Gratitude is the main part of our prayer

Quintus Heine

Psalm 146:1-2 Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, my soul.I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

We are taught from a young age to say thank you for everything. The aim is much more than just instilling good manners in a child. If you thank a person, you acknowledge them. Thanking someone shows that you not only respect them, but that you depend on the other person for something. Gratitude is therefore a statement of both recognition and dependency. Gratitude honours someone other than yourself. By being ungrateful, you try to keep the honour and recognition for yourself! Ungrateful people are people who are full of themselves. Gratitude is a sign of humility.

Gratitude is confession of dependence. Our fathers of the faith during 15th century said the best way to say thank you is by praying. So then, the most important part of our prayers is to give thanks to the Lord! The more we thank the Lord in prayer, the more we realise that we are responsible for nothing on earth, but that everything comes from God. We should not hesitate to mention these things in detail, and then we can see how dependent we are on him.

Thanksgiving and praise is a life's work and an attitude of the heart. Psalm 34:1: I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. Thanksgiving is not only meant for the times you go to church. It is not something that happens only at certain times. It's an attitude of the heart that is always present. You see people's thankful prayer attitude in their thankful behaviour towards other people. Maybe we should learn to be grateful to the Lord for all that we are and all that we have! Let's live this gratitude every day!

We should be thankful in all circumstances. There are often times when we are angry, aggrieved or upset, but we need to have an attitude of gratitude. We need to learn to even say thank you for the bad things. Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, whohave been called according to his purpose.

A thankful prayer cures your discontent and brings you closer to God.

Pleas note that the last piece on the Our Father prayer will be on Wednesday.

Prayer: Thank you Lord for your grace, love and peace. Give me an attitude of thanksgiving towards you and those around me. Amen