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The constant tenor of our lives should be adoring gratitude

I recently was rereading C.H. Spurgeon’s famous sermon “Prayer Perfumed with Praise”, from 1879. Among the many wonderful meditations from the message was the following excerpt, which I thought especially appropriate to consider this Thanksgiving week:

“In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving…”

—Philippians 4:6

spurgeon

The point to which I would draw your attention is this: that whether it be the general prayer or the specific supplication we are to offer either or both “with thanksgiving.” We are to pray about everything, and with every prayer we must blend our thanksgivings. Hence it follows that we ought always to be in a thankful condition of heart: since we are to pray without ceasing, and are not to pray without thanksgiving, it is clear that we ought to be always ready to give thanks unto the Lord. We must say with the Psalmist, “Thus will I bless thee while I live; I will lift up my hands in thy name.” The constant tenor and spirit of our lives should be adoring gratitude, love, reverence, and thanksgiving to the Most High. This blending of thanks with devotion is always to be maintained. Always must we offer prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.

“In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving…”

—Philippians 4:6