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.....