Editor’s note: This is Part 2 of a two-part series. To read the first four Thanksgiving prayers Christians often forget to pray, click here!
5. Thanks for the gift of who Christ is within us
Prompts to help you form your prayer:
- What is one way you have experienced Christ’s indwelling presence in your life this past year?
- What is one way your Christian fellowship has experienced Jesus’ presence among you this past year?
- The Spirit of God dwells in us in order to extend the reign of Christ in us and to reveal more of Christ to us. What is one time you experienced His ministry to you this past year?
- Can you recall one time this past year you enjoyed the blessing of your unity with other believers as a result of how Jesus was working among you?
Compose Thanksgiving Prayer No. 5. Drawing on your four answers, create a one-paragraph prayer, thanking the Father for the gift of who Christ is within us.
6. Thanks for the gift of who Christ is through us
Prompts to help you form your prayer:
- Where have you recently seen evidence of the extension of Christ’s ascension and reign, either where you live or somewhere among the nations?
- What one work of mission and gospel ministry through a body of believers have you become aware of this past year that fills you with excitement, anticipation and gratitude?
- In what one special way has the Lord Jesus worked through your life to touch someone in the body of Christ—and about which you’re grateful?
- In what one special way has the Lord Jesus worked through your life to touch someone who has not become a Christian yet—and about which you’re grateful?
- Can you recall a time in 2018 when your growing vision of the greatness and glory of Christ inspired you to reach out to someone else to help them see more of who he is?
Compose Thanksgiving Prayer No. 6. Drawing on your five answers, create a one-paragraph prayer thanking the Father for the gift of who Christ is through us.
7. Thanks for the gift of who Christ is upon us
Prompts to help you form your prayer:
- Where have you seen some evidence that Christ’s reign is advancing among the nations (or where you live) with new empowerment—for which you give thanks?
- Where have you experienced a work of the Spirit in your life (such as a miracle, a healing or some other form of divine intervention) that seemed like a “foretaste” of what it will be like when Jesus returns to reign over all things?
- At what point this past year did it feel to you like Jesus was taking charge in some new way, deepening and increasing something He was already doing in you?
- Have you seen any signs of the beginnings of a “Christ Awakening” locally or elsewhere that suggest to you a greater work of Christ is about to take place?
- What is there about the coming consummation—the new heavens and earth—that has become more real to you and more precious to you?
Compose Thanksgiving Prayer No. 7. Drawing on your five answers, create a one-paragraph prayer thanking the Father for the gift of who Christ is upon us.
It’s Time to Pray!
One of St. Augustine’s most famous quotes (I have it on a plaque in my office, in fact) goes like this:
Those who have Christ have everything.
Those who have everything
but do not have Christ have nothing.
And those who have everything plus Christ
have no more than those who have Christ alone.
Those who have Christ have everything! That’s why the top priority prayer we should all be praying on Thanksgiving Day is praise and gratitude for all Jesus is and all we have in him. Moreover, we should be praying like this all year long! So let me end that way with this prayer:
Dear Father, thank you for your unspeakable gift, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Thank You for all your Son means to us—especially for all the ways He reveals to us Your nature and Your heart and brings us into His relationship with You.
Thank You for all Your Son means for us—for His fourfold salvation by His incarnation, His crucifixion, His resurrection and His ascension.
Thank You for all Your Son means over us—as He reigns among the nations and in our lives, defeating all enemies and securing the future of all creation as well as our destinies.
Thank You for all Your Son means before us—as He precedes us and makes a way for us into all You have for us in the future, in the heavens, in the promises and in the world.
Thank You for all Your Son means within us—as He manifests Hs presence and power by living out His life in each of us and all of us together.
Thank You for all Your Son means through us—as he unleashes His ministry gifts and His gospel mission to bless others by how He uses us as His servants.
Thank You for all Your Son means upon us—as He gives us today more and more preliminary experiences of the consummation by the power of His Spirit and as He prepares us to share in even greater displays of his supremacy in the ages to come. Amen.
May You have a blessed Thanksgiving as you praise the Father from who gives every good and perfect gift—especially the supreme gift of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our thanksgiving for that indescribable gift will continue for all eternity!
