If I’m Asking for More, Does That Make Me Ungrateful?
If I’m Asking for More, Does That Make Me Ungrateful?
Expressing gratitude or making requests — when it comes to praying, do you ever feel like it has to be one or the other? Or that your gratitude is only genuine as long as it’s not intermixed with a heart-full of wants or needs?
I do!
That’s why this reminder from the Apostle Paul is so encouraging to me…
In the first chapter of his letter to the Philippians, beginning in verse 4, Paul wrote this:
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 1:4-7 (ESV)
In that passage, Paul wrote that we should both give thanks and bring our requests to God, all in the same prayer.
Why?
Well for one thing, expressing gratitude alongside of our needs helps to put things into perspective for us.
Yes, we have needs… but we also have access to all that we need in Him.
Yes, we have needs… and also, we are surrounded by expressions of His perfect provision and abundant supply each and every day, if we have eyes to see how He’s already shown His extravagant love for us.
Another reason why we should bring both our thanks and our needs to the Father in the same prayer is because we are simultaneously more blessed than we will ever know and more in need than we could ever imagine. So we will never run out of reasons to thank God, but we will also never exhaust our list of needs from our good heavenly Father — and He cares to hear about both!
Expressing your needs does not diminish the value of your gratitude. It shows that you understand that the One you’re thanking is the One from whom and for whom you still have the greatest need.
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