A Prayer for Gratitude and Promises
By Mary Southerland
I will give thanks to Your name for Your unfailing love and faithfulness, because Your promises are backed by all the honor of Your name (Psalm 138:2).
I know life can be hard. Some of you are in so much pain that it is almost a grueling task to just breath. But God knows where you are and what you are going through – and you really can trust Him. The apostle Paul had a firm grip on this truth when he wrote:
“I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want” (Philippians 4:11-12).
Paul understood and lived by the truth that God is constantly at work in and around us, monitoring every step we take. Paul examined every circumstance, understanding that it had already passed through His Father’s hands – with His permission. God came through for Paul, and He will come through for you. To find real security and contentment, we must learn to search for the handprints of God in the every day circumstances of life.
Paul had every human right to be angry with God. After all, Paul had been faithful. He had given up much and endured great pain. And yet the undercurrent theme of this passage is gratitude. Notice that it is an attitude chosen by Paul. It is a learned perspective. In this verse, “learned” implies that Paul was educated by experience. In other words, Paul was saying that all of his experiences in life, good and bad, had become his tutor in contentment.
The word content can best be defined as contained. Don’t miss this truth. Paul had trained himself to focus on his inner resources, the resources his heart contained, rather than the outward circumstances of his life. He chose to be grateful. He chose to praise God – period. We hear his determination in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 when he says, “No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus”.
Gratitude not only brings contentment, it yields perseverance and produces strength. God entrusts trials to us, giving us the opportunity to choose gratitude. It is easy to practice gratitude when the seas are calm and the skies are clear, but the real test of gratitude is in the midst of the greatest storm of our lives.
When our hearts are filled with gratitude, we will find contentment. Choose to practice gratitude. Gratitude is wrapped around trust and contains the element of acceptance. Gratitude understands that God is sovereign and that His ways are not our ways. There will be times when we find it impossible to understand His process, but we can always trust His heart. Remember, you can count on every promise of God.
Father, I come to You, confessing that I tend to have a heart that is filled with whining and complaining instead of gratitude. Please forgive me. Help me learn to see Your hand at work in my life. I want to trust You even when I don’t understand my circumstances. Right now, I choose to praise You, Lord.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.
Editor’s Note: Content taken from the Girlfriends in God devotional, “You Can Count on the Promises of God,” written by Mary Southerland. You can read that piece in full here. All rights reserved.
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Blessed are you,
Lord
God:
Blessed are you for ever.
Holy is your name:
Blessed are you for ever.
Great is your mercy for your people:
Blessed are you for ever.
Amen!
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
We praise you and give you glory:
We bless you for calling us to be your holy people.
Remain in our hearts,
And guide us in our love and service.
Help us to let our light shine before others
And lead them to the way of faith.
Holy Trinity of love,
We praise you now and for ever.
Amen!
We praise you, Father of all;
We thank you for calling us to be your people,
And for choosing us to give you glory.
In a special way we thank you for…
State your intention here.
Cleanse our hearts and our lives
With your holy word
And make our
prayer
pleasing to you.
Guide us by your Spirit
As we follow in the paths of
Jesus
our brother.
All glory and praise are yours, Father,
For ever and ever.
Amen!
Let us give glory to the Father
Through the Son
In the Holy Spirit,
For
God
has made us his people, his Church,
And calls us to sing his praises.
All honour and glory and thanks are his,
And praise and worship belong to him.
To
God
be
glory
in his Church
For ever and ever!
Amen!
Thanks for a beautiful day: On a beautiful day,
we may thank
God
and praise him for his many gifts.
Father of Jesus,
We praise you and give you glory
For the wonderful things you do for us;
For
life
and health,
for friends and family,
for this splendid day.
For these reasons, we pray as Jesus taught us:
Our Father… Recite the ‘Our Father’ here.
www.catholic.org
A Prayer for Gratitude and Thanksgiving
By Debbie McDaniel
“O Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.” Ps. 95:1-3
We have so much to be grateful for in this life. Each and every day. But reality is that sometimes constant life demands, struggles, and worries give more room to defeat than to a heart of thanks. Or we forget, in the midst of busyness and pressures, just to pause and give thanks, for all that God has done, and continues to do in our lives.
