7 Uplifting Prayers of Gratitude to God
Nightfall welcomes a resplendent moon, and I admire it from the window. As I watch the first stars emerge, my heart fills with thankfulness, inspiring me to draw near to my Creator with prayers of gratitude to God.
Today, I’m sharing seven prayers of gratitude to God with hopes to inspire your prayer life as well.
After exploring these prayers, we’ll talk about how to cultivate prayerful lives.
7 Prayers of Gratitude to God
In his letter to the Thessalonian church, the Apostle Paul encouraged these believers to be joyful always, pray without stopping, and give thanks in all situations (1 Thess. 5:16-18).
Interestingly, recent findings in neuroscience reveal that gratitude holds the power to change the structure of the human brain and even open certain circuits, enabling us to better communicate with others. If we want healthier brains and stronger relationships, learning to give thanks often will lead us in the right direction.
7 Prayers of Thankfulness
Here are seven prayers of gratitude to God to get you started.
1. Thank God for his goodness.
We can always thank God for his goodness.
God never changes. He is always good and always faithful. Everything he does is done in love.
Even if your circumstances are difficult or don’t make sense to you today, you can pray this prayer:
“Father God, thank you for being good all the time. At times, I have trouble trusting in your goodness, especially when my circumstances are confusing to me. Thank you that you are helping me grow in trust through these circumstances. I give you all honor, glory, and praise as I declare that you are always good, always loving, and always faithful.”
2. Thank God for his provision.
God cares about your needs. Even if you recently lost your job or are facing financial stress, thank God for providing for you. He promises to meet all your needs.
Here is a prayer:
“Lord God, thank you for being my provider. I trust in the promise that you will provide for me. I believe that you care about the details of my life. Thank you for watching over me each day, providing me with food to eat, and giving me a place to live. Thank you for your care and constant love.”
3. Thank God for the people in your life.
Not one person is in your life by accident.
God’s providence has surrounded you with the friends, family, loved ones, and coworkers who fill your days.
Perhaps you feel alone today. Maybe you’ve been betrayed by someone you trusted.
Regardless of where this day finds you, you are not alone. God also wants to surround you with people who bring you joy and help you grow closer to him.
Here is a prayer for the people in your life:
“Dear Lord, thank you for the people you have placed in my life. I know that no one is in my life by accident. I specifically thank you for the joy I find in my relationships with______(fill in this blank with the names of any loved ones who come to mind). Father, I also thank you that even when I feel alone and misunderstood, you are working in my life. You will never leave me or abandon me.”
4. Thank God for daily blessings.
Thanking God for his daily blessings is an uplifting daily practice. Every day, God surrounds you with gifts. According to James 1:17, every good gift in your life is from the hand of God.
Every day, I like to take a few minutes to review the past 24 hours. I ask God to show me the blessings I missed in the busy moments of my day, and I thank him for these blessings.
Here is a prayer to guide you in thanking God for his daily blessings.
“Lord God, thank you that your mercies are new every morning. Thank you that every good gift in my life is from you. Please show me the moments when I was not aware of your presence. (Now, quietly allow memories from the past day to float through your mind like a parade of God’s goodness. Thank God for each blessing.)”
5. Thank God for carrying your burdens.
God hears the prayers of his children. He also wants us to bring our burdens to him (see Matthew 11:28-30). When we bring him our burdens, he helps us live in a way that is lighter.
Here is a prayer to thank God for carrying your burdens.
“Father God, thank you for the invitation to bring my burdens to you. Today, I bring you the following burdens:___________(name anything that is on your mind, including worries, fears, doubts, and concerns). Thank you for lifting these burdens from my shoulders. I trust in you to handle these situations as you work in my life.”
6. Thank God for something beautiful.
In his letter to the Philippian church, the Apostle Paul encouraged the believers to fix their eyes on what was pure, good, right, excellent, and praiseworthy (see Philippians 4:8).
When we thank God for beauty, we practice living by Paul’s admonition.
Here is a prayer to thank God for beauty.
“Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for the beauty of this new day. Thank you for the glory revealed through your created world, including_________(name anything beautiful you see out your window or anything beautiful that comes to mind). Thank you, Lord, for creating beauty and goodness.”
7. Thank God for something challenging.
Thanking God for challenging situations isn’t easy.
Yet God’s Word teaches us that we grow through adversity (James 1:2-4). We are refined through fires of difficulty.
When we learn to thank God for challenges, we are moving in the direction of true spiritual maturity.
Here is a prayer.
“Lord God, thank you for using challenges to shape us into the image of your Son. Today, I thank you for the challenge of_______(specifically name a challenging situation). It’s not easy to give thanks for this situation. Yet as I thank you, I sense a shift in my heart. Thank you that you are using this to help me become more mature and complete. I trust you to do this work in my life and draw near to you for strength to endure.”
Let’s Apply These 7 Prayers of Gratitude to God to Our Everyday Lives
I invite you to join me the morning after my prayer time by the window, and we’ll apply these prayers of gratitude to God to our everyday moments.
And so, with eager expectation, when morning dawns and the moon settles beyond the horizon, I sit with our children in the living room.
I hold the book we read every morning, and I take the time to memorize the moment: the way Aiden snuggles up to me and wraps his arms around me; the way Caleb’s eyes dance as he tells me about his newest Minecraft creation; and sleepy Bekah’s smile as she huddles under the blanket and rubs the weariness from her eyes.
This moment.
I will memorize this moment.
Because seasons change too fast.
The ebb and flow doesn’t wait for distracted mothers to slow down.
We make the most of the time we have when we anchor ourselves by being fully awake and fully present in the ordinary moments.
Every Good and Perfect Gift
Our family won’t drive across the country and gaze at any snow-capped mountains this week.
We probably won’t set our eyes on any national monuments or visit anywhere we haven’t already been a hundred times.
Nevertheless, we can still stand in awe.
We can stand in awe of the gift of another day—even if this day is far from perfect and even if it’s filled with bickering, boredom, and ordinariness. God’s gifts are woven into our ordinary moments, and he is always inviting us to slow down and savor those gifts.
I think about this as I read to the kids and encourage them to find a few reasons to give thanks. I’m surprised, as always, by the gifts they name: wrestling with Daddy, ice cream cones on the deck last night, playing with the dogs in the yard, and yesterday’s trip to the library.
When our time for reading and counting gifts draws to a close, I realize that I feel more joyful, as if the exercise in giving thanks has healed something within me.
Practice Giving Thanks
Perhaps this exercise would be helpful for you, too.
Maybe you’re in the middle of an especially challenging season, and you’ve put your hope in making it to the other side. There’s nothing wrong with this kind of hope. However, when our only hope is based on circumstances, hope is bound to let us down.
Immanuel, God with us, wants to be our Living Hope. He is with us in every storm and every trial. When we learn to put our hope in him, our hope is fixed on an anchor that cannot change or shift with circumstances.
His presence with us is always the greatest gift.
Furthermore, he is always surrounding us with his gifts. Sadly, it’s easy to miss the gifts if we’re not watching for them.
Every Good and Perfect Gift in Your Ordinary Life
This week, I’m thanking God for the noise that fills our home as the school year ends and the children return home,
the way the moon hangs overhead on cool summer nights,
the chatter of songbirds at daybreak,
barefoot afternoons in creek bottoms,
mornings with hot cocoa and cuddles,
and wildflower bouquets on the kitchen table.
None of it is extraordinary. And yet, all of it is extraordinary.
Perhaps you need this reminder to watch for his gifts, too. They are surrounding you, even now. God is inviting you to start counting. Everything good in your life comes from the Lord. I invite you to take a moment to savor his goodness right now. It might just change the trajectory of your day.
Everything good in your life comes from the Lord. I invite you to take a moment to savor his goodness right now. #GodsGifts #savor #gratitude Share on XA Free Online Devotional to Help Find Space to Pray More Prayers of Gratitude to God
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