Why Thankless Prayer Doesn’t Work

4:6-7 Be anxious for nothing, 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 comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

This passage is God’s prescription for how to avoid anxiety and obtain real peace through thankful prayer. Before we move on, let’s talk about why thankless prayer won’t work. If that one ingredient is left out, the whole project will be ruined.

If you bring to God all of your prayers, supplications and requests without thanksgiving, what you are really saying to God is, "Not Thy will but my will be done." If you are not thankful for what He has done up to the moment when you pray, then you are saying you are smarter and wiser than God; you are saying that He has messed up. This is not good. If you are not prepared to be thankful for whatever He will do in response to your prayers (even if it is not exactly what you are asking for) then you have an idol, and you are trying to use God to get your own way. You are not praying to the right god. You are not praying to the almighty and all-wise God. You are talking down to God as if He is your servant, instead of talking up to Him as your king. Do you think God is going to choose to grant you His peace when you do pray like this?

“You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives.” (James 4:3)

Part of what is implied by thankful prayer is the recognition that God’s will is better than ours: "Thy will be done." This is more than just submitting to God’s will. It is being convinced that what He has planned is actually superior to what I want to happen, if the two are in conflict. When we are convinced of this, "Thy will be done" means more than "I will go along with Your will" but it means "Lord, I know that Your will is better than mine, and so if what I am asking for is not Your will, then I want Your will to be done, not mine."

Almighty and all-wise God, forgive me for the times when I have tried to use You to get what I wanted for my own pleasure or comfort. What a sin it is to ask You to fuel my idolatry! Please help me to be eager for Your will to be done. And whatever Your will is, help me to embrace it as good, even when it is painful. Teach me the skill of faithful, thankful prayer.