A Prayer for Thanksgiving

Father God, we thank you for all you do for us. Even now, as I read this, it is You that gives us breath; it is You that gives us energy to speak, and it is You that allows others to hear and join in this prayer. It is You alone that keeps us from dissolving back into dust every moment of our fleeting lives. You do far more for us than we can ever imagine. 

We also thank You for being who you are. You are everlasting to everlasting, unchanging, faithful to faithless, Keeper of promises, righteous Judge, Defender of the lowly, merciful, gracious, loving, and, of course, holy holy holy. All glory and honor belong to You!

To our Rescuer and eternal King, Jesus, who set aside His glory to walk amongst us as a servant, we thank You for providing us an example of how to live. We thank You for surrendering to Your Father’s will, enduring brutal torture, and dying a completely undeserved and horrifically painful death on a criminal’s cross. You were a spotless Lamb. You bore the death that is rightfully ours. You sacrificed Your life to ransom ours.

We were born inmates on death row. Before knowing You, some of us settled for prison life, assuming that the best this world offered was toilet wine and brief moments of happiness seeing the sun in the yard. We didn’t know true peace, joy, love, and purpose because we didn’t deserve them. Some of us tried to fake our way into freedom, but all we could ever do was wash dirt with more dirt and hope that, by comparison, the Warden might think we were slightly cleaner than our fellow inmates. Our attempts at righteousness were like filthy rags. When You died for us, You provided us with a pardon. Our sin was transferred to You, and Your righteousness was transferred to us. 

Now justified, we can enjoy the Presence, and we have been adopted as children of the Most High. Our citizenship is no longer in this world of darkness, sin, and death. We are citizens of the Kingdom of You, our Eternal King, who reigns forever and ever. We gladly serve You, our King, as ambassadors on this prison planet. May we magnify You in all ways, in all things, and with every word from our mouths. You are our Hope. All hail King Jesus!

Holy Spirit, our comforter, teacher, our guide, and our partial inheritance. We were born with sinful, diseased, and corrupted flesh. Through You, we put this flesh to death and move from one degree of holiness to the next. Walking in You means bearing Your fruits of love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. Help us live the Baptized life of death of our flesh and life in Christ. We cannot do any of it by ourselves. Some of us, including me, have tried to fake it, but without Your power, it is counterfeit and no better quality than what atheists can achieve. Holy Spirit, we ask that we become less so that Christ can become more. We ask that Your voice always be the loudest and that You help protect the deposits of truth made in us.

Father, we ask that You bless our food and time together and that it is profitable for the Kingdom. We ask that You forgive us for our sinful ways. Help us stop trying to dilute Your truth with what we want to believe about You. Search every part of us and refine away all impurities. We ask that You blow a mighty wind into the fires of Christ’s Church. Help us be completely on fire and help us to our first Love. Through us, bring a true revival to our land. Please hear the voices of the innocent crying out to You, hear the misery of the addicted and lost. Help the Church be the light on the hill, showing that healing, safety, and hope are found in You.

We ask for safety in travels for our brothers and sisters traveling this holiday and deliverance for those in harm's way.

We Love you! We offer our prayer through the intercession of our High Priest, Jesus Christ. Amen and Amen.