finding a pot of gold

 We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers. 1 Thessalonians 1:2

I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, 

and give thanks for them. 1 Timothy2:1

We always pray for you, and we give thanks to God,

 the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Colossians 1:3

As for us, we can’t help but thank God for you, dear brothers and sisters loved by the Lord. 
We are always thankful that God chose you to be among the first to experience salvation—
a salvation that came through the Spirit who makes you holy and through your belief in the truth. 2 Thessalonians 2:13

Prayer defined: a spiritual communion with God, as in supplication, thanksgiving, adoration, or confession. My prayer life goes a little like this: First Place goes to supplication, runner up and Second Place is awarded to confession, Third Place (sad but true) is adoration and lastly but in the run Fourth Place to thanksgiving. It's so easy for me to cry out to God and spend my time with Him reviewing my long list of supplications and even interceding on behalf of the needs of others. If your anything like me there is an equally long list of confessions. And as for adoration, what kind of a Christian would I be if I did not praise and adore my God? Even adoration can easily become a routine or a scripted praise. Thanksgiving, oh that doesn't come naturally... it isn't learned, it is worked. Thanksgiving is described as an act, an expression, an acknowledgment. 

Reading the scriptures above felt like finding a hidden pot of gold. Though I have read these verses in the past, I had overlooked an important and essential part of communion with God: Thanking Him for my brothers and sisters when I pray for them by name. When I pray with people, I do give thanks to God for their life, I praise Him for their life but it usually comes to a halt there. When we pray, we should give thanks to God, not just for His goodness and faithfulness (among all His benefits and awesomeness) but for our family members, friends, neighbors, coworkers, fellow brothers and sisters of the faith, as well as for the lost, unborn babies that are being formed in our friend's wombs- all by name. If God created each one, loves each individual, and has beautiful plans for each one, who are we to not pray for, and thank God for the people He has placed at our hand's reach? Imagine all the good works of thanksgiving being offered to God if we all gave thanks to Him for the those He surrounds us with. I challenge you, as I challenge myself, when we pray for people let's give thanks to God for them. 

PS. I give thanks to God for You my readers.

A thankful life is a prayerful life. 

A life void of prayer is an unthankful life. -Allan McNabb