I’ve read a lot of books about prayer, including a few about “The Lord’s Prayer”. Probably the best book I’ve read on prayer is Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God by Tim Keller. In that book Keller states that there are many different ways to organize our prayers. I often use the ACTS method for my prayers. In ACTS, the “A” stands for adoration, “C” stands for confession, “T” stands for thanksgiving and “S” stands for supplication, or request. Many times I’ve found that our prayers jump right to supplication. I like the ACTS model because it starts with adoration.
I want to address the “T” in ACTS – thanksgiving. The Bible tells us to “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). I think being thankful is an aspect of prayer that we (or at least I) tend to overlook. I think thankfulness and contentment tend to go together, when we are thankful we are also content. What would it look like if we lived a life of thankfulness? Here are five great verses from the Bible about being thankful:

• Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; for His steadfast love endures forever! 1 Chronicles 16:34
• And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Colossians 3:15
• And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Colossians 3:17
• Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. Colossians 4:2
• Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Philippians 4:6

I recently enjoyed spending some time thinking about what I am thankful for, the blessings in my life. Here are a few of them:

1. Being saved through Christ (salvation).
2. My immediate family – wife, parents, brother, sister, and my extended family.
3. State Farm for a nearly 38-year career and all of the wonderful people I worked with.
4. Our dog Molly, an Alaskan Malamute.
5. Our church, pastors, elders and deacons.
6. Covenant Seminary.
7. Our home.
8. The Bible and other good books to read.
9. Music to listen to.
10. Watching movies.
11. Good health.
12. Friends.
13. St. Louis Cardinal baseball.
14. Ligonier Ministries and R.C. Sproul.
15. God’s creation.

Take some time and reflect on what you are thankful for in your life and click on ‘Leave a comment’ to let us know.