BEING THANKFUL

Being faithful

 

Jeremiah 33:11

“Give thanks to the Lord Almighty, for the Lord is good, his love endures forever.”

 

Thankfulness is a way of expressing gratitude for a blessing. God creates us and our creator Almighty God gives that everything we have to us.

 

When your father gives you something, you give a reply by saying “thank to you dad”. When your mother gives you something, you say “thank you mummy” or else when a friend, relative or someone gives you something you like, you answer “thank you” and others add, “May Gob bless you” as an expression of real and joyful acceptance. We give thanks to appreciate the offer/gift we receive from someone.

 

Now let us together look at what it means to give thanks or being thankful…

 

Paul declares to us that to give thanks is a duty and something a duty is something we do as our personal attribute/responsibility, part and partial 2 Thessalonians 2:13. When you thank someone who gives you something, the person gets pleased understanding that his/her gift is appreciated…thus is for God. You are saved by Gods grace and therefore you ought to thank him.

 

God created you…………………………………………..give thanks

God gave you life…………………………………………give thanks

God loves you…………………………………………….give thanks

God saved you from your problems……………………...give thanks

God protects you………………………………………….give thanks

God provides for you…………………………………..…give thanks                                          all these and many more that the Lord has done and is still doing to your life

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When therefore should we thank God for the good things and gifts we have received from him and that we are yet to receive???

 

Paul tells us in Ephesians 1:16 that we must thank God ceasingly, we should not stop because a lot is yet to be done to us. Since it is a duty to thank God, do it every day/spontaneously Philippians 1:3, Romans 1:8. When we give thanks to God for what he has done to us, in whatever condition and circumstance, He gets to know that we really appreciate what he has done to us and therefore gets pleased to give more. When we are giving thanks to God, we have to do it faithfully in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Why do we always direct our cry, thanks giving, confession, and requests to God through/in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ??

 

Now listen carefully….

 

We must know that we were once lost in sin due to the disobedience of our ancestors, but now the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ who is the only bridge for us to reach heaven finds us. Faith in Jesus only can let your prayer (talk/words) reach God, but when we do not believe and trust and have faith in him, God will not hear us because it will look like we are jumping a step that is impossible.

 

Let us go to Book 1 in a kids series of biblestudyforkids.com “Developing a relationship with Jesus” and open to pages 29, 30 and 32; and see why Jesus is such a central figure to us.

 

John 10:30. “I and the father are one”, 14:9b tells us “anyone who has seen me has seen the father”. Understand that our salvation depends on Jesus’ flawless divinity, Jesus-God clothed with flesh lived sinless and was crucified for our sins as a sacrificial lamb (Leviticus 22:19-21, John 1:29-30). We are brought together in Christian union by Jesus Christ through his bloodshed to save us and that is why we give thanks to God/Jesus because he is;

 

1.      “the bread of life” (John 6:35) meaning jesus sustains our life/soul from earthly life to heavenly life (Spirit) if only we accept to feed on the bread of life.

2.      “the light of the world” (John 8:12) so that we don’t walk in darkness. Imagine you are in a room where you have no knowledge of how things in the room are arranged and that incidentally light/power goes off. You will knock yourself on certain things in the room as you look for source of power/light to shine the room. Also is the light of Jesus that shines a head of us so that we see the obstacles of the evil plans of the devil.

3.      “the gate” John 10:9 through which we can enter in. Jesus is the only one who knows the way to heaven since he was from heaven and therefore he is the only gate to that way. For you to access that gate, you have to be pure in heart by having confessed with your own lips all your sinful iniquities. Also accepting that Jesus is Lord and that he came and died for you and me and faithfully believe in him as your one and only Lord and Savior because “no one gets to the father except through him (John14:6).

4.      “the true vine” John 15:1-2. If we do not bear good fruits, we are pruned and disposed off to the fire for burning so that healthy and good fruits are ensured. Imagine  if this is how grasses and weeds burn in a wild fire, how will it be for us in the everlasting fire if we do not give in to Christ.

5.      “the good shepherd”  John 10:11. This indicates to us that we the sheep owned by God and Jesus is the shepherd who even laid down his life for the sheep. Jesus died to pay for our sins offering us eternal life and that is why Jesus says he is

6.      “the resurrection and the life” John 11:25 when he was talking to Martha. This proves to us that nothing is impossible through Jesus.

 

Now having known all the above, why do we thank God?

 

We thank God for;

1.      Food (John 6.11, 23). God gives what we eat to us and we must therefore give thanks to him for the food so that it is blessed for both our Spiritual and Physical satisfaction.

2.      Wisdom (Daniel 2:23) No one has wisdom by himself. All source of wisdom comes from God. We must therefore thank God for giving us that wisdom that we have.

3.      Converts (1 Thessalonians 1:2) receiving those who turn away from evil acts of Satan to follow Jesus Christ with thanks to God.

4.      Prayer answered (Esther 1-10). When Haman who had rage against Modecia plotted to destroy, annihilate all Jews young and old, Esther and Modecia went down on their knees praying faithfully to God and had their prayer answered. In chapters 9 and 10, we see the Jews rejoicing and giving thanks to God for having answered their prayer. You might also be praying for wisdom and knowledge to pass your tests and examinations, for job or anything, once granted please give thanks to Almighty God so that it is not meaningless in your implementation.

5.      Victory (1 Corinthians 15:57). We give thanks for the victory over death through Christ Jesus our Lord because we shall not die again. Jesus died for us so that we may live after the earthly death.

6.      Salvation (2 Corinthians 9:15). We give thanks to God for his love to us by giving his son Jesus Christ to die on the cross on our behalf. This is an indescribable love and therefore we must give thanks because it is the most biggest gift that God has for us.

 

So continue with giving thanks to your Lord God because he loves you and has plans for you, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”. Jeremiah 29:11

 

Love you all with the Love of Jesus Christ.

 

Mathew