How to Write a Thanksgiving Dinner Prayer

Afraid you'll be called on to lead the family in a Thanksgiving prayer before dinner? Even those normally comfortable with praying aloud can get a serious case of dry mouth and true brain freeze when they see a big crowd, all listening to hear some elegant dinner prayer. Maybe you won't be so nervous if you take time beforehand to think what you might say for your Thanksgiving dinner prayer.

Writing a special prayer for Thanksgiving Day can also be a private exercise. In your devotional time, you may want to use the holiday as a reminder to take a break from prayer requests and spend time thanking God.

Consulting the Psalms for Inspiration

When I don't know what to pray, I often go to the book of Psalms for inspiration. Here's a great place to start:

I love the Lord, for he heard my voice;
he heard my cry for mercy.
Because he turned his ear to me,
I will call on him as long as I live (Psalm 116:1-2).

Read the rest of this psalm, and other favorites, to spark your creative fires. I find that reading these psalms can also help me focus my attention on the idea of a thanksgiving prayer.

Analyzing the Psalms for a Template

If you still feel at a loss, you may want to actually use a psalm for a template. Analyze a psalm to create a skeleton for your own Thanksgiving dinner prayer. Categorize the lines in whatever form makes sense to you.

For example, if I were going to use Psalm 116 as a template for a Thanksgiving dinner prayer, I would use these categories:

• God hears (vv. 1-2).
• God responds (vv. 3-6).
• God is good (v. 7).
• God does things that show His goodness (vv. 8-9).
• God helps the downcast who look to Him (vv. 10-11).
• God's goodness deserves devotion (vv. 12-14).
• God doesn't ignore the suffering of His saints (vv. 15-16).
• Thanking God is an appropriate response to His goodness (vv. 17-19).

Identify your own categories or use the ones I've provided above. Now move on to the next step.

Personalizing Categories for Your Thanksgiving Dinner Prayer

If you have a relationship with God, you should be able to personalize the broad categories above to things God has done specifically for you. Ask yourself questions like these: What time can I recall that I needed something from God, I prayed about it, and He responded with an answer to my need? How have I seen God's goodness demonstrated in my life? How did I feel when I was downcast? How did I feel when God rescued me? How has God shown attention to me when I was suffering? You may want to answer these questions mentally or even jot down ideas as they come to you.

Writing the Prayer

Use the thoughts you've generated in this exercise to actually write out a prayer. You may wish to return to these memories or this prayer later. And even if you don't read a dinner prayer word for word, organizing your thoughts into words can help cement the memories in your mind. When the time for the Thanksgiving dinner prayer rolls around, these thoughts will be closer to the front of your mind.

Remember, a prayer for Thanksgiving is most effective when it's genuine and meaningful to you. Don't worry about what everyone else thinks. Just focus on giving God your own praise offering.

Looking for More Thanksgiving Prayer Ideas

You may also want to read some contemporary Thanksgiving prayer samples for more ideas. Check out this Thanksgiving dinner prayer by fellow AC writer Gregory W. Johnson.

Here is my Thanksgiving prayer based on some of the concepts in Psalm 116:

Lord, I love You. How many times have I cried out to You when I needed something? You've never left me alone, even when I denied Your goodness. My life was a mess. I was headed for nothing but disaster. "I want out," I cried to You one day, "but I'm too weak to walk away. Please do something to get me out of here." You didn't have to, but You did. I'll always love You for that, Lord. And when I walked back to the same temptations again and again, You still didn't abandon me.

Oh, God, I was in a pit of depression, and you sent a friend to stand by me. There's no other explanation but Your goodness. The very friend I had ridiculed and despised was the one You sent to bring me hope. God, You are good, and Your treatment of me can never again leave me in doubt of that. You've rescued me not once, not twice, but over and over again.

How could I ever repay You, Lord? Your goodness is too much. Even when You felt far from me, You kept watch over my steps and eventually helped me hear Your voice again. I belong to You, Lord. I love You for all You have done for me. And I thank You for preserving my life. Thank You for bringing me out of darkness and into Your light. Thank You for holding onto me when I thought I wanted You to let go. Thank You for responding to my cries for help and hearing my prayers even when I couldn't feel You close. Thank You for Christ's wounds that have healed me. Praise the Lord, O my soul.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.