God's Special Prayer Language
You don’t have to learn Hebrew to talk to God. He understands English just fine. But God does have a special prayer language he wants you to communicate in.
I’m not talking about an unintelligible gibberish that some advocate. I’m talking about something much more powerful. A way to talk with God and know that you have his attention. Something that he says that he wants to hear.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, “Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (NASB).
Do you see what sandwiches the instruction, “Pray without ceasing”? "Rejoice always” and “in everything give thanks”.
God’s special prayer language is gratitude. When we express heartfelt thanks to him, he is all ears.
This is found throughout the Bible. Gratitude and prayer are intricately woven together in both Old and New Testaments. Read through the Psalms and you’ll find David giving thanks to God in the same breath as he offers his requests, as well as inviting people to come to God with gratitude (i.e. Psalms 95:2 NLT – “Let us come to him with thanksgiving”). In the New Testament, we have instructions such as, “In every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Philippians 4:6 NIV).
Actually, that’s not a bad way to communicate with everyone. If you express thanks when talking to people, your words will have a much greater impact. We listen to people who are genuinely thankful, especially when they express gratitude to/for us. If you want your spouse to listen better to you, regularly tell him what you appreciate about him and that you are thankful to God for him. He’ll be more in tune to your requests if you do that. Kids are more interested in what their parents say when they know they will hear positive reinforcement. And not by way of manipulation. I’m talking about genuine heartfelt thanks that we should regularly express. When we do that, people listen.
When it comes to God, that’s what we were created for. He made us to enjoy us, and to hear our gratitude and thanks. When we fail to do this regularly, we fail to fulfill our purpose. And our prayer time becomes more like whine sessions, reiterating all the things we wish we had or enjoyed or what we want God to do for us.
But when every request is framed in genuine gratitude toward God, we become more conscious of and enjoy his blessings, our faith is strengthened, and we are more likely to receive because God knows we’ll be grateful for it.
That’s God’s special prayer language. If you want God to listen and pay attention. Thank him!
“Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!” – 1 Chronicles 16:34