TODAY’S WORD FOR THURSDAY NOVEMBER 28,
2013.
THANKSGIVING
DEFINITION:
The act of giving thanks; an expression
of thanks especially to God.
SCRIPTURE:
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving
and into His courts with praise. Psalm 100:4
Be joyful always, pray without ceasing.
In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus
concerning you. I Thessalonians 5: 16-18.
KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:
The Apostle Paul wrote to the church at
Thessalonica, "In everything give thanks. (I Thessalonians 5:18) This does
not mean that we have to be thankful for everything. We do not have to be
thankful for bad circumstances or difficulties. What Paul is saying is that our
praise and thanksgiving to God should not depend on our circumstances or our
feelings. Even when we aren’t feeling joyful and thankful God is forever worthy
of our praise and thanksgiving.
Paul tells us in these verses (above)
from Thessalonians that God’s will for us is to: Be joyful always, pray
continually and to give thanks in all circumstances.
When we do what God asks us to do, God
works in our heart and life. Our circumstances may not change but our
perspective will. We will always have abundant reasons to be thankful to our
loving Lord who will supply all of our needs. Even in the worst of
circumstances God works for our good to those who love Him (Romans 8:28).
In his letter to Philemon the Apostle
Paul writes about his runaway slave Onesimus. Onesimus had met Paul and found
the Lord. When Paul was imprisoned, Onesimus had helped Paul. It was a
disappointment to Philemon that Onesimus ran away and Paul wanted Philemon to
see how the Lord turned the situation into good. He wanted Philemon, who was
also a Christian, to be thankful for this situation. Paul wrote to Philemon,
"Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that
you might have him back for good, no longer as a slave, but a dear
brother."
Knowing that God can use all things for
good is more than enough for us to give thanks to Him for everything. God has
not promised to keep us from the storms of life but He will keep us as we go
through them.
When the American colonies were being
developed, one man said to the pioneers that they were spending way too much
time on their problems. He said it was time for them to focus on their
blessings. Thus, the first Thanksgiving Day came to pass. As believers we need
to take time not only today, but every day, to focus on our blessings and not
on our problems that we may be facing. If we do this, God will give us a joyful
spirit and a thankful heart.
In Deuteronomy 9, we read of God's
reminder to Israel that He was leading them into the Promised Land to fulfill
His purpose and promises. He reminded them that they would succeed because of
Him and not because of their own righteousness. He knew that they would be
tempted to give themselves the credit and not to be grateful for their
prosperity.
Ungratefulness is a problem and a
temptation for us today. If our endeavors are successful we need to make certain
that we make our THANKFULNESS TO GOD a priority and give Him the glory. We need
to thank God for His goodness, help and blessing. We do not need more to be
thankful for, we just need to be more thankful.
Here are several scriptures to remind
you today to give thanks to God. In I Corinthians 15:57 it says for us to say
thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. In II
Corinthians 2:14 it says we are to give thanks to God who always leads us in
triumph in Christ. In II Corinthians 9:15 Paul says, "Thanks be to God for
His indescribable gift." And finally in Hebrews 12:28 we read, "let
us be thankful, and so worship God."
Yes, we have so much to thank the Lord
for and it is in our giving thanks and glory to the Lord for all that He has
done for us, that we worship Him. Read the verse that we have put above under
our scripture for today. Start today by entering into His gates with
thanksgiving. Begin with a personal time of prayer and reading the Word of God
and then throughout the whole day be joyful and thankful for all that God has
done and is doing for you.
LEARNING:
Our memory verse this week is found in
Psalm 95:1.
O come, let us sing for joy to the Lord,
let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation.
PRAYER:
We thank You for Your creation, for the
stars in the sky and the waters in the sea. We thank You for the blessings in
life that You continually bestow upon us and for Your overwhelming goodness. We
thank You for sending Your Son to pay the penalty for our sins. Thank You for
preparing now a place for us to spend eternity with You.