Sometimes it really is a sacrifice to offer praise and thanks. We may not feel like it. We’re struggling. We’re weary. Or maybe, we feel like He let us down. We think God seems distant, like he’s far away, or doesn’t really care about what’s troubling us. Painful life blows and losses might have recently sent us spiraling.
But here’s what can make a lasting difference. We have a choice, every day, to give him thanks. And with a heart of thanksgiving, we realize that no matter what we face, God doesn’t just work to change our situations and help us through our problems. He does more. He changes our hearts. His power, through hearts of gratitude and focused minds on Him, releases the grip our struggles have over us. We’re strengthened by His peace, refueled by His joy.
Dear God,
Thank you for your amazing power and work in our lives, thank you for your goodness and for your blessings over us. Thank you that you are Able to bring hope through even the toughest of times, strengthening us for your purposes. Thank you for your great love and care. Thank you for your mercy and grace. Thank you that you are always with us and will never leave us. Thank you for your incredible sacrifice so that we might have freedom and life. Forgive us for when we don’t thank you enough, for who you are, for all that you do, for all that you’ve given. Help us to set our eyes and our hearts on you afresh. Renew our spirits, fill us with your peace and joy. We love you and we need you, this day and every day. We give you praise and thanks, for You alone are worthy!
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.
Editor’s Note: Content taken from the blog piece, The Power of Gratitude: 21 Verses of Thanks to God, written by Debbie McDaniel. You can read that piece in full here. All rights reserved.
Find more by Debbie at www.debbiemcdaniel.com, or
www.christianity.com
Prayer for thanking God.
Transcribe below
Welcome To The Prayer For Thanking God
Heavenly Father, we gather together here online and come into agreement in the wonderful and powerful name of Jesus.
Where two or more are gathered there You shall surely be and anything we agree upon as touching You will surely do.
The Bible says that if there is any unforgiveness that it should be dealt with before praying.
Therefore we release any anger, bad feelings, resentment or any other wrong attitude before You now.
We lay it at your feet and we release and forgive those who have wronged us.
I lift up those watching this video and we come into agreement and lift up thanking You Lord.
With the help of the Holy Spirit and by Your grace, we join with all of heaven and make a joyful noise to You!
Thank You so much Lord.
We step into Your presence with gladness of heart and singing.
You are the Great I Am!
You are more than enough!
You are worthy of all praise and glory!
It is You who made the listener, not we ourselves!
We are Your people and the sheep of Your pasture.
Together in agreement Father, we enter into Your gates with thanksgiving and enter Your courts with praise.
We come before You to present an offering of thanks.
We are filled with gratitude and want You to know it.
We bless and affectionately praise Your Name!
For You are good all the time to the listener!
Your mercy and loving-kindness are everlasting.
Your faithfulness and truth endure to all generations.
Thank You blessing the listener with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ!
Thank You for giving me discernment and spiritual understanding.
We enter Your gates with thanksgiving in my heart.
You are the Father of the listener.
Thank You for their life.
Thank You for Your Word.
It is a good and delightful thing to give thanks to You, O Most High.
From the very bottom of the listener’s heart and with all that they are, they thank You.
Thank You for those positive people You have brought into the life of the listener.
We are grateful for the victories and achievements the listener has experienced by Your grace in spite of their faults.
The listener is Your child and is loved by You unconditionally.
Together we rejoice in You, Lord, and give thanks at the remembrance of Your holiness.
The listener is an overcomer by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.
Thank You for the Holy Spirit that lives on the inside of the listener.
Life is exciting and the listener is grateful that they alive for such a time as this.
You have a wonderful plan for their life and we thank You for it.
Thank You for past and present relationships!
Thank You that the listener always triumphs in Christ Jesus!
In Jesus Name we pray.
Amen.
Scriptures:
Heb 12:28-29
Psalm 28:29
Psalm 69:30
1 Cor 15:57
John 10:10
Rev 12:11
Psalm 92:1
Est 4:14
Eph 5:3-4
Heb 13:15
Psalm 100:1-5
Psalm 30:4
Psalm 138:8
1 Thess 5:18
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