Thanksgiving Can Powerfully Change Your Prayer Life

Contributing Writer
PLUS
Thanksgiving Can Powerfully Change Your Prayer Life

I have an 18-year-old son who has special needs, and sometimes when he gets rolling, he will put his head down and charge straight down the hallway and barge right into our room. My wife calls him Kramer when he does that because it reminds her of the character from Seinfeld. and how he would just barge into the room with no regard for the people in the room or what they were doing.

This verse is about prayer and petition, but notice what comes with it – thanksgiving. In this role, thanksgiving can serve two purposes. You can use it to look back, but you can also use it to look forward. In other words, you are offering prayers and petition and giving thanks for the answer before it happens. Your thanksgiving is in anticipation of the answered prayer.

When Jesus went to Lazarus’ tomb, before he raised him from the dead here is what he said.

This was an offering of thanksgiving that was given before Lazarus was raised because Jesus knew what was about to happen. When you go to pray, don’t just ask and believe, give thanks in advance that God has heard you and that he is going to bring an answer to your situation.

Here is a truth about prayer that we must come to grips with: God does not always move when we want and in the way we want. His timetable and ours are not always in alignment. While we can be startled and nervous, wondering when the situation is going to change, God is never nervous or worried because he knows the end from the beginning. When you feel this way, it requires some trust, and thanksgiving can help build that trust. Here is another well-known verse that can help make the point.

You are probably wondering how does this tie into thanksgiving? Well, it is quite simple. If God is moving slower than you want or differently than you expected, you can still give thanks, because you can trust that he is working things out for your good. You might not see it, you might not understand it, you might not even feel like you want it, but you can be confident in knowing God is looking out for your best interests. Even amid delay you can still give thanks because you know God will be good to you. It is this confidence that causes thanksgiving to flow out of your heart and builds your trust.

The beautiful thing about these three aspects of thanksgiving is that they all work together. Looking back causes you to remember, but also allows you to anticipate, which builds trust because you can have the confidence in knowing that God is faithful and he will not fail you.

As you can see, thanksgiving can play an important role in prayer. If you are going to take the time to thank God for all the things he has done, that is naturally going to lead into praise. When you begin to praise God for what he has done, that will naturally lead into worshipping God for who he is. One simply feeds into the other, and thanksgiving is the catalyst.

I hope you can see the power of thanksgiving. I also encourage you to go make that list of all the things God has done that you are thankful for. On days when you feel low, or you feel like God is moving too slow, pull out that list. Remind yourself of the God who has been faithful from the beginning and who will remain faithful to the end. As you are reminding yourself, make sure to offer up some thanksgiving along the way, because God has done much for you.

More from this author
Is It God's Will to Heal Every Believer?
Have We Misplaced the Role of Worship in the 21st Century Church?
Are You Using This Verse the Wrong Way in Prayer?

Related Resource: Listen to our podcast, Teach Us to Pray with Christina Patterson. You can find all the episodes at LifeAudio.com. Listen to an episode now by clicking the play button below:

Photo credit: ©Getty Images/natalie_board

Clarence Haynes 1200x1200Clarence L. Haynes Jr. is a speaker, Bible teacher, and co-founder of The Bible Study Club.  He is the author of The Pursuit of Purpose which will help you understand how God leads you into his will. His most recent book is The Pursuit of Victory: How To Conquer Your Greatest Challenges and Win In Your Christian Life. This book will teach you how to put the pieces together so you can live a victorious Christian life and finally become the man or woman of God that you truly desire to be. Clarence is also committed to helping 10,000 people learn how to study the Bible and has just released his first Bible study course called Bible Study Basics. To learn more about his ministry please visit clarencehaynes.com