When I was still a child, I watched my mum for years as she prayed. In those childhood days with her, our devotion and prayer time used to be relatively long. I had to endure her long moment of thanksgiving during the prayers. According to her; “Our thanksgiving must be more than our prayers.” I never understood what she meant until later. Truly, our thanksgiving must be more than our prayers.
Friend, you need to pay your debt of gratitude to God this season. Indeed, your Thanksgiving must be more than your prayers or requests if you would live in the blessedness of the new covenant. In the new covenant, our understanding is that God has done all things for us (2 Corinthians 1:20, Ephesians 1:3). This understanding should make Thanksgiving a major part of our prayers.
Most times, we have a list of our prayer requests, but how many of us have our Thanksgiving list (Psalms 103:1-5)? I mean, just the way you write 50 things you want God to do for you, do you also have a list of 50 things you want to thank God for? We know how to painstakingly take those requests one by one and pray them. Do we also carefully take out those Thanksgiving points and thank God for them, or do we just summarize them?
As the year gradually wraps up, don’t be burdened and bothered by the myriads of needs and requests that you have. Take time to thank God (Psalms 100:4). The throne of heaven is filled with serious bombardments this season as people throw their requests at God. Would you dare to do the exact opposite, filling heaven with the fragrance of your Thanksgiving?
Thanking God for what we can see is only a sensible thing to do. However, thanking God for what we cannot see but are persuaded that He has done for us in Christ is an expression of faith (2 Corinthians 2:14). This should be our posture in the new covenant. We thank God for what we know He has done for us in Christ, even if we have not seen the physical tangibility of it.
This season, take your Thanksgiving to the next level. Rather than being under pressure to ask God to do stuff, why not convert the most part of your prayer time to Thanksgiving moments? This is not only an expression of faith but a trigger for the miraculous (John 6:11-12, 11:41-44). Those who live a life of Thanksgiving often experience God’s wonders. You can be one of them.
‘Demola Awoyele
Lead Pastor,
Destiny Impact Church
Akure, Nigeria