If you are struggling to be thankful today, what it would look like for you to simply recount before the Lord 10 particular graces He has poured out on you within the past day? Your points of thankfulness can be deep and profound: new theological insights, spiritual conversations, transformative times in His Word, etc. They can be simple: reflections on joys of the day, an observation in God’s created world, or the blessing of a good meal.

“Father, I thank you for this day. I thank you for … for ….”

Have you ever been there? You know the Lord calls you to thankfulness. Perhaps you’ve adopted a prayer model, such as ACTS (Adoration-Confession-Thanksgiving-Supplication), that forces daily time of thankfulness for God’s blessing.

But when you get to the T in prayer, you don’t know what to say.

Or maybe you find yourself saying the same thing every day. You thank the Lord for your day, your house, your spouse, etc. Before too long, though, the words become a rote, repeated, rarely-refreshed expression of thanks.

Or maybe, life is so hard right now, you just don’t find much to thank God for. Perhaps the standard Christian rote items (a day, a house, a spouse, etc.) aren’t even there for you. Other despairs creep in. Thankfulness creeps out.

What hope is there for a rich daily prayerful thankfulness?

Many answers could be given. But I want to reflect on what, for me, has been the most practical guide to daily thankfulness.

Many years ago, as I followed the ACTS model of prayer, I started using the 10 Commandments as a daily grid for confession. This helped to follow the guide of Westminster Confession 15.5 to “repent of particular sins, particularly”.

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