Everyday Thanksgiving

Everyday Thanksgiving

1 Thessalonians 5:18

For our nation, Thanksgiving is a holiday.  For a believer, thanksgiving is to be everyday.

“addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,” (Ephesians 5:19–20)

Things That Steal Our Gratitude

1. Pride
2. A Critical spirit
3. Busyness
4. Carelessness with the common
5. Discouragement/Disappointment

According To The Bible Thanksgiving…

1. Is Expected

“give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

2. Is to be Expressed

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!” (Psalm 100:4)

“Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples!” (Psalm 105:1)

3. Is Enhancing

“do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

(Philippians 4:6–7)

“For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” (Romans 1:21)

Three Reasons To Be Thankful

1. For the Resources God provides

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” (James 1:17)

“For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.” (1 Timothy 4:4–5)

• Physical resources
• Material resources
• Spiritual resources
• Relational resources
• Educational resources

2. The Providence of God

“The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad!” (Psalm 97:1)

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;” (2 Corinthians 4:7–9)

“For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”  (2 Corinthians 4:15–18)

3. The Salvation God has provided in Jesus Christ

“being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:11–14)

“But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:57)

“The thing that awakens the deepest well of gratitude in a human heart is that God has forgiven sin.”   Oswald Chambers

God Today I Give You Thanks For….

Making It Personal:

• Listen to the conversations around you this week. What is the complaint/criticism to thanksgiving ratio?

• Observe your own thoughts, words and actions this week. What is the complaint/criticism to thanksgiving ratio? 

• What will you do to spend time “counting your blessings, naming them one by one” this week?

• How will you express thanksgiving to God this week? How will you express thanksgiving and appreciation to others this week?

• What circumstances in your life make it hard for you to offer thanks to God? How might focusing on the providence of God help shift your perspective about the difficult circumstances in your life?