The 28-Day Prayer Journey Week 2 — Offering Thanksgiving & Praise

I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart and I will recount all of Your wonderful deeds. — Psalm 9:1

I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul will make its boast in the Lord. — Psalm 34:1-2

It is so important for you to give God your grateful heart both for who He is and also for what He’s done. ~ Chrystal

Welcome to week two of The 28-Day Prayer Journey Online Bible Study. This week Chrystal shares with us the vital importance of praising God for who He is and thanking Him for what He has done. We get to put into practice everything we learned about prayers of thanksgiving + praise from our personal study from last week (pages 11-28 of your study guide).

When I forget to thank God, I forget that awesome person that God is and the good that He has done. It’s like spiritual amnesia. Thanking Him is the reminder… “Oh yeah! You’re the Creator, Redeemer, Savior, Champion, the Rock, the One I can depend on. Oh yeah, I remember when You rescued me from that terrible situation… I bless Your name, Lord! You are marvelous! That’s right… You did that when it couldn’t be done… Thank You! You are so good to me!”

Gratitude wakes up greater gratitude. We remember that even if He never did one more thing for us, we don’t have enough days on this earth to thank Him for what He’s already done.

Praise focuses on who God is. Thanksgiving focuses on what God has done. ~ Chrystal

Especially in hard times, friends, we’ve got to praise Him, we’ve got to thank Him!

Life is full of hard stuff. But, in the middle of it, we have to focus on God’s awesomeness and His gracious gifts. (1 Thessalonians 5:18) God built us that way – to worship through the hardest places because joy (not fleeting happiness), peace, hope, strength, endurance, contentment… will be found in Him!

Imagine the throngs of people and heavenly creatures in Heaven worshiping and singing

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was, and is, and is to come. — Revelation 4:8

When we lift our voices in praise, we join a slammin’ worship session!

Choose it. Walk in it. Say it. Sing it. Dance it.

Worship in the check-out line at Trader Joe’s. Praise the Lord on your daily walk. Sing to Him as you fold laundry or do dishes. Remind Him of your gratitude on your lunch break at work. Sing full-voice and dance in worship like nobody’s watching at a stoplight. Don’t worry, the person behind you will give you a little “toot toot” when the light turns green!

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. — Psalm 103:1

This week, let’s be reminded of God’s God-ness, praise Him for who He is and thank Him for what He has done. He is the King of Kings who deserves our worship!

Thank You, Lord!

This week in your study:

1. Watch the video for session two of The 28-Day Prayer Journey on our study home page and take notes in your study guide on pages 29-37, then stick around to go through the questions with our OBS community afterward! The questions are pop-ups that appear on the screen at the end of Chrystal’s teaching.
2. Grab your Bible and experience your personal study this week on pages 39-56. Days 1-5 of your personal study time is preparation for next week’s session three, and you’ll be looking ahead and focusing on prayers of repentance.
3. Join the conversations about this week’s teaching and get to know our community in our private Facebook group. Let’s share our prayers of thanksgiving + praise!

Scriptures this Week

All Scripture is NIV unless otherwise noted.

Psalm 34:1 NKJV
Romans 9:15-16 NKJV
Psalm 111:1-5 ESV
Psalm 103:1 ESV
John 1:1
1 Thessalonians 5:18
1 Chronicles 16:34
Psalm 140:13
Psalm 9:1
Philippians 4:4-47

Prayer for the Week

Father, we love You. We praise You! We thank You that You are You — we cannot even comprehend Your magnificence and Your glory! We thank You for all You have done in our lives and all that You shall continue to do. Rouse our hearts to worship and praise You in the middle of the day, in the middle of the night, not just at the “appropriate time”, but at all hours, no matter what else is going on. Cause us to praise Your Name! We love You!