Be
Thankful for God Himself
#1
-- Be thankful that God is good
2 Chronicles 5:13-14 at
the dedication of Solomon's temple it is recorded that "the
trumpeters and singers performed together in unison to praise and
give thanks to the Lord. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals, and other
instruments, they raised their voices and praised the Lord with these
words: "He is so good! His faithful love endures forever!"
At that moment a cloud filled the Temple of the Lord. The priests
could not continue their work because the glorious presence of the
Lord filled the Temple of God."
A similar occurrence at
the completion of Zerubbabel's temple, centuries later: Ezra 3:11,
"With praise and thanks, they sang this song to the Lord: He is
so good! His faithful love for Israel endures forever!" Then all
the people gave a great shout, praising the Lord because the
foundation of the Lord's Temple had been laid."
#2
-- Be thankful that God is merciful
When preparing his people
to worship God, 1 Chronicles 16:41 says, "David appointed Heman,
Jeduthun, and the others chosen by name to give thanks to the Lord,
"for his faithful love endures forever."
Psalm 106:1-2 says,
"Praise the Lord! Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His
loving mercy endures forever. . . . Who can ever praise him half
enough?"
#3
-- Be thankful that God is holy
Psalm 30:4, “Sing praise
to the Lord, all you saints, and give thanks at the remembrance of
His holy name. For His anger lasts for a moment, but his favor lasts
a lifetime! Weeping may go on all night, but joy comes with the
morning.”
Psalm 97:10-12, "You
who love the Lord, hate evil. He protects the lives of his godly
people and rescues them from the power of the wicked. Light shines on
the godly, and joy on those who do right. Rejoice in the Lord, you
righteous, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name!
#4
-- Be thankful that God is sovereign
When David declared
Solomon to be the next king of Israel, 1 Chronicles 29:10-13 records
that, "David praised the Lord in the presence of the whole
assembly: "O Lord, the God of our ancestor Israel, may you be
praised forever and ever! Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power,
the glory, the victory, and the majesty. Everything in the heavens
and on earth is yours, O Lord, and this is your kingdom. We adore you
as the one who is over all things. Riches and honor come from you
alone, for you rule over everything. Power and might are in your
hand, and it is at your discretion that people are made great and
given strength. "O our God, we thank you and praise your
glorious name!"
#5
-- Be thankful God chose to not to be silent
Colossians 3:16-17, "Let
the words of Christ, in all their richness, live in your hearts and
make you wise. Use his words to teach and counsel each other. Sing
psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.
And whatever you do or say, let it be as a representative of
the Lord Jesus, all the while giving thanks through him to God the
Father."
Psalm 119:62, "At
midnight I will rise to give thanks to You, because of Your righteous
judgments."
Be
Thankful for God's Gifts to You
#6
-- Be thankful for the gift of life
Psalm 6:1-5, "O Lord,
do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your rage. Have
compassion on me, Lord, for I am weak. Heal me, Lord, for my body is
in agony. I am sick at heart. How long, O Lord, until you restore me?
Return, O Lord, and rescue me. Save me because of your unfailing
love. For in death, who remembers you? In the grave, who will give
you thanks?"
#7
-- Be thankful for strength to complete your work
When Nehemiah finished
rebuilding Jerusalem's wall, he organized a celebration of
thanksgiving and praise. Nehemiah 2:31 and 38 says, "I led the
leaders of Judah to the top of the wall and organized two large
choirs to give thanks. One of the choirs proceeded southward along
the top of the wall to the Dung Gate. The second choir went
northward around the other way to meet them.”
#8
-- Be thankful for the food God provides
At the feeding of the
5000, Jesus first tested Phillip's faith then instructed the people
to sit down on the grass He took five barley loaves and two small
fish. John 6:11 says, "Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to
God, and passed them out to the people. Afterward he did the same
with the fish. And they all ate until they were full."
At the feeding of the
4000, Matthew 15:36-37 says, "Then Jesus took the seven loaves
and the fish, thanked God for them, broke them into pieces, and gave
them to the disciples, who distributed the food to the crowd. They
all ate until they were full, and when the scraps were picked up,
there were seven large baskets of food left over!"
