Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on the past and to thank and praise God for His provisions, His blessings, His sustaining power and His precious love and grace.
Take some time and just think of what you are thankful for.
Do you ever count your blessings or do you just take them for granted?
The Bible says that, "a happy heart is good medicine."
It also says, "rejoice in the Lord always again I say rejoice."
Are you an optimist or a pessimist? Do you see the cup half full or half empty?
Do you get excited when you hear about how God is working in others lives or does it make you a little jealous?
Do you ever thank God for what He is doing in your life and in your family’s or do you just think of it as luck?
How many of you, when something good happens to you, think you were just lucky? There are a lot of Christians that use the word lucky quite often. When we do we take the focus off God and place it on chance or happenstance and that brings no glory to God. Personally I don’t think the word luck or lucky should be used at all in a believer’s life. I think God should receive all the praise and thanks.
The Bible says, "the steps of a righteous man are ordained of God." That means that God guides our steps when we become Christians and walk in the Spirit and not the flesh. He allows things that happen in our lives whether good or, what we may think is, bad.
Nothing can happen to one of God’s children unless God allows it to happen. If the Lord does allow something to happen in our lives that we don’t like or we don’t agree with He knows what is best and there are some things we will never understand this side of Heaven that is where faith and trust come in.
So whatever happens, we need to have a heart of thanksgiving and praise. The Bible says, "that God inhabits the praise of His people." God loves it when we thank Him and praise Him. Should we praise Him and thank him only in the good times no! We should be willing to thank and praise the Lord in all circumstances and situations.
What does it mean when the Bible says, "all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose?" It means exactly that--all things good or bad.
Think about Job and his situation, did God allow it to happen? Yes!
Why did God allow Job to be tested? I think it happened for more than one reason.
One thing that came out of it was that God showed Satan that a man with a sin nature would still praise God and not rebel against him even when it may not make much sense to do it.
We all know that Job suffered many things but at the end of his first test, what did he say? This is what the NIV Bible says in Job 1: verse 20–22, "At this Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell on the ground in worship and said, ‘naked I came from my mother’s womb and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away may the name of the Lord be praised.’ In all this Job did not sin by charging the Lord with wrongdoing."
Think about this, Satan was created a perfect angel without sin or a sin nature. But instead of praising or thanking God for the position he was in, he chose to sin against God by not being content serving God but by rebelling against God, wanting God to serve him. He was determined to become greater than God. And somehow he influenced a third of the angels to follow him in his rebellion and foolishness. And they all ended up being thrown out of Heaven and he became the Devil or Satan. They would have been far better off if they would have chosen to serve and worship God in Heaven.
By the way, if you don’t want to worship or praise or thank God here, then why would you want to go to heaven. Remember that in Heaven you will be worshipping and praising and thanking God, along with other things, so you might as well get used to it here.
Let’s read what it says in Luke 19: 36–40. Think about these verses, are you a person that is grateful or do you just take things for granted? Do you try to take advantage of the Lord or do you give the Lord what is due Him, like praise and thanksgiving, or do the very stones have to cry out for you?
I was blessed by God to write a song about this subject. It has never become a hit but I think the Lord is pleased with it and that’s what counts.
If you are reading this and have kids help the kids explore how different people in the Bible gave thanks for God’s blessings. Read and discuss how thanks was given for each portion of scripture:
2: Moses (Exodus 15:1-6, 11-13) through giving glory to God
3: Daniel (Daniel 6:10, 16-23) through his loyalty
4: David (I Chronicles 16:7-14, 31-34) through his love
5: Mary (Luke 1:46-55) through praise
God Bless You!
Use the following number code to answer each question, then add up your score.
0 = Never 3 = Usually not 7 = Usually 10 = Always
_____ 1. Are you happy when your friends get something new?
_____ 2. Are you pleased when someone says "thank you" to you?
_____ 3. Are you satisfied with what you have?
_____ 4. If someone does something nice for you, do you return the kindness?
_____ 5. Are you glad for whatever you receive on your birthday, even if it’s not what you hoped for?
_____ 6. Do you say "thank you" to others on a regular basis?
_____ 7. Do you make it a point to thank God for His love each day?
_____ 8. If you don’t get your way, are you sill happy?
_____ (Total)
I hope this lesson was a blessing to you.
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