Hebrews 13:15 (AMP)
Through Him, therefore, let us constantly and at all times offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, which is the fruit of lips that thankfully acknowledge and confess and glorify His name.
Thanksgiving is the act of rendering thanks or expressing gratitude to God for favours or mercies granted to us. Psalm 100:4 says the password to access the Lord is thanksgiving and we must do this always. Remembering God means that He is a part of your thoughts, your words, and your actions. It is impossible to give thanks to God if we never think of or speak of Him. When we remember God, we choose to think, speak, and act as He would have us do, as the centre of our universe.
What do we have to thank God for? You may ask. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 tells us why. Tally the Lord’s goodness and favour towards you, is there anything you have done yourself that was not enabled by the Lord?
Can you see? Smell? Move about? Have you got a roof over your head? Do you have food to eat, even if it is not what you want to eat? Has the Lord not supplied all your needs as promised in Philippians 4:19.?
You must recognize God’s hands in your life and give Him thanks. What has He not done for you? My children and I did an exercise in thanksgiving, we started out with a sheet of paper (ended up with more pages), we made a list of things we are thankful for, nothing was too big or too small, everything we could remember went on the list, at prayer in the evenings, we spent time praising and thanking God for each item on the list. Believe me, it made us more aware of how limited and small our gratitude was compared to what God has done for us. A great idea for us all to emulate.
As you count your blessings according to Psalm 103:2, be specific. Name individual family members and friends. Think of your life, health, home, city, and country. Ask yourself what, exactly, about your home or country is a blessing? How about your skills, talents, education, and job? Think about those times that seemed like a coincidence; did you overlook God’s hand in your life? Did you think of God’s greatest gift, His Son, Jesus Christ? Ephesians 5:20 to thank God for everything.
When you look deeper, you will find that there is always something to be thankful for.
The Lord sees thanksgiving as a sacrifice, a thank-offering says Psalm 50:14; meaning your gratitude must cost you something: it could cost you time in praise, worship and prayer and money in seeds, offering and gift,
If you want to have a close relationship with God, it is important to thank Him for your daily blessings. However, you should also look for ways to be grateful even when times are difficult. In addition, you can show God that you appreciate His blessings by honouring him through your actions daily. Learn to interrupt your day for a minute to thank the Lord. 1 chronicle 16:34.
Cultivate the habit of celebrating God’s divine goodness, in remarkable deliverance, or in the ordinary dispensation of his daily blessings.
Let us through Christ offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving to God continually, He’s worthy of it.
Shalom