Acts 27:33-37 indicates
Paul did the same. Just before he was shipwrecked on his way to Rome,
verse 33 says, "As the darkness gave way to the early morning
light, Paul begged everyone to eat. "You haven't touched food
for two weeks," he said. "Please eat something now for your
own good. For not a hair of your heads will perish." Then he
took some bread, gave thanks to God before them all, and broke off a
piece and ate it. Then everyone was encouraged, and all 276 of us
began eating—for that is the number we had aboard."
#9
-- Be thankful for the peace God provides in your heart
Colossians 3:15, "And
let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as
members of one body you are all called to live in peace. And always
be thankful."
#10
-- Be thankful for the salvation God provides
In Paul's prayer for his
friends in the church at Colosse, Colossians 1:11-14 records that the
apostle prays, "that you will be strengthened with Christ's
glorious power so that you will have all the patience and endurance
you need. May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father, who
has enabled you to share the inheritance that belongs to God's holy
people, who live in the light. For he has rescued us from the one who
rules in the kingdom of darkness, and he has brought us into the
Kingdom of his dear Son. God has purchased our freedom with his blood
and has forgiven all our sins."
Be
Thankful for God's Son, the Savior
#11
-- Be thankful just for the fact that Jesus exists
Luke 2 not only records
the birth of Jesus, it also records the stories of two people who
encountered Jesus as the young baby. One was Simeon who took Jesus
from His mother's arms and praised God for the child. The other was
Anna. Luke 2:36-38 records her story. Give a listen: "Anna, a
prophet, was also there in the Temple. She was the daughter of
Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher, and was very old. She was a widow,
for her husband had died when they had been married only seven years.
She was now eighty-four years old. She never left the Temple but
stayed there day and night, worshiping God with fasting and prayer.
She came along just as Simeon was talking with Mary and Joseph, and
she gave thanks to God. She talked about Jesus to everyone who had
been waiting for the promised King to come and deliver Jerusalem."
#12
-- Be thankful for God's unspeakable gift
2 Corinthians 9:15,
"Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift."
This is the conclusion to
Paul's encouragement to the Corinthians to give generously to the
desperate Christians in Jerusalem. A famine had robbed them of food
and Paul was asking for donations from other churches to help them.
Beginning back in verse 10
the apostle says (reading in the New Living Bible), "For God is
the one who gives seed to the farmer and then bread to eat. In the
same way, he will give you many opportunities to do good, and he will
produce a great harvest of generosity in you. Yes, you will be
enriched so that you can give even more generously. And when we take
your gifts to those who need them, they will break out in
thanksgiving to God. So two good things will happen—the needs of
the Christians in Jerusalem will be met, and they will joyfully
express their thanksgiving to God. You will be glorifying God
through your generous gifts. . . And they will pray for you with deep
affection because of the wonderful grace of God shown through you.
Thank God for his Son—a gift too wonderful for words!"
#13
-- Be thankful for the worthiness of Christ
Revelation 4:9-11
describes a glorious scene in heaven where every living being is on
their face before God in worship. It says, "Whenever the living
beings give glory and honor and thanks to the one sitting on the
throne, the one who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders
fall down and worship the one who lives forever and ever. And they
lay their crowns before the throne and say, 'You are worthy, O Lord
our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created
everything, and it is for your pleasure that they exist and were
created.'"
#14
-- Be thankful when you celebrate Christ's death
All three of the Synoptic
Gospels record that when Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper
celebration, He did so by giving thanks to the Father. That's
recorded in Matthew 26:27, Mark 14:23 and listen to Luke 22:17 and
19, "Then he took a cup of wine, and when he had given thanks
for it, he said, "Take this and share it among yourselves. Then
he took a loaf of bread; and when he had thanked God for it, he broke
it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, "This is my
body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me."
Paul reminds us of this in
1 Corinthians 11:23-24 where he says, "For this is what the Lord
himself said, and I pass it on to you just as I received it. On the
night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took a loaf of bread, and
when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my
body, which is given* for you. Do this in remembrance of me."
