In Everything Give Thanks!
Thankful in the Middle of It!
Thanksgiving. It is a time of year when we are encouraged to pause and thank the Lord for our many blessings. In the U.S., we usually mark this holiday by eating, family and friend visits, parades and shopping, and oh….more eating and more shopping! Just to the north of us in Canada, they have already celebrated the holiday on the second Monday of October. For the U.S., the retailers move into full throttle to finish the year in the black. Often, the deliberate act of thanksgiving is lost.
Many of us are in the mode of being done. Done and finished with 2024. I can’t count how often I’ve heard the phrase, “This year has flown by!” It has been a time FULL of ministry and spiritual warfare. I just completed seven weeks of ministry travel, where I met with small groups of women attending Refresh Retreats. Without exception, weariness, worry, and “What’s next?” are resounding emotions I continue to hear from my own mouth and those surrounding me.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the attitude of gratitude. Over 100 times in the King James translation the word “thanks or thanksgiving” is used. We may have lost the meaning of genuine gratitude and thankfulness. I have been contemplating the significance of the word and just how the issue of gratitude connects us to the character of God, a command or a condition required, or maybe a recognition of what He has done and how much he loves us with “hesed” love. This kind of love is covenant-binding – He cannot and will never stop loving us.
Psalm 107:1: “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!”
Psalm 7:17: “I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High.”
Philippians 4:6: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
Colossians 3:15: “And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.”
Colossians 4:2: Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.
Psalm 28:7: 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.
Hebrews 13:15: Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.
Psalm 69:30: I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving.
1 Chronicles 16:34: Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!
James 1:17: Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
The following passage is one of my favorites.
We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone. See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people. Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. I Thessalonians 5:14-18
The truth is that a woman of God should be living with an attitude of “thanks” at every moment. I know the demands of family and ministry can put a strain on this, but along with “prayer without ceasing,” you and I should be giving thanks amid everything. Notice I didn’t say that you and I had to be thankful that life was falling apart, harder than we ever thought it would be, or downright impossible, but during the toughest times of our lives, you and I are to give thanks to the Lord for all that He carries us through. Give thanks in every circumstance.
Thank Him for…
…giving you the strength to take the next step, the next breath
…your family
…trusting you with the hardest thing
…the days you had with your sweet loved one
…the testimony of grace He is pouring through you
…not leaving you amid the circumstance
…His Wisdom
…His direction
…His Hope
…His Peace
…His Light
…His Word is our comfort and strength – our very food and power source amid everything.
So, as Thanksgiving Day approaches, can we begin to live as we should? Can we, as women, set the pace and the example of living with thanksgiving in everything? What do you think? Can you add to my list?
Thankful He plucked me out and called me His girl!