In the United States more people celebrate the Thanksgiving
holiday than Christmas, the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. Families everywhere
come together on Thanksgiving Day to enjoy a traditional turkey dinner with all
the usual trimmings and probably watch a football game on TV. Thanksgiving also
kicks of the Holiday season with bargain shopping.
As children of God and believers in His Son, thanksgiving ought
to be more. It is a lifestyle we dedicate to our Father and our sacrificial
worship to Him for all eternity. “But we
your people, the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever; from
generation to generation….” Psalm 79:13.
If a child of God doesn’t know what thanksgiving is, our
Father offers hundreds of examples in our Bible, from Genesis to Revelation
including the Prophets, the Psalms of David, and the New Testament. In the New
Testament gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke & John) we have Jesus’ own words and
actions from which to learn.
In our prayer time, we might focus our thanksgiving on our creature
comforts only (clothing, food, shelter, our new car, children’s health, careers,
etc.). But our Father is more than His provisions; it is by His attributes that
He gives to us and we should learn to acknowledge these as well:
- His LOVE and GOODNESS, “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever.” 1 Chronicles 16:34, 41. God alone is good whose love is perfect.
- His CREATIVE ATTRIBUTES, “with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. Psalm 9:1; “…proclaiming thanksgiving aloud, and telling all your wondrous deeds.” Psalm 26:27. God created the entire universe, the heavens and the earth, and He keeps it all in perfect order.
- His POWER and TRUSTWORTHINESS, “The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.” Psalm 28:7; The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does. Psalm 145:13. God has power to exalt and to destroy but even so we can trust Him to act justly and have no fear
- His NAME, “Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name” Psalm 96:8; “…praise his holy name.” Psalm 97:12; “he saved them for his name’s sake” Psalm 106:8; “Let every creature praise his holy name for ever and ever.” Psalm 145:21. God’s Name is Holy, and His holiness contain all His other attributes. He saves us to protect His Name (reputation)
- His WISDOM, To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and might.. Daniel 2:23; “To God belong wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are his.” Job 12:13. God is wisdom – the Bible describes Him as the only wise God and says also that the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom. By His wisdom alone He created all things according to His will and purpose.
These are but a few of God’s character traits that make Him the
one true living and eternal God who also provides our “needs”. We learn about
Him so we can give Him all that He is due as God and not just as the source of
our happiness.
God wants us to be sacrificial in our thanksgiving (Psalm 50:14) – giving thanks when times
are hard, “The one who offers
thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me.” Psalm 50:23. Even then, our
offering must be exuberant and joyful (Psalm 95:2)
The Father says about those who do not honor Him with
thanksgiving are “futile in their
thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” Romans 1:21
Because we love our Father we obey Him, not just for our
good, but for His Glory!
Prayer and
Thanksgiving: Holy Father, your Word says “It is good to give thanks to the
Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High.” (Psalm 92:1). We acknowledge
you are God Most High, Creator of Heaven and earth and everything on it. We
thank you because you are most of all holy. We thank you that you are all wise and
all good; all the fruit of the Holy Spirit dwell richly in You, love, joy,
peace, kindness, patience. You are perfect and you do all things well; we thank
you that every good and perfect gift come from you. We thank you for the
perfect gift of Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord. We thank you for your perfect
plan that you ordained before the beginning of time and we thank you that in
your holy might, we have victory through eternity with you. Teach us to love You
and obey Your word. To you, Father, be dominion and power for ever and ever.
Amen.
Always by God’s Word and prayer,
Cecile
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