St Brendan's Anglican Church
 

PRAYERS OF PRAISE, THANKSGIVING AND PETITION: REFLECTIONS

Moheb Ghali

“He appointed some of the Levites to minister before the ark of the LORD, to make petition, to give thanks, and to praise the LORD.” 1 Chronicles 16:4.

PREFACE

This essay is not intended as a theological or philosophical study of prayers for I am neither a theologian nor a philosopher. Rather, the thoughts expressed below are those of a lay Christian attempting to reflect on his beliefs regarding prayers –what are the different types of prayers and why should one pray. As such, they are limited by my knowledge and experience. In expressing my thoughts I rely almost exclusively on passages from Scripture. There are two reasons for this: I believe that Scripture is the word of God and is, therefore, trustworthy, and secondly – I hate to admit- I am not at all well acquainted with the literature on the subject of prayer and that makes it impossible for me to draw on that literature!

In sharing the thoughts in this essay my hope is that you would take the time  to consider your own thoughts on prayer, an exercise that, in my experience, has made my prayers less rote and more deliberate; I find that I no longer “say a prayer” but pray, an activity that involves listening as well as uttering.

INTRODUCTION

In what follows I consider only the three types of prayers mentioned in the Scripture quotation above: Petition, Thanksgiving and Praise. I make a distinction between Praise and Thanksgiving: Praise is exalting God for who He is and Thanksgiving is expressing gratitude for what He has done.  However, because it is not possible to separate what God does from who He is, it is difficult to separate Thanksgiving from Praise.  Indeed, we can find in Scripture many examples where Praise and Thanksgiving are indistinguishable, “I will give thanks to the LORD because of his righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High”[1]. And we find examples where Praise is given for what God did, “Praise be to the LORD, for he has heard my cry for mercy”[2], and Thanksgiving is expressed for who God is, “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.”[3] Yet, I believe that the differentiation between Praise and Thanksgiving is useful because, as I will argue below, the results of Praise differ from those of Thanksgiving:  Praise keeps our focus on who we were created to be- in God’s image, while Thanksgiving instills in us confidence in Him as our provider and relieves us of the burden, anxiety and arrogance of self-reliance.  

I will consider the three types of prayer in a reverse order from that in 1 Chronicles 16:4 quoted above; considering first Praise, then Thanksgiving and finally Petition. There are two reasons for this. First, I believe that Praise lays the foundation for Thanksgiving and that Praise and Thanksgiving are prerequisites for Petition[4]. Secondly, many of us are more familiar with Petition than with Praise – much of our prayers are focused on petitioning God, while, I believe, our prayers of praise are less frequent. By considering Praise first I hope to emphasize its importance. However, the longest section is devoted to Petition in order to address a number of questions which arise regarding such prayers.

Praise

I define Praise in the context of prayer[5] as exalting God for who He is[6]. Praise is reciting His attributes and expressing appreciation for those attributes. It is not thanking Him for anything He has done, or petitioning Him for things to do.

Praise in this sense, exalting God for who He is, is analogous in human relationships to the statements a person in love makes to the beloved: “You are the most beautiful, you are wonderful, you are the best,” statements that flow unsolicited out of a heart that cannot refrain from expressing them and with no expectation of a response or a reward. We make the statements of Praise because we cannot help making them, not to fulfill an obligation – in the human relationship example the beloved did not have praise accrue to her because of any meritorious act, but simply because of who she is. To offer Praise for who He is requires that we know who He is: to know God personally and intimately.

Just as any good thing can be turned into bad, Praise can descend into “flattery” when we give praise with the hope of obtaining a favor or achieving a positive outcome. The only objective of Praise is praise.

At the other end of the spectrum Praise can soar into Adoration when we move from reciting God’s attributes and expressing our appreciation for them to stating our emotional response to Him. In Adoration we move from “How great thou art” to “I exalt thee, O Lord” and “I love you, O LORD, my strength.”[7]  In the human example praise turns into adoration when we move from “You are the most beautiful” to “I love you, I cannot live without you.”

Why Praise God?

God, the creator, does not need anything from His creation[8]. Our Praise, or lack of it, does not change Him[9], for since God was before the creation, nothing in creation can add to or subtract from Him[10].

Rather, I believe that we need to praise Him for our own good, as the result of Praise is to build us up.[11] Praising God, exalting His character and attributes, reinforces our sense of what is good, holy and perfect – it keeps our eyes focused on who we were intended to be, on the qualities of God in whose image were we created. We are expected to be holy[12] and perfect[13] as He is holy and perfect. Neglecting Praise allows our focus to drift to lower qualities and lesser attributes; lowering our expectations and diminishing us.  We do not Praise God in order to receive, we Praise Him in order to become - to become who we should be (or should have been all along).

Does God desire our Praise? Yes.[14] In as much as He desires that we, out of our own free will, return to the holiness and perfection to which He created us, and since Praise is the way we can achieve, or to make progress towards, holiness and perfection, God desires our Praise.  He also rejoices[15] in our Praise for it brings us closer to His purpose for us.

