How to Pray, Part I:
Thanksgiving and Praise
Today’s Verse—Psalm 100:4
Give thanks as you enter the gates of [God’s]
temple. Give praise as you enter its courtyards.
Give thanks to him and praise his name.
Have you ever tried to cook or bake something by following a recipe? Can you imagine a recipe like this?
Spinach and Cheese Soufflé
Step one: Make a soufflé.
Step two: Add spinach.
Step three: Add cheese.
That wouldn’t be very helpful, would it? The recipe writer assumed the reader already knows how to make a soufflé! The Bible talks about prayer a lot, and Jesus wanted us to know how to pray. He understood that it wasn’t good enough to just tell us to pray without showing us how to do it. So He gave us a demonstration.
Luke 11:2 is the Lord’s Prayer, which starts out “Father, may your name be honored.” In Jesus’ example, He started His prayer with honoring God. This is what praise is. Your prayers don’t have to be in any particular order, but it sometimes helps, right at the beginning, to acknowledge whom you’re praying to. A good way to do that is to honor God with praise and thanksgiving. Praise is honoring God for who He is. Thanksgiving is honoring God for what He has done.
Wandering with Wooton
I used to write down things I was thankful for on sticky notes and put them on my bathroom mirror. It was a good reminder. But my mirror got covered up pretty quickly. Then I started putting them on my bathroom walls. But I ran out of room there, too, so I put them on my toilet, the sink, the shower curtain, and the towel racks. Now I just use the downstairs bathroom.
In the Odyssey episode* “B-TV: Thanks” (album 31), a story was told about a rich man who gave bread to hungry children every day. When the bread was handed out one day, all the children quarreled and fought to get the biggest loaves—except for Sarah. Sarah always got the smallest loaf. But unlike the other children, she took the time to thank the man who gave it to her. The next day Sarah again got the smallest loaf, but when she got home, she noticed that the man had put three coins inside it. It was her reward for a grateful heart.
Daily Challenge
Make a list of twenty-six words, one for each letter of the alphabet, that describe the ways God is great. Do the same for things you are thankful for. Be creative with the X!
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Prayer Theme Memory Verse—1 Thessalonians 5:17
Never stop praying.
* Want more information about this story and others on the same album? Visit www.whitsend.org/ vault. Then browse by album and find album 31.