Thanksgiving

Good Morning,

Sorry I'm a bit tardy this morning. Been in the kitchen cutting and chopping and the like getting ready for tomorrow and simply lost track of the time.

1 Chronicles 16:8, 34 (NIV)
Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name;
make known among the nations what he has done.
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
Psalm 100:4 (NIV)
Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NIV)
Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Let me start by wishing everyone a most joyous and happy Thanksgiving day. My prayer for us all is that God will be with us in every way, in our words as we give Him thanks, in our actions as we show those around us Christ in us, and in our spirits as His Holy Spirit indwelling us will shine forth.

There are probably thousands of verses of thanksgiving in the Bible. These three sort of "popped" for me as I was going through all of the verses that came when I looked up "give thanks" to send along this morning.

We, all of us, have much to give thanks for and I'll not list everything that might come to mind. Suffice it to say that we DO have a lot to be thankful for. Yes, some of us are going through difficult times and it might be difficult to give a heartfelt "thanks" because of what we're going through. That's why the verse in 1 Thessalonians is so important to us all. We all go through tough times. We all face days where "thanks" is the last thing on our minds or even in our hearts. The days can be hard, I know. If we aren't facing them today, then we've probably been through those hard days in the past. If we haven't faced them in the past and aren't facing them today, then, I can pretty much assure you, there will be hard days to face in the future. It's a part of life.

So, God tells us through Paul in his letter to the Thessalonians that we ought to, "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." God is reminding us that even though we face difficulties and hardships, we should be joyful in our spirits. Remember, if we have nothing else, we have the Lord! He also reminds us that we should "give thanks in all circumstances" for that which we do have. He doesn't tell us that we should be thankful FOR all circumstances...as some are so extremely difficult...but IN all circumstances. We must remember that no matter where we find ourselves or what conditions are like around us and in our lives, we must remember to be thankful for the fact of our salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

So, as we gather tomorrow, let's remember to "Give thanks to the LORD, call on His name; Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His love endures forever." Let's also remember that in good times and bad we need to be obedient to Scripture and "Bey joyful...pray...give thanks..., for this is God's will for (us) in Christ Jesus."

Again, Happy Thanksgiving. God bless you and yours.

Love, peace, and blessings,

David

P. S. I'm going to take a day off tomorrow and cook!