Prayer has two parts: Petition and Thanksgiving.

Petitioning, we lay before God the desire of our hearts, thus seeking from His goodness what serves His glory. And then what is useful to us.

In giving thanks, we own His benefits to us, with praise confess them, to His goodness alone attribute all our blessings. David, speaking for God, says: “In day of need, call on Me: I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.” Poor indeed are we, pressed on all sides by great anxiety; So even the holiest must ever groan and sigh to God, beseech Him suppliantly. Well-nigh overwhelmed are we by the outpouring of God’s blessings, by the many, mighty miracles discerned wherever we look. How then can we fail to turn in praise and thankfulness to God?
–John Calvin From “The Piety of John Calvin”