#15
-- Be thankful for the victory over death the Savior provides
Describing what it will
one day be like to be with Christ, in heaven, living in our
resurrected bodies, the Apostle Paul says in 1 Cor. 15:54-57, "When
our perishable earthly bodies have been transformed into heavenly
bodies that will never die—then at last the Scriptures will come
true: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your
victory? O death, where is your sting?' For sin is the sting that
results in death, and the law gives sin its power. How we thank God,
who gives us victory over sin and death through Jesus Christ our
Lord."
Be
Thankful for Others
#16
-- Be thankful for fellow pilgrims in faith
Ephesians 1:15-16, "After
I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the
saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you
in my prayers."
Colossians 1:3-4, "We
give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying
always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of
your love for all the saints."
1 Thessalonians 1:2-3, "We
give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our
prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of
love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of
our God and Father."
2 Thessalonians 2:13, "But
we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved
by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation
through sanctification b the Spirit and belief in the truth."
Romans 1:8, "First, I
thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is
spoken of throughout the whole world."
1 Corinthians 1:4, "I
thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was
given to you by Christ Jesus."
#17
-- Be thankful for like-hearted companions to share your vision
2 Corinthians 8:16-17,
Paul expresses his gratitude for Titus to the Corinthians by saying,
" Thanks be to God who puts the same earnest care for you into
the heart of Titus. For he not only accepted the exhortation, but
being more diligent, he went to you of his own accord."
#18
-- Be thankful for friends who sacrifice
Paul had friends and
helpers everywhere he went, but none more consistent and faithful
than a husband/wife team named Priscilla and Aquila. Listen to how
Paul greets them in Romans 16:3-4, "Greet Priscilla and Aquila,
my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risked their own necks for my
life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of
the Gentiles."
#19
-- Be thankful how others have received the Word
1 Thessalonians 2:13, "For
this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you
received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not
as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which
also effectively works in you who believe."
#20
-- Be thankful for growing faith and love in other Christians
2 Thessalonians 1:3-5, "
We always thank God for you, as is right, for we are thankful that
your faith is flourishing and you are all growing in love for each
other. We proudly tell God's other churches about your endurance and
faithfulness in all the persecutions and hardships you are suffering.
But God will use this persecution to show his justice. For he
will make you worthy of his Kingdom, for which you are suffering."
Philemon 4, "I always
thank God when I pray for you, Philemon, because I keep hearing of
your trust in the Lord Jesus and your love for all of God's people."
1 Thessalonians 5:18, "In
everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus
for you."
#21
-- Be thankful for the opportunity to pray for one another
2 Timothy 1:3, "I
thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience, as my forefathers
did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day."
#22
-- Be thankful that God hears your prayers
When Jesus was at the
grave of Lazarus and about to call him back to life and out of the
grave, He paused to pray to His Heavenly Father. John 11:41-44
records, "Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, ‘Father,
thank you for hearing me. You always hear me, but I said it out loud
for the sake of all these people standing here, so they will believe
you sent me.' Then Jesus shouted, "Lazarus, come out!" And
Lazarus came out, bound in grave clothes, his face wrapped in a head
cloth. Jesus told them, "Loose him and let him go."
#23
-- Be thankful for memories of the saints
Paul begins his very
personal letter to his Christian friends in Philippi with these
words: "May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you
grace and peace. Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God.
I always pray for you, and I make my requests with a heart full of
joy because you have been my partners in spreading the Good News
about Christ from the time you first heard it until now. And I am
sure that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his
work until it is finally finished on that day when Christ Jesus comes
back again." (Philippians 1:3-6)
#24 -- Be thankful for
the ministry God gives you
1 Timothy 1:12, "And
I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted
me faithful, putting me into the ministry."
#25 -- Be thankful for
a future Home in Heaven
Hebrews 13:15-16,
"Therefore by Christ Jesus, let us continually offer the
sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving
thanks to His name. But do not forget to do good and to share, for
with such sacrifices God is well pleased."
Blessings.....
