A Lifestyle of Thanksgiving

Psalm 100 is called a Psalm of Thanksgiving. It says,
“Shout with joy to the Lord, O earth! Worship the Lord with gladness.
Come before Him singing with joy. Acknowledge that the Lord is God!
He made us and we are His. We are His people, the sheep of His pasture.
Enter His gates with Thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise.
Give Thanks to Him and bless His name. For the Lord is good.
His unfailing love endures forever, and His faithfulness continues to each generation”.

Throughout the Psalms, David comes to God in Worship, Praise, and Thanksgiving. In Psalm 138:1, David says, “I give you Thanks, O Lord, with all my heart”. Psalm 136 lists the numerous reasons why we should be Thankful to our God. These include various acts of creation and the powerful acts of miraculous interventions in the lives of God’s people, the Israelites.

We should be in constant awareness of God’s gifts in our lives but instead we take so much of what we have for granted. It seems that only when we face the loss of something of importance do we prioritize the things we treasure. Examples of these treasures are; life it self, health, and the ones we love. After the experience of a loss, we no longer tend to be consumed with the trivia which seemed to be so important to us previously.

Let us not take God’s gifts in our lives for granted. Let us continually live in an attitude of Thanksgiving, an attitude of gratitude! A positive person is a Thankful person. A positive person is a witness to the goodness of God and is a light in the darkness. A negative, complaining, and ungrateful person lives in darkness. No one wants to listen to or be around a constant complainer for any length of time. Let us not be consumed with what we do not have. We should be aware of and grateful for that which we do have, no matter how humble. We tend to take the beauty around us for granted, including the splendor of nature, our family, and our loved ones.

God’s love endures forever! Belief in this love and in the knowledge that God is in control with a plan for my life gives me a sense of peace. This faith and peace give me the ability to rest in God’s promises and blessings. As I seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, I know that He will supply all of my needs according to his riches in glory. He is generous with me and I will be generous with Him. A generous attitude is a positive and Thankful attitude. He has, does, and will continue to meet my needs. His faithfulness is a constant in my life and I will continue to live a “Lifestyle of Thanksgiving”. When I pray, I pray believing. I thank Him for all of His blessing in my life. I also thank Him for the anticipated answers to my prayers even before my requests are realized.

I am especially Thankful for Richard, Erica, Trevor, Christa, Kris, Trevor, Hunter, and my expected grand-baby-to-be. I am grateful for our Lab, Molly, and now for Richie’s new little kittens, Suki and Socki. I lift up a prayer of Thanksgiving for the successful surgery on Richie’s right hand. The operation went well and I pray a prayer of gratitude in anticipation of the successful restoration of motion in his right thumb after the cast removal and rehabilitation. Thank you, Lord!

I Thank you Lord for family and friends and most of all I thank you for your love and the gift of faith which you have given me. With a grateful heart I wish everyone a Blessed and Happy Thanksgiving. “In all things we are to give Thanks” (Ephesians 5:20). My favorite bible verse is Romans 8:28, “All things work for good to those who love the Lord and are the called according to His purpose”. Even if you are going through a difficult time in your life, know that God is with you and He is weaving the circumstances of your life for good. In times of discouragement and difficulty, keep thanking God for carrying you through. He will! His joy and peace are internal and do not change with the external circumstances of life.

As recorded in 1Chronicles 29:13, “now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name”. Amen