1.- Thanksgiving is DOING the will of God!
2.- Thanksgiving GLORIFIES God!-
3.- Thanksgiving Is IMPERATIVE to Life Of PERSEVERING PRAYER!
1.- Thanksgiving is DOING the will of God!– “in everything give thanks; for THIS IS God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”- (1 Thess 5:18). Wherever you are God’s will is to give Him Thanks ! In doing so it is not a question of “are you in the will of God?” But you can confidently KNOW you are DOING the will of God!
2.- Thanksgiving GLORIFIES God!– “It is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the GLORY OF GOD”- (2 Corinthians 4:15). A people had needs, others met it and as a result MANY thanksgiving was offered to God and He was GLORIFIED!
3.- Thanksgiving Is IMPERATIVE to Life Of PERSEVERING PRAYER– “2 Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving;”- ( Col 4:2)
Prayer is a battle of faith and to perverse in believing prayer is fueled by Thanksgiving? Look at Paul’s prayers in Colossians, Ephesians, Philippians, 1 Thess, and note he begins with THANKING GOD and then continues with SPECIFIC Reasons He is thankful to Him for in the lives of others! For example he THANKS GOD in 1 Thess 1:3 for three specific spiritual realities in the lives of others “… Faith that works…Love that labors… Hope that endures in Christ… In the presence of God the Father.” He prays with gratitude for SPECIFIC evidences of God at work in their lives and then he writes to COMMUNICATE to them of what he sees and the reasons he has to thank God for! Think about what you see in others THANK Him for it and COMMUNICATE To them of how their lives are giving you opportunities to DO THE WILL OF GOD, namely, GIVING GOD thanks . Even in difficult circumstances Paul REACHED Up to God with thanks and REACHED OUT to communicate with others how their lives were cause for GOD TO BE GLORIFIED!
Paul gives THANKS To the Father for SIX ASPECTS of Salvation- (read Col 1:12-14 and list them and THANK HIM). Paul GLORIFIED GOD and was DOING THE WILL of GOD! And the believers on meeting a need caused others to offer many thanksgiving and glorify God!
When is the last time you thanked Him for your salvation? Is their a “drought”of thanksgiving to God from you or me, for His salvation to you and me and for others? Does He hear you give HIM thanks?
- – Do the Will of God
- – Do Glorify God ( see a need, meet it)
- – Do stay Alert in praying
- – Do Share with others how they are reason for you to thank God and in doing so giving you reason to Do His Will, Glorify Him and Add ” fuel ” to help you develop in “devoting yourself to prayer!
Where you are you can…Do the will of God, Glorify God, devote yourself to prayer through saying THANK YOU LORD! And you can encourage others to keep going as you ENCOURAGE THEM with their lives that cause you to thank Him. Hide the four reasons listed above on why THANKSGIVING IS SO SO IMPORTANT and share with someone else to encourage them to THANK GOD!
THE DANGER OF THANKLESSNESS
Thanksgiving is an attitude and act of faith and faith and “pleases God”-{See Heb 11:6}. So the attack on your faith is to seek to tempt you not to be thankful to God, and therefore you are NOT doing the Will of God. You are NOT Glorifying God. You are NOT Persevering in prayer,{ the alternative is to spiritually faint, colapse- read Luke 18:1}. You are NOT Pleasing God. Others are NOT been encouraged because you do NOT see reasons and share reasons with them of how their life is helping you to DO His will, DO Glorify God, to DO Stay alert in Prayer and DO Please Him by faith, offering THANKS. A lack of Thanksgiving to God is a characteristic of a LOST person – “…For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to him.”-( Rom 1:21). NOTE- they did not GLORIFY GOD… Not Give THANKS TO GOD!
***The WORD THANKS and Joy come from the same root word. Thanksgiving is JOY OVERFLOWING!
YOU NOW KNOW…
YOU Know God’s Will. You KNOW how to GLORIFY GOD. You KNOW How to Persevere in praying. You Know How to DIFFERENTIATE yourself from the lost. You KNOW How to ENCOURAGE/ STRENGTHEN others in their faith!
No place like this moment to SAY…” Thank You LORD…” and communicate to others how they are reasons for you to GIVE GOD thanks. Don’t wait till they die to say something true and nice about them, it’s while they live they need the encouragement!
“I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, For YOUR…”-( Phil 1:3)