Examples of Praise

In Scripture we find examples praising God for who He is and other examples where Praise is given for what God has done. Here are a number of examples of Praise in the sense of exalting Him for who He is:

“Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all.”[16]

“The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him.”[17]

“Sing to the LORD, all the earth; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples. For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy in his dwelling place. Ascribe to the LORD, O families of nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength, ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name.  Bring an offering and come before him; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.”[18]

“O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”[19]

“Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy. How awesome is the LORD Most High, the great King over all the earth!”[20]

“Shout with joy to God, all the earth! Sing the glory of his name; make his praise glorious!  Say to God, "How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies cringe before you. All the earth bows down to you; they sing praise to you, they sing praise to your name."[21]

"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." [22]

"Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!"  "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!" [23]

Exalting God for who He is keeps our focus on who we were created to be- in His image, reflecting His attributes of love, mercy, forgiveness, generosity, justice and faithfulness - and off what the world would have us be.

Thanksgiving

Prayers of Thanksgiving are expressions of gratitude for something God has done, not necessarily has just done in the immediate past, but also in as far in the past as we can recall. This definition excludes thanking Him in advance for what we hope He will do.

Just as Praise can be deformed into flattery, Thanksgiving can be distorted into attempts to coerce. Offering Thanksgiving with the intent of “inducing” God to grant our request in order to “honor our faith” is an attempt at manipulation – having Him do our own will. Of course this does not work and is excluded under my definition of Thanksgiving.

Why Give Thanks

Again, God does not need anything from His creation. Our Thanksgiving, or lack of it, does not change Him, for since God was before the creation, nothing His creation does can add to or subtract from Him.  As was the case in Praise, we offer God our Thanksgiving for our own good[24].

One result of Thanksgiving is to build in us confidence that He who has done “all that” in the past is still with us.  Thanksgiving is a reminder to us when faced with insurmountable difficulties that we are not alone: He who brought us this far is able to bring us through the present difficulties. This is the type of confidence that the Israelites gained from the Passover celebration recalling God’s mighty act of deliverance, and is the reason Israel was able to face hardships. It is the assurance that we gain from celebrating the Great Thanksgiving, the Eucharist[25], recalling what He has done to deliver us; giving us the confidence to “go out into the world to love and serve the Lord” for He is still with us. The more we take the time to give thanks the more confidence we have that while facing troubles we are not alone; that we had overcome many difficulties through Him and that we remain conquerors through Him[26].

A second effect of Thanksgiving is to remind us who our provider is, and how much we depend on Him.  Failing to give thanks allows us to forget that all we have was given to us; we begin to believe that we, through our own strengths, are the source.  We are warned that when we enjoy the abundance He provides: “your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God …You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.’ But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth”[27] . Prayers of Thanksgiving remind us that He is the source, and because of that they help us overcome our anxiety over “what to eat and what to wear” freeing us to seek after “His Kingdom and righteousness”[28].

Examples of Thanksgiving

“Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; make music to our God on the harp. He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills. He provides food for the cattle and for the young ravens when they call.”[29]

“You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever.”[30]

“We give thanks to you, O God, we give thanks, for your Name is near; men tell of your wonderful deeds.”[31]

“Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done.”[32]

“I thank and praise you, O God of my fathers: You have given me wisdom and power, you have made known to me what we asked of you…"[33]

“Father, I thank you that you have heard me.”[34]

“We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign.”[35] 

PETITION

Petition is inviting God to intervene in a situation in order to secure an outcome that is superior to that normally (naturally) expected[36]. In Petition we ask Him to do what we are incapable and unable to do in a given situation.

Why make Petitions

Scripture encourages us to offer petitions: "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”[37]  “Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.”[38] “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”[39]

Some Questions Regarding Petitions

We may wonder why would God have us ask for what He already knows we need: “your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”[40] I believe that in any situation we can choose between managing on our own or inviting Him to act. He is willing to act but, because of His nature, He will not deprive us of the freedom to choose to act on our own. From the beginning He created us with that freedom to choose and His will and purpose in creation do not change –He still wills us to have that freedom. Prayers of Petition express our willingness to ask Him to intervene in a situation - we are not abdicating our responsibility to act, rather, we are exercising our freedom to choose, and we choose to invite Him to bring about His will.

Will our Petitions always be granted? Jesus appears to promise that: “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”[41] It is important, however, to recall that this statement was addressed to those who loved Him and followed Him: “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”[42] If we love Him and His word remains in us, whatever we ask will be according to His perfect will for us, and will, therefore, be done.

