10 of the Best Ways to Thank God
You and I know God wants us to thank and praise Him but I sometimes wonder if I’m thanking Him the ways He wants.
I start my prayers with thank you and praise Him for who He is and what He does but are words enough.
David wrote:
Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God, and keep the vows you made to the Most High. Psalm 50:14
Honestly, words don’t feel like much of a sacrifice. I can say “thank you” so easily and then just as easily go back to living in ways that don’t seem very thankful.
What does thankful living look like? Thankfulness that is sacrificial? Thankfulness that is God’s will and pleases Him.
Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:20
How are you with the “all circumstances” part? Not so good? Yeah, me too.
I wonder (you know I do that a lot) . . . maybe there are ways to thank God that go beyond simply speaking words. Ways to live with gratitude even when I don’t feel thankful for my circumstances.
10 of the Best Ways to Thank God
Obey Him.
If you add together the verses with the word “obey” and those reminding us to “listen” it’s close to a thousand. Faith leads to obedience as we thank God for the amazing gift of life in Jesus.
Everything you do or say should be done to obey Jesus your Lord. And in all you do, give thanks to God the Father through Jesus. Colossians 3:17
Worship Him.
Remember worship is…
Taking your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. (Romans 12:1)
We were made to worship – to thank and praise God, the One who loves us and gives us all we need for today and for always.
Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping Him with holy fear and awe. Hebrews 12:28
Thank Him with music.
Make music. Sing praise. Music gives our thanks and praise emotion. So, make that “joyful noise” at home, in the car, at church . . . anywhere. Turn up the tunes and give thanks.
And each morning and evening they stood before the Lord to sing songs of thanks and praise to Him. 1 Chronicles 23:30
Pray to Him.
You pray and begin your prayers with words of thanks and praise. But let’s go beyond “thank you for all You do for me.” Let’s be specific. Naming God’s past provision and help not only thanks Him it can help prevent worry and fear.
Do not worry about anything, but pray and ask God for everything you need, always giving thanks. Philippians 4:6
Love and Care for Others.
This is stewardship. Using what God has given us to bless others. God’s love is unfailing. His care is personal. You and I have all we need to love and care for the people around us.
Each of you has received a gift to use to serve others. Be good servants of God’s various gifts of grace. Anyone who speaks should speak words from God. Anyone who serves should serve with the strength God gives so that in everything God will be praised through Jesus Christ. Power and glory belong to him forever and ever. Amen. 1 Peter 4:10–11
Surrender Everything to Him.
It’s hard to offer everything, isn’t it? It needs an eternal perspective and I so easily get caught up in what’s right in front of my face. Trusting God and surrendering everything to Him . . . that’s thanksgiving with faith.
And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind He will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship Him. Romans 12:1
Tell People about Who He Is and What He Does.
Tell your story. You’re a changed life, tell people about it. Tell them about forgiveness and freedom from fear . . . about love, hope, and joy. Thank God by telling others about His awesome blessings.
I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done. Psalm 9:1
Trust His Will.
Trust is reliance and confident expectation. Thank God for past blessings by trusting Him with your future. Follow where He leads. He has a plan and that plan includes you. Trust His love and follow where He leads.
The Lord is my strength and shield. I trust Him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving. Psalm 28:7
Be Joyful.
Joy is contentment and satisfaction. Finding joy in God says that He is enough, that you and I are content and satisfied in Him.
Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Philippians 4:4,6
Make Everything You Do and Say an Offering of Thankfulness.
God loves you. His goodness and mercy cover you. Pay attention. Count your blessings. Live with gratitude. Make your life an offering of thanks in response to all God has done for you.
May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to His people, who live in the light. For He has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of His dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins. Colossians 1:11–14
Oh, how I wish I didn’t get so caught up in myself. Maybe you wish that too.
I want my life to show that my is heart full of thanks.
I want to join David and say…
I trust God’s love forever and ever. God, I will thank You forever for what You have done. With those who worship you, I will trust You because You are good. Psalm 52:8–9
And with God’s help I will.
Will you pray with me?
Father, Thank you for your countless blessings. Because of Jesus, Your grace and mercy cover me every day. Your love surrounds me. May my life be an offering of thanks for who You are and all You do. I love you, Lord. I trust You. Help me obey and follow wherever You lead. In Jesus name. O pray. Amen.
Leave your prayer requests…
and stop to pray one or two of the requests listed.
I always enjoy hearing from you! Please take a minute to say ‘hi’ and share your thoughts in the comments below.
And if this article blessed or helped you today — would you share it with someone? Maybe a friend, family member, coworker, or through the links below…
This is also my desire- to live my life as a thank you to God. Thank you for sharing what many of us feel, Deb.
Truly enjoy every word, prayer and scriptures. I’m so thankful for all He’s done, will shout it from the highest mountain. Thanks for sharing.
What a great list! Thanks for sharing.
I came across a quote recently that talked about the difference between thanksGIVING and thanksLIVING. I don’t just want to gives thanks … I want to live in thanks! What a great reminder, Deb. 🙂
Living each day in thankfulness to God for all He has done and all He will do – what could be better???
Deb, I plan on sharing your website on my Friday post where I’ll talk about having a gratitude attitude. Hope I can send lots of folks to Counting My Blessings so they can be blessed by your words, too!
love this list. Trusting God when things don’t go as we planned is a biggie. When we choose gratitude even in the face of heartache, we demonstrate that we really believe what we say. thanks!
I love your list, Deb. As I was reading through them, I was thinking about how I wish my own kids did some of these things. As parents, sometimes if we turn the tables on ourselves, we see things as God does–just a little. And then it stings a bit more! But I’m grateful for the truth you shared here.
