Keys are very small yet open very strong and big doors. Thanks giving is one of those keys. Appreciating that which God has done in our lives is very important. I personally realised that I had a problem with thanksgiving. I would spend a long time praying for other things but when it came to thanks giving, I would fall short of words. I wonder how many people are like me out there. We all like being appreciated for what we do for others. Not all people will always appreciate but we are happier with the ones who do it as a gesture of acknowledgement to your efforts in helping them out. If we like being appreciated, how much more should it be to our God who holds every bit of our lives in His hands?
Ten leapers once cried out to Jesus to help them. Luke 17:14(When He saw them, He told them, “Go show yourselves to the priest” and while they were going, they were healed.) As you go on reading from verse 15-19, only one of them came back to say thank you. I wonder where I would have been if I were among the ten leapers. Would I have been the one who came back to give thanks or the 9 who went on rejoicing and forgot to come back to Jesus.
Thanks giving brings clarity and reduces our mountains to plains. There are times when I have run blank in my life and didn’t even know what to say to God. All I had to do was give thanks to God for who He is and who He has been in the past. Looking back, on the many bridges that God has helped me cross in my life brings hope into my current situation and increases my faith that He can do it as He did it back then.1st Chronicles 16:8-9(“O give thanks to the Lord, call on his name, make known His deeds among the peoples. Sing to Him, sing praises to Him, tell of all His wonderful work!”) There are situations where thanks giving is what will keep you moving.
There are no limitations in thanks giving; either when to do it or how to do it. Colossians 3:17(“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him”) There is no restriction in thanks giving and God will always appreciate it from a thankful heart. ‘Whatever you do, in word or deed’ is inclusive of literally everything. This is to say that thanksgiving should be done always.
We should also thank God for that which we have not yet received. This walks us into a place of rest in His word that He always has good plans for our lives and that they will come to be by His power.1st Corinthians 15:57 (“But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ ”)Notice that this verse talks of His nature which is always giving us victory. We don’t just thank God for the battles that we have won but also for those that we are yet to win. There is a great assurance of things not yet seen that comes with thanksgiving to God.
Thanksgiving to God makes us more conscious of His power and unlimited ability. Every time I thank God for what He has done for me; forgiving my sins and delivering me from certain bondages, I realise how powerful He is and how much He can change in people’s lives. Luke 7:47(“Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But one to whom little is forgiven, loves little”). These were Jesus’ words after a sinful woman had come and anointed His feet with ointment, wet His feet with tears and wiped them with her hair. There are people who will always thank God more than other based on where they have been and what God has done for them but the bottom line is, And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. All included
May God