Because Petition is requesting God to act for us, His action will be according to His perfect will. Our petitions will not be granted if they are not in accord with God’s will, that is, if we want Him merely to deliver what we desire. “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”[43] It would be against His nature to grant a request when it is not the best. St. Paul writes: “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it (thorn in the flesh) away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." And St. Paul saw that this was superior to what he had pleaded for.[44] When Jesus taught us how to pray He put “Thy will be done” before the petitions for “our daily bread”, “lead us not into temptation” and to be “delivered from evil.” Before He was arrested and crucified Jesus prayed: “"Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done."[45]

At times our Petitions are not granted because we ask God to spare us the consequences of our choices. If I choose to jump off a tall building and pray that God would keep me from being hurt, I should not expect Him to spare my bones.[46] It is not that God cannot intervene to suspend the laws of nature, He can. In Scripture we find examples of fire not burning people[47], and of a man falling off a building and not being hurt[48]. In these examples God intervened to protect people from consequences that did not result from their own choices.  However, when we make a choice God will not negate the consequences of our choice, for otherwise choice would be meaningless[49].

If we are to pray according to God’s will, how are we to offer Petitions when we do not know His will? He offered to help us in such circumstances by having His Spirit offer the Petition for us: “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.”[50] And, actually, this does work! I know many people who can testify to that[51].

If we offer a petition repeatedly without seeing results, should we assume that He does not wish to answer and stop praying? I believe it is important that we persist in prayer and not be discouraged. David did not stop praying even when he did not receive an answer, he prays: “How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?”[52]  “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent.”[53] Another prophet writes: “How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen?”[54] Daniel prayed and fasted for twenty-one days before an answer came through an angel who explained the reason for the delay even though Daniel’s prayers were heard when he first started.[55] Jesus encourages us not to give up: “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.”[56] Just as petitions are answered according to God’s perfect will for us, they are answered in God’s perfect timing[57]. He knows when we are ready to receive the answer and when the circumstances are right for the answer– if only we do not give up, for if we give up we will not hear or recognize the answer when it comes.

Petition, Praise and Thanksgiving

Foundational to Petition is our knowledge of God’s character and attributes that are worthy of Praise. If we do not have confidence in His power to act and His love for us, the prudent thing would be to face the situation on our own, and to act depending on our own strength and understanding.[58]  That confidence in His power and love is acquired through Praise. We know through Praise that “Glorious and majestic are his deeds, and his righteousness endures forever”[59], and that His love is constant and dependable: “For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.”[60], and this is why it makes sense to petition Him to act.

Equally important to Petition is that assurance that, not only is He able to act, but that He will act. This assurance is gained by recalling what He has done in the past, an assurance gained through our prayers of Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving instills in us confidence that He who has done “that” in the past can do “this” now. If we do not have confidence we will not receive: “But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.”[61] Jesus tells us “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”[62]

Thus, both Praise and Thanksgiving prepare our hearts for offering Petitions with the expectations that He will hear and respond.

Examples of Petition

“Answer me when I call to you, O my righteous God. Give me relief from my distress;    be merciful to me and hear my prayer.”[63]

“Hear my prayer, O God; listen to the words of my mouth. Strangers are attacking me; ruthless men seek my life-- men without regard for God.”[64]

"Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, O Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary… We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name."[65]

"Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"[66]

"Lord, have mercy on my son…He has seizures and is suffering greatly.”[67]

"Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession…Lord, help me!"[68]

“Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”[69]

"Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done."[70]

“Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name--the name you gave me--so that they may be one as we are one.  ...My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. ..Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. …My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.”[71]

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent… Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help. But you, O LORD, be not far off; O my Strength, come quickly to help me.”[72]

Example of a Prayer that begins with Praise followed by Petition

"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. '[73]

Example of a Prayer that begins with Praise, moves to Thanksgiving and ends with Petition

"O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below--you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way. You have kept your promise to your servant David my father; with your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it--as it is today. Now LORD, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father the promises you made to him when you said, `You shall never fail to have a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons are careful in all they do to walk before me as you have done.' And now, O God of Israel let your word that you promised your servant David my father come true.”[74]

Through prayers of Petition we plead with God to intervene in a situation such that His will be done.

CONCLUDING REMARK

I believe there is a simple explanation for why most of our prayers are Petitions, why we offer prayers of Thanksgiving with lesser frequency, and why, in my experience, we seldom engage in Praise. 

We know our needs quite well and are intimately familiar with our inadequacies and limitations, so we Petition.

We know we ought to thank Him, but often, out of pride we fail to do it – we like to believe that “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.”  Thanking Him deprives us of receiving the credit for the outcomes. To be able to offer prayers of Thanksgiving at all times in all places and under all circumstances[75], we need to overcome our pride and recognize that it is “the LORD our God, who gives us the ability to produce wealth.”

We seldom offer prayers of Praise because they require that we know God personally and intimately – and we do not know Him, or at best know Him only superficially. David, “a man after God’s own heart”[76], knew God and thus his Psalms are full of Praise. To know God requires spending time with Him and listening to Him[77].  The more we come to know Him, the more will Praise flow out of our hearts, for “great is the LORD and most worthy of praise.”[78] And as we praise Him we become better persons, for Praise is what molds us in His image, reflecting His attributes.