Great thought-provoking quotes. Thanks for the inspiration Deb!
~Sherry Stahl
xoxo
Trust His Will – a perfect way to thank the Lord. Thanks, Deb for sharing with Thankful Thursdays.
I am so glad that I came upon your blog. I love counting my blessings. I look forward to reading more of your posts.
God bless you
Thank you, Stephen. God bless you as well!
Hi Deb!
I love these 10 ways but you made me pause and think with a few of the suggestions and how they are absolutely an act of thanksgiving… the ability to surrender is one of those that really made me pause. What if we truly believed He is who He says He is and we trusted, obeyed and loved with gratitude in our hearts then surrender would most certainly be an option to follow. 🙂 love that!
Thank you for being a part of the #GraceMoments Link up!
Blessings,
Dawn
Thank you god for everything. I love you more than anything ❤
excelent!!! this it what i was looking for.
thanks a lot.
Thank you for the wonderful words of life and encouragement. May God every bless you in all you do for him. Andy slone
Love the 10 list. Glad I clicked on the link. Now I can start thanksliving. Thank you God for all that you’ve done for me. ??? Thank you for sharing.
Heart-touching…It is right to give HIM thanks and praise. God expects us to be grateful to him always. Amen.
nice I really feel blessed may God continue to bless and guide us. amen
Amen, Maurine! Prayers for His guidance and help! God bless you!
HI
THANKYOU FOR LOVELY BLOG FOR REMINDING US WHO AND WHAT IS OUR LORD FOR US NEVER FAILING NEVER FORGETTING ONE LIVING LORD JESUS WHO DESERVES ALL GLORY AND THANX
Amen, Kavita! One Living Lord Jesus, who deserves all our glory and thanks! Celebrating who He is today and every day! God bless you!
Praise the Lord for your website! I always wonder if I’m praying the right way. I want to make sure there’s a majority of praise and only a little bit of asking for something. I’m so inspired by this website and I’ve subscribed to the email list. God bless you.
I needed this timely message. Thank you so much!
Thank you. So much. I needed this and feel joyed in thanks to. You and the lord
I’m so glad this blessed you! I pray you have a wonderful day in the Lord!
An outstanding share! I have just forwarded this onto a friend who was conducting a little research on this.
And he actually ordered me lunch due to the fact that I discovered it for him…
lol. So allow me to reword this…. Thank YOU for the meal!!
But yeah, thanx for spending some time to talk about this matter here on your site.
I thought I was a grateful Christian continually thanking God each day for all my blessings and especially for salvation, my loved ones and knowing He hears ‘all’ my prayers but I was wrong. There is a much deeper place we can all go when our hearts are 100 percent filled with gratitude.
Last week my husband of 58 suffered a major heart attack and died right in the ER. He not only had a warning, but was in the right place at the right time . With God’s divine intervention the Doctors and ER team were able to bring him back to life.
God continually shows us that we can always go deeper with our love and gratitude to Him as we see his hand at work each day in our lives but you really don’t need a miracle to see this.
No matter how difficult your present situation may be just ‘glance’ at all the suffering around you in this world. You don’t have to look far to actually ‘see’ all your blessings! If you try to count them you’ll find they are immeasurable.
Oh, Michele, I am praising God with you! Rev and I have been counting bonus days since constrictive pericarditis almost took his life eleven-and-a-half years ago. Today is number 4,221! He writes the number in his planner every day. Yes, we all have so many reasons to count our blessings and praise the Lord. Thank you so much for sharing your story! Tell your husband how thankful and happy we are for you both. God bless you!
you are one of the receivers of some characteristics of God that’s been poured out from the heavens scattered on earth to continue in giving people those fruits of the spirit that we need to do in our daily lives ! PRAISE HIS NAME ! for people like you …a great reminders for all the childrens of God.
Matthew, thank you so very much for your kind encouragement! Blessings!
God bless.
Wow it has been indeed awesome from the first day I visited this site.Thank you Lord Jesus thank you Deb.I am grateful.
Thank you, I’m blessed by your kind encouragement! God bless you!
Every day I wake up, I realize that God still has me on this earth to work for him. If His will be that my job here on Earth was to be finished, then I would have taken my last breath during the night.
I am so blessed for my life, my wife, my family and the opportunities that lay before me.
Thank You God, Thank You Jesus for giving me the tools, abilities and opportunities to serve You.
-Wonderful Post
I didn’t find your blog, God directed me here. It’s so amazing- without the spirit of God inside you, you can’t put all this wonderful words together for us.
May God continue to bless you with more inspiration words to bless us. I thank God for leading me to your blog and I thank you for sharing it.
You’re bless Deb
Oh, Adeola, thank you so very much for your kind encouragement. You have truly blessed me! God bless you!
God is always with us, so everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end. No matter the seemingly impossible obstacles we face, all is possible with God. Believe, never doubt.
I wonder sometimes really most of the time whether I thank God the way He want me too. I am glad I came across your writing this morning it has help me a lot to know that someone else have felt the same and thought or wondered the same. Thank you this has help me tremendously. I am printing the message to read again. God Bless you.
Thank you so much, Linda! I’m so glad you visited and that you were blessed. I hope you’ll join us often. God bless you!
I loved every word and every scripture in this blog. God has given me so many wonderful people and musicians in my life! I am sometimes so overjoyed, I get so excited that I feel like I just can’t stop thanking and appreciating all that He has done for me especially thru music!
I love that, Vee! What a wonderful outlook on life. To God be the glory as you praise Him and bless many with your music.