God is our shepherd- How is God leading you in life? There are so many decisions to make each day. How are you going to know which ones are the right one’s? How has God led you into green pastures? What has he taught you recently? What good and rest has he provided?

The psalm ends with a challenge. Psalm 95:7–8 “For he is our God; And we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, And as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:”

The Jews in the wilderness had seen the power of God. God delivered them from Egypt and allowed them to spoil the Egyptians by taking all their jewelry, pots and pans and goods. God also promised them a bright future in a land flowing with milk and honey, but when the moment of trust came; they revealed their ingratitude by their unbelief. As there is a strong connection between gratitude and trust, there is a strong connection between ingratitude and unbelief.

Because of this they hardened their hearts. Let’s be honest, life beats us down. Sometimes it is hard to give thanks because it is hard to lift up our eyes. Everything seems to be going wrong. But if we let our minds meditate too long on the disappointments of life, our hearts will become hard by the ingratitude of unbelief. We become unmoveable. Scripture is preached and it bounces off our hard external shells. People try to love on us and we shove them away. We draw into ourselves and we can’t see the light in our darkness. God’s presence is a distant memory. Jeremiah 2:32 “Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without number.”

Psalm 95 reminds us of the connection of gratitude to our relationship with God. If we lose sight of the goodness of God, we harden our hearts to Him. We grow cold to Him, but when we practice habitual gratitude toward God, even the hard hearts can be melted. We are ushered into the presence of God and find joy in His presence. Gratitude is the linchpin of our prayer and our experience of God. Without it we slowly descend into coldness in our relationship with God. We grow cold because we have forgotten the love of God. We haven’t experienced it in quite some time. Sometimes we just need a reminder of how much he loves us.

It is a common malady in marriage for one spouse to feel like their spouse doesn’t love them any more. Sometimes it doesn’t even matter how much the other spouse showers them with affection, they don’t feel it. What they need is to remember all the love that their spouse has ever showed them and reconnect with their spouse.

If I were to ask you tonight when was the last time you were passionate about and excited about your relationship with God, what would you say? Gratitude in prayer can reignite what you have lost. I want to remind you of the command in Col 4:2 to watch in the same with thanksgiving. Be alert to the coldness of your heart. If you are like that man who has been wandering in the frozen snow for hours, come warm yourself at the fires of gratitude for there you will find the warmth of God’s love.

The practice of thanksgiving in prayer

thank God for who he is and how you have seen that manifested in your life Psalm 106:1 “Praise ye the Lord. O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: For his mercy endureth for ever.”

Thanks giving reminds us of who our God really is. We can tend to forget over time. Sometimes we let the circumstances of life determine who we think God is.

thank God for his promises (expression of faith) 1 Thessalonians 5:18 “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” How can we give thanks in horrible circumstances? Remember that tie between faith and gratitude? Gratitude thrives in dark times when we can trust that God is in control and loves us. Giving thanks when we don’t see the answer. Consider Abraham who was promised some pretty impossible things, some of which didn’t happen in his lifetime. Romans 4:19–20 “And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;”

Keep track of answered prayers and periodically thank God for them Psalm 118:21 “I will praise thee: for thou hast heard me, And art become my salvation.” It is easy to slip into ingratitude because we forget everything that God has done for us. It is important that we regularly write down and remind ourselves of all the answers to prayer that we have already experienced.

Thank him for spiritual blessings and not just physical blessings Ephesians 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:”

Are you thankful for the lessons God teaches you? How about the chastening that he brings in your life? What about the fellowship of other believers? How about the work of Jesus interceding on your behalf at the right hand of the Father? There is so much more to thank God for than just health, money and things.

Thank God for what he is teaching you Psalm 119:62 “At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee Because of thy righteous judgments.”

Are you thankful for what God’s word teaches you and the lesson’s God is making known to you? This is hard if you can’t even remember the last lesson God taught you?

Conclusion

Tonight I want to ask you to tell me some things that you are thankful for and then invite you all to join me in corporate prayer of thanks to God. I will start by thanking God for the 7 souls that were saved last week. Let’s pray.