Is Praying “Thank You” Really Enough?

Lately, I’ve seen an interesting quote circulating. “If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, Thank you, that would suffice.” Is that true? How does one reconcile this idea of only saying thank you, with Jesus’ comment to Peter, “I have prayed for you” (Luke 22:32), Paul’s frequent reminder to those to whom he wrote that he was praying for them, or James’ instruction to “pray for one another” (James 5:16). A colleague, who took the time to count, says 78% of the prayers in the Bible are prayers for someone other than self. So, who made this questionable quote? The quote is attributed to Meister Eckhart, also known as Eckhart von Hochheim, a German theologian, philosopher and mystic, who lived in the late 1200s and early 1300s. In later life he was accused of heresy and brought up before the local Franciscan-led Inquisition, and tried as a heretic by Pope John XXII. I encourage you to pray lots of “thank you” prayers, but don’t stop with the advice offered in a popular quote from a heretic theologian. Go ahead and practice biblical praying through intercession, petition, and supplication.

Now let’s do that by praying for the following global needs:
• Ebola has now entered Mali, West Africa. Pray for Lori and those who serve with her in this country.
• Pray for pastors and others who continue to serve in the conflict zone of eastern Ukraine.
• Pray for the 250,000 Bavarian Austrians of Italy, a people group that is less than 2% evangelical.
• Pray for the Bible Seminary in Bonn, Germany as they seek to equip students to be effective kingdom workers in Germany, and throughout the world.