This week I’d like for our discussion to be a little more reflective than usual, a little more devotional if you will. What I’d like us to consider is how to thankfully pray. We all know the old aphorism that “life is not about thanksgiving, it’s about thanksliving”. That is we should not be giving thanks at specific times but our entire attitude, our entire way of life should reflect our thankfulness to God for the great gifts he has given us. This was sort of the topic last week, that we should live, out of thankfulness to God, in such a way that others give thanks to God for what we have done.
But there are also times when specific, active thanks are in order. No other time is more fitting to give thanks than when we are at prayer. So the first question that comes to mind is when do we pray? This is another one like the thanksliving thing. Scripture is pretty clear that we are always to be prayerful. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, “pray without ceasing”. We are to pray in the ordinary moments of our lives as well as the extraordinary. But some times are more focused than others, sometimes our internal dialog with God is more overt, more intentional. What then, how are we to pray with thanksgiving?