Bible Prayers: Thanksgiving to God

Thanksgiving reminds us to count our blessings and thank God for our families, friends, church, and country. It’s also an ideal time to pray these Bible prayers, first from the King James Version of the Bible, then these contemporary, paraphrased Bible prayers:

Psalm 75:1 – a prayer of Asaph

Unto thee, O God,

do we give thanks,

unto thee

do we give thanks:

for that thy name is near

thy wondrous works declare.

from the Book of KJV Prayers

Psalm 75:1 – a prayer of Asaph

We give thanks

to You, O Lord.

We give thanks.

For Your Name

is near.

Your Name

holds wondrous

deeds.

from the Book of Bible Prayers

Psalm 100 – a prayer of God’s people

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.

Serve the Lord with gladness:

come before his presence with singing.

 Know ye that the Lord he is God:

it is he that hath made us,

and not we ourselves;

we are his people,

and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter into his gates with thanksgiving,

and into his courts with praise:

be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting;

and his truth endureth to all generations.

from the Book of KJV Prayers

Psalm 100 – a prayer of God’s people

Earth, I’m calling on you to make

a joyful noise to the Lord!

We worship You, Lord, with gladness.

We sing our way into Your presence.

We know You are God, and it is You,

Who has made us – we, Your people,

the sheep of Your pastures.

With thanks, we enter Your gates

and come into Your courts with praise.

We’re so grateful to You,

we bless and hallow Your Name.

How good You are, Lord! How faithful!

Your mercy  lasts forever, and Your truth

goes on and on to all generations.

from the Book of Bible Prayers

Psalm 106:47 – a prayer of God’s people

Save us, O Lord our God,

and gather us

from among the heathen,

to give thanks

unto thy holy name,

and to triumph in thy praise.

from the Book of KJV Prayers

Psalm 106:47 – a prayer of God’s people

O Lord, our God, rescue us.

Gather us together,

so we may give thanks

to Your holy Name.

May we glory

in Your praise.

from the Book of Bible Prayers

1 Timothy 2:1-6  – a prayer of Paul

I exhort therefore, that, first of all,

supplications, prayers, intercessions,

and giving of thanks, be made for all…;

For kings, and for all that are in authority;

that we may lead a quiet and peaceable

life in all godliness and honesty.

For this is good and acceptable in the sight

of God our Saviour; Who will have

all to be saved, and to come

unto the knowledge of the truth.

For there is one God, and one mediator

between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

Who gave himself a ransom for all,

to be testified in due time.

from the Book of KJV Prayers

1 Timothy 2:1-6  – a prayer of Paul

Remind us, Lord,

to make our requests –

our prayers,

intercession,

and thanksgiving –

for everyone,

including our leaders

and all those in authority,

so we may live

peaceful,

quiet,

godly,

holy lives.

Surely this pleases You,

God our Savior,

for You want everyone

to be saved

and come to know

the truth in You.

You alone are God,

and we have One

mediator between You

and other people –

the One, Christ Jesus,

Who gave Himself

as a ransom for us

and everyone.

from the Book of Bible Prayers

Have a blessed Thanksgiving to God!

Mary Harwell Sayler, ©2019

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NEW! the Book of Bible Prayers

After decades of researching what the Bible has to say about prayer and buying a bunch of prayer books that weren’t quite what I wanted, I felt led to collect the actual prayers in the Bible then prayer-a-phrase (prayerfully paraphrase) them into THE prayer book I personally want and need. If you do, too, you’ll be happy to know the Book of Bible Prayers is now available on Amazon.

With the gathering of these prayers, I saw things I’d never before noticed. As the Foreword notes, for example, “The prayers in the Hebrew scriptures (aka Old Testament) are frequently pleas, praise, thanksgiving, complaints, and petitions, but in the New Testament such requests or responses are less likely to occur. Instead, Paul and other apostles typically ask believers in Christ to pray for them. Or, more often, they offer parental blessings over the Christian communities they’re addressing. Similar to the priestly blessing of Aaron in Numbers 6, these New Testament blessings are directed toward the people rather than God, but I felt I would be remiss to exclude all of them, so a few of those blessings have been prayer-a-phrased as prayers."

An exception is the prayer of Melchizedek, which remains the blessing given over Abraham and now over us!

“May you be blessed by God most High,

maker of heaven and earth.

May you be blessed by God most High,

Who has delivered you from the hands

of those who wish you harm,”

Genesis 14:19-20.

That blessing also brought another surprise: i.e., It’s the first prayer-blessing recorded. Prior to that, we had God’s blessings over all creation in Genesis, and by the time of Adam and Eve’s grandson, we hear how “All people began to call on the Name of the Lord.” But it’s the actual prayers spoken to God that bring us this prayer book.

Lord willing, I’ll post a prayer from the book with some regularity on this site with the hope and prayer the Book of Bible Prayers will bring unity to the Body of Christ and more power to your prayer life and mine.

MaryHarwell Sayler, ©2019

…

Calling on the Name

Background:
After Adam and Eve, after Cain and Abel, after the third generation of humankind began calling on the name of the Lord, many, many centuries passed. Heavenly beings did whatever they wanted, creating chaos and, quite possibly, mythological creatures (Genesis 6:1-4.) Human beings did whatever they wanted, and their relationships with God and one another deteriorated (Genesis 6:5.) The whole universe had gotten into an unbearable, terrible mess!

Within this scene of deterioration and depravity, Noah stood out like a bright light of righteousness. God noticed, of course, and came to Noah with a plan and a promise. As Genesis 7-8 recorded, God used a flood to wipe out everything and start over with Noah, his family, and every animal on earth.

After the floodwaters had dried, Noah built an altar and offered a sacrifice to God (Genesis 8:20.) If he prayed to God or praised and thanked God for protecting and saving him and his family, the Bible did not say. Instead Genesis 9 goes on to tell us how Noah planted a vineyard, made wine, and got drunk!

When Noah awoke after an embarrassing evening, he realized that one of his three sons had stood around, staring at the inebriated, naked father until the other two walked backwards to cover him up! If Noah felt foolish or ashamed or sorry or got mad at himself for his own behavior, the Bible made no mention. Instead Genesis 9:25-27 recorded this prayer:

“And Noah said,
‘Cursed be Canaan!
May he be the very lowest servant –
a servant of servants to his brothers.‘

“And Noah said,
‘Blessed be the LORD God of Shem.
Canaan shall be his servant.
God shall extend the borders of Japheth,
and Japheth shall live in the tents of Shem,
and Canaan shall be his servant’.”

Questions:
In what ways did the blessings and cursings of Noah affect human history? Do they affect peoples and nations today? Do I take my own words seriously? Do I bless or curse my family, my community, myself, and the world?

Prayer:
Dear LORD God, I praise and thank You for all of my blessings! Help me to become a blessing to others and myself.

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© 2012, Mary Sayler, all rights reserved.
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