The following is an excerpt from our daily devotional series Seven Conditions for Answered Prayer.

The second characteristic of a successful prayer life is that we come to our faithful God with praise and thanksgiving from the heart. Many Christians do not realize this. A lady came up to me just two days ago and said that she had lost her joy.  I asked her, “Do you continue to praise and thank God?” She said, “I did, but when I lost my joy, I more or less stopped.” So I said, “That’s the root reason why you’ve lost your joy.” I reminded her how vitally important it is to give God praise from a thankful heart. We should always remember that our praise to God reflects the atmosphere of heaven, where there is continuous praise. If God has ordained worship in heaven, we should understand His desire to hear praise from His saints on the earth.

View Comments (0)

Connect with others in your state in prayer.

You don’t praise God because of feelings. You praise Him because of facts. We ought to praise Him because of who He is, and thank Him for all He has done and continues to do in, for, and through our daily life experience. This is not to be a formula or a technique, of course, but should develop spontaneously to reflect our gratitude for God’s goodness and blessing in our lives, even before our specific requests are presented or answered. For many, this is still a learning process, and God gives grace to the humble as we learn. He looks at the heart attitude we bring and recognizes that all believers are still maturing.

God doesn’t change. “For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.” (Psalm 100:5) If you do not praise God that His mercy and truth endure forever – indeed, if you do not come to Him with praise and thanks – you may  soon feel that you are far from God and God is far from you. And the cause may not be sin in your life. It could be that God wants to motivate you to go deeper with Him into praise and thanksgiving. And so, as you learn to keep your heart tuned to praising God, you will receive new assurance of His presence.

Psalm 100:4 says, “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.” The “gates” represent thanksgiving; the “court” of access is praise. To be effective, your prayer time should begin with praise and thanks.

After all, it doesn’t take long to tell God what you need. But what is really important is to get into a relationship with God where you have the greatest confidence that when you do tell Him, you’ll get what you asked for. And a major gateway into that relationship – the means of access – begins with praising Him.

Speaking of where God dwells, Isaiah 60:18 says, “But you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise.” Every gate of access into the presence of Almighty God has got the same name over it. And that name is “Praise.” This strongly suggests the most direct path into God’s presence is the gate of praise. As for the importance of giving thanks, we have New Testament instruction also. “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” (Philippians 4:6)

Never withhold your praise and thanksgiving. As you begin to thank God for His greatness and all He has already done, faith will rise in your heart for the next need you’re going to pray for. And if you take time to offer God your praise before you begin with your petitions, you will find that those requests will come forth smoothly and simply. As we close this section, let’s return to Psalm 100:4. “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.”

 Points to Ponder:

• If God ever seems remote or inaccessible, ask yourself if you are including an ample amount of time in praise and thanksgiving before presenting requests.
• Is your experience of praising God limited to your church services? God wants more than that. Will you allow this devotional to help you restore the balance you need?
• Write in your prayer journal positive developments you experience as you give thanks.

Complete Devotional in PDF Format Click Here!

Did you like this article? If so, share it!

(Derek Prince was one of the founders of Intercessors for America. Photo Credit: doidam10 via Canva Teams)