A Prayer about Overflowing Gratitude

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. (Col. 2:6–7 NIV)

Did you have a good Thanksgiving Day? I trust so. We bring this week to a close with another gospel-centered prayer written by Pastor Scotty Smith:

Lord Jesus, I want to be a man who gives you the quality and quantity of thanks of which you are so absolutely worthy. Not like a slow drip, a babbling brook, or a meandering stream, but like a geyser—a gospel geyser. I want to overflow with thankfulness, to the praise of your glory and grace!

I have every reason to be like the healed Samaritan leper, who with a stunned heart and irrepressible gratitude returned to give you heartfelt thanks (Luke 17:11–17). I return today, and I want to return every day, to express my profound thankfulness.

From the first nanosecond I was given faith to receive you as Savior and Lord, I was fully and firmly rooted in your righteousness and love. Now, completely forgiven, I have no other righteousness than yours. Just as I cannot add one iota to your righteousness, I can never, ever be separated from your love, and your love alone is better than life. You have already set me free from the penalty of sin, you are continually setting me free from the power of sin, and one day you will set me free from the very presence of sin.

Jesus, I want to live in you, reflecting upon your glory with an unveiled face and marinating in the riches of your unfailing grace. I want to be built up in you, maturing by the same grace that saved me, being liberated for the race that you’ve set before me. I want to be strengthened in you, forgiving others as you have forgiven me, forbearing with others as you forbear with me, accepting others as you accept me.

Lord Jesus, I would love to be done with all carping and droning, with all whining and complaining, with all boo-hooing and Eeyore-ing, and with every other expression of ingratitude. So rise up in me, O living water, unto eternal life. Artesian spring of grace, come forth with such compelling and propelling force that my thanks will be not miserly but geyserly. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Smith, Scotty (2011-09-01). Everyday Prayers for a Transformed Life: 365 Days to Gospel-Centered Faith (Kindle Locations 8156-8172). Baker Book Group. Kindle Edition.

Have a great weekend! God bless you! – Bill Welte is President/CEO of America’s Keswick

Team YOU: Ezekiel 20-21; Proverbs 23; James 5

Motivations: The main thing that God asks for is our attention. Jim Cymbala

Practice to Remember: Level 1:James 3:17-18; Level 2: James 3:13-18

Powered Up:  Our true character comes out in the way we pray. Oswald Chambers