Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Giving Thanks



We humans get so caught up in the busy schedule of our life that we forget to say, “Thank you.” We take for granted the service that we receive from waitresses, store clerks, stewardesses, janitors, bus and taxi drivers, teachers, pastors and other public servants. We never even think about thanking them. Worse yet, we forget to thank God who generously gives us all things to enjoy (2 Corinthians 9:8,11).

The Israelites had a lifestyle of giving thanks to the Lord (Nehemiah 12: 46). They set up altars to remember the gracious provision God gave to them (Deuteronomy 27:5-6). They developed a habit in themselves and their children to give God praise, and to pass down the stories about the goodness of the Lord to all generations (Joel 1:3). We too should develop the habit of coming into God’s presence with thanksgiving. He is great, and worthy above all other rulers (Psalm 95: 2-3). We have so much to thank God for in our lives.

We can thank Him for our brothers and sisters in His Body (1Corinthians 1:4-5; Ephesians 1:15-16; Philippians 1:3; 1 Thessalonians 3:9; 2 Thessalonians 1:3, 2:13). We can express abounding thanksgiving for God’s goodness, mercy and grace in our life (1 Chronicles 16:34; Psalm 106:1). Since He enriches us with all good things, we praise Him even when we find our self in ill health (2 Corinthians 4:15-16). We thank Him for His generous provision for us. Our life is full of things to thank Him for (2 Corinthians 9:11-12; 1 Timothy 4:4-5; Jeremiah 33:11). A body that works well, a family that loves us, a church in which to safely worship, a job to earn money to pay our bills and so many other things we take for granted are all gifts from God.

We can also thank the Lord Most High through songs of praise for giving us Christ’s righteousness in exchange for our sin (Psalm 7:17; 2 Corinthians 5:21). We thank Him in prayer for being our strength and shield. Our heart trusts in Him because He helps us; therefore, we express our heart full of joy over our safety and provision at His hand. Even before we call upon His name in prayer, we sing songs of praise to Him (Psalm 28:7)  and we exalt Him (Isaiah 12:4).

However, we do not wait for God to do something for us before we thank Him. We just thank Him for who He is. Every morning, we enter His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. We are thankful to Him and bless His holy name (Psalm 100:4).  We bless the Lord at all times; and His praise shall continually be in our mouth (Psalm 34:1). Everything we do and say should be in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ as we give thanks to our Father God for Him (Colossians 3:17; Hebrews 13:15), which is God’s will for us (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

Prayer:
Father God, rather than allowing filthy talk or coarse jokes to come from our lips, we will express thanks to You instead (Ephesians 5:4). You give us Your loving kindness that is worthy of praise (Isaiah 63:7). You chose us and ordained us to bear fruit in the world as we serve You (John 15:16). As we minister for You, we can ask You for anything we need to minister in Your name and You will supply it for us (John 16:23-26). Remind us to keep thanksgiving as the fruit of our lips. You are worthy of praise because of who You are, even more than because of what You do for us.

Thought for the Day:
We make our requests known to God through grateful prayer, and we have no need to be anxious about anything. – Philippians 4:6