Thanksgiving Day In Everything Give Thanks
Thanksgiving Day – In Everything Give Thanks November 23, 2019
Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday celebrated in United States.
It is a time for families to get together for a day of giving thanks to God for the blessing that God has given to each of us this last year.
The problem is, the meaning of Thanksgiving for many of us usually includes feasting, four-day weekends, out of school, football games, floats, family reunions, or eating a great dinner. It is not bad, unless we do not know what the meaning of the day. But to many people, its meaning is lost.
We enjoy turkey dinners, cranberries, candied yams, stuffing, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie and family gatherings—these are all commonly associated with of giving thanks—Thanksgiving Day!
“We “gobble till we Wobble”
As Thanksgiving draws upon us this year, we should think deeply of all the Blessings He has given us this past year and thank Him for them.
As our family gathers together for Thanksgiving, we would form a large circle, hold hands, say what Blessings we had this last year. Then have the prayer.
What is each of us going to do about giving Thanksgiving?
What traditions have you made for your family.
The general thought that the first thanksgiving was after the Mayflower’s arrival at Plymouth Rock on December 11, 1620. The Pilgrims suffered the loss of 46 of their 102 members. They survived a bitter winter and had a bountiful harvest in 1621.
They celebrate with a festival with the local Indian population and gave thanks to God for their deliverance, a blessing and gratitude for their survival. As a side, I read, there were only 4 adult Pilgrim women alive, cooking for 140 guests.
Many years later in 1789, President George Washington proclaimed November 26 as a national day of Thanksgiving unto the Lord. This was in response to God’s granting America independence from Britain.
In 1863 Abraham Lincoln revived this tradition of giving thanks to the Lord, and finally in 1941, the United States Congress decreed that the fourth Thursday in November was to be a national day of Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of the year. I love gathering with all my family. Family fellowship with a big thanksgiving dinner and eating so much that I will fall asleep watching the Dallas Cowboys football game.
It is a blessing when we can stop and give thanks, for truly God has been good to my family and myself and our Nation.
But we should never be guilty of only thanking the Lord on this day only, on Thanksgiving Day, a Day a grateful Nation set aside to recognize God!
Every day is Thanksgiving Day for the believer.
Philippians 4:6 Never worry about anything. Instead, in every situation let your petitions be made known to God through prayers and requests, with thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving focuses upon relationship. We look at it as a family relationship. The true meaning of Thanksgiving is the relationship between us and God. We are to acknowledging God as faithful, earnestly honoring and giving God thanks, in advance, for His abundant blessings.
Thanksgiving is an attitude of the heart that reinforces our relationship with God.
Although Thanksgiving is not directly mentioned in Scripture, Thanksgiving Day is a holiday based on biblical principles and commands and the Feast of Tabernacles. It was to be a day to spend with family and friends, honoring and thanking God for the bountiful blessings He provides.
The Words, thanks and thanksgiving show up 334 times in the Scriptures, so many verses covering this subject.
Why We Should Be Thankful
2 Corinthians 4:15 All this is for your sake so that, as his grace spreads, more and more people will give thanks and glorify God.
Because it honors and Glorify God.
When we give thanks, we recognize that God exists
We recognizes our total dependence on God
Because it is commanded in Scripture
The Psalms are filled with the call to give thanks
Psalms 100:4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 In everything be thankful, because this is God’s will for you in the Messiah Jesus.
Apostle Paul gives the command to be thankful
Colossians 3:15-17 Let the peace of the Messiah also rule in your hearts, to which you were called in one body, and be thankful. (16) Let the word of the Messiah inhabit you richly with wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, and singing to God with thankfulness in your hearts. (17) And whatever you do, whether by speech or action, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Thanklessness is dangerous to ourselves and others
It dishonors God and leads to being dependence on man rather than God
Romans 1:21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him. Instead, their thoughts turned to worthless things, and their senseless hearts were darkened.
Leads to bitterness, complaining, and a joyless life
Hebrews 12:15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up and causes you trouble, or many of you will become defiled.
Bitterness creates depression and feelings of hopelessness, because we become focused on our problems rather than on the Lord.
2 Corinthians 2:14 But thanks be to God! He always leads us triumphantly by the Messiah and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of knowing him.
The Scriptures is a heart full of praise and thanksgiving. These Scriptures are so powerful to turn a hurting heart into one that is strengthened and enlivened. We should be practice and thinking about being thankful every day of our lives.
Is this evidence of the condition of our spiritual life and value system,
Ephesians 5:4 Obscene, flippant, or vulgar talk is totally inappropriate. Instead, let there be thanksgiving.
Always give thanks in everything and for everything
Hebrews 13:15 Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.
Psalms 26:7 That I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving, And tell of all Your wondrous works.
Psalms 69:30 I will praise the name of God with a song, And will magnify Him with thanksgiving.
Psalms 147:7 Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; Sing praises on the harp to our God,
2 Corinthians 9:11 while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God.
2 Corinthians 9:12-15 For the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God, (13) while, through the proof of this ministry, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal sharing with them and all men, (14) and by their prayer for you, who long for you because of the exceeding grace of God in you. (15) Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!
Expressing overflowing thanks to God that you have been made acquainted with truths so precious and glorious. If there is anything for which we ought to be thankful, it is for the knowledge of the great truths respecting our Lord and Savior.
Colossians 4:2 Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving;
What Jesus our Lord did for each of us, the creator and eternal Son of God, who lived a sinless life, loves us so much that, He became a man, He died for our sins, taking the punishment that we deserve,
We know comfortable living often produces weak character.
Without the attitude of Thanksgiving, we will start to have the attitude of Ingratitude, Really which is a tragic thing, that Satan wants for us.
