The Bible exhorts believers to pray always (Eph. 6:18). Along with their continual fellowship with the Lord through prayer, they can also fellowship with Him through thanksgiving and praise. In fact, praise is a type of prayer that every Christian should master.

The Psalmist David praised God at least seven times a day (Ps. 119:164). But God is worthy of thanks and praise always—24 hours a day, seven days a week. Anytime is time to give thanks and praise to God!

We’re going to look at a number of scriptures dealing with “thanksgiving” or “giving thanks” so we can understand the vast importance of this subject in the life of the believer. For the Christian, every day should be a day of giving thanks to God.

PHILIPPIANS 4:6
6  Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

The Holy Ghost said through the Apostle Paul, in effect, “Let your requests be made known to God with thanksgiving.” Looking at this from a natural standpoint, suppose someone prepared a delicious casserole for you. You ask for the recipe, so the person who made the casserole gives you the recipe. You want to prepare the same dish, so you begin making the casserole, thinking you’re following the recipe. Yet your casserole doesn’t turn out like the one the other person made. As you look back over the recipe, you realize you left out an ingredient!

Similarly, many people make requests to God—they pray and supplicate, begging favors of God—but they leave out something. They leave out thanksgiving, so their prayers don’t work!

No Worries

Let’s look at Philippians 4:6 again and take it step by step. First, it says, “Be careful for nothing.” That phrase is a little blind to us today. The Amplified Bible reads, “Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything . . . .” We’re not supposed to worry. We’re not supposed to be fretful or anxious. Well, what are we going to do, then? The next part of that verse says, “. . . but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”

In how many things are we supposed to make requests to God? In all things—little things, big things, middle-sized things, and everything in between! And we’re supposed to make our requests with thanksgiving!

So if there’s something in life, a situation or circumstance, that you might be tempted to worry about, what are you going to do? You’re not supposed to worry—you’re supposed to pray! And you’re not just supposed to pray. You’re supposed to pray with thanksgiving!

Mix in Thanksgiving

This is where we’ve missed it. Some have already missed it in that they never obeyed the first part—they never let go of the fretting and the anxiety—and that hinders their prayers. But even if they obey that part and cast their cares and anxieties over on the Lord (1 Peter 5:7), they can still miss it in their praying if they’re not mixing thanksgiving with it.

This reminds me of a scripture in the Old Testament that talks about thanksgiving.

PSALM 100:4
4  Enter into his gates with Thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

How are we supposed to enter into God’s Presence? With fear and fretting? Overwrought with cares and anxieties? No! We’re to turn loose of all that and enter into His Presence with thanksgiving and praise.