Thanksgiving attitude and words glorifies God.
Expression of gratitude for blessings received;
Leviticus 7:12 If he offers it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer, with the sacrifice of thanksgiving, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, unleavened wafers anointed with oil, or cakes of blended flour mixed with oil.
Leviticus 7:13 Besides the cakes, as his offering he shall offer leavened bread with the sacrifice of thanksgiving of his peace offering.
Leviticus 22:29 And when you offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the LORD, offer it of your own free will.
Nehemiah 11:17 Mattaniah the son of Micha, the son of Zabdi, the son of Asaph, the leader who began the thanksgiving with prayer; Bakbukiah, the second among his brethren; and Abda the son of Shammua, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun.
Always begin with prayer
Nehemiah 12:8 Moreover the Levites were Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah who led the thanksgiving psalms, he and his brethren.
Nehemiah 12:31 So I brought the leaders of Judah up on the wall, and appointed two large thanksgiving choirs. One went to the right hand on the wall toward the Refuse Gate.
Nehemiah 12:38 The other thanksgiving choir went the opposite way, and I was behind them with half of the people on the wall, going past the Tower of the Ovens as far as the Broad Wall,
Nehemiah 12:40 So the two thanksgiving choirs stood in the house of God, likewise I and the half of the rulers with me;
Nehemiah 12:46 For in the days of David and Asaph of old there were chiefs of the singers, and songs of praise and thanksgiving to God.
Psalms 50:14 Offer to God thanksgiving, And pay your vows to the Most High.
Psalms 69:30 I will praise the name of God with a song, And will magnify Him with thanksgiving.
With thanksgiving – use expressions of our thanks to make his name more widely known.
Psalms 95:2 Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.
Psalms 100:1-5 A Psalm of Thanksgiving. Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you lands! (2) Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before His presence with singing. (3) Know that the LORD, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. (4) Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. (5) For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations.
Psalms 107:22 Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, And declare His works with rejoicing.
Psalms 116:17 I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving, And will call upon the name of the LORD.
Isaiah 51:3 For the LORD will comfort Zion, He will comfort all her waste places; He will make her wilderness like Eden, And her desert like the garden of the LORD; Joy and gladness will be found in it, Thanksgiving and the voice of melody.
Jeremiah 30:19 Then out of them shall proceed thanksgiving And the voice of those who make merry; I will multiply them, and they shall not diminish; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.
Amos 4:5 Offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, Proclaim and announce the freewill offerings; For this you love, You children of Israel!” Says the Lord GOD.
Jonah Prayer
Jonah 2:9 But I will sacrifice to You With the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.”
Through the thanksgiving of many – That many may have occasion of gratitude to God; that by these labors more persons may be led to praise him. It was an object with Paul so to labor that as many as possible might be led to praise God, and have occasion to thank him to all eternity.
That is, we shall so distribute your alms as to cause thanksgiving to God. The result will be that by our instrumentality, thanks will be given to the great Source and Giver of all wealth. Property should always be so employed as to produce thanksgiving. If it is made to contribute to our own support and the support of our families, it should excite thanksgiving. If it is given to others, it should be so given, if it is possible, that the recipient should be more grateful to God than to us; should feel that though we may be the honored instrument in distributing it, yet the true benefactor is God
With thanksgiving – Thanksgiving connected with prayer. We can always find something to be thankful for, no matter what may be the burden of our wants, or the special subject of our petitions in our prayers.
When we pray for the supply of our wants, we may be thankful for what we receive;
When we pray for restoration from sickness, we may be thankful for the health we have enjoyed, and for God’s being merciful in our past days of trial, (had 2 cancers, heart problems, etc)
His goodness in now sparing our lives;
When we pray that our children and friends may be preserved from danger and death,
We may remember how often God has intercede to save them on our behalf;
When we realize we have sin, we pray for forgiveness,
We have abundant cause of thanksgiving that Jesus our Lord Sacrifice made way by which we may be saved.
We of all people, realizing we are to be given the greatest gift that we will be changed in the twinkle of the eye and become Spirit Being, the son of the Most High God, the Bride of our Lord, to serve with Him for all eternity. What more can a person ask for. This is why we should always be thankful and have the attitude of being gratitude.
Colossians 2:7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.
Watch for favorable opportunities; watch that your mind may be in a right frame when you pray: and watch, that when your mind is in a right frame you may not neglect to pray
Revelation 7:12 saying: “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, Thanksgiving and honor and power and might, Be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”
Philippians 1:3-4 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, (4) always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy,
Paul’s prayers always seems to begin with thanksgiving..
Colossians 1:12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.
We simply need to express thanksgiving
We need a list of things for which we should be thankful. All our prayers should be filled with thanksgiving.
Ephesians 5:20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Thanksgiving is not occasional; it’s continual. In all things. Remember, Paul was a prisoner when he wrote those words. Gratitude fills the house (God’s throne) with fragrance.
Gratitude comes from the same root word as grace.
This is just one word, Thanksgiving, we could also look to the word, Praise His Name.
He was died, was buried, and rose from the dead according to the Scriptures and right now on His throne at the right hand of the Father.
This is the lesson we should learn about Thanksgiving, always in the attitude of giving thanks to God and this attitude to be part of our everyday life.
As Thanksgiving draws upon us this year, we should think deeply of all the Blessings He has given us this past year and thank Him for them.
One final thought, read it on Facebook, Ever just sit and think about all the things God has done for you, just today. Realizing Our God is Awesome
As we celebrate this thanksgiving, remember to always give Thanks to our Lord and King and just say, Thank You, not just on Thanksgiving, but throughout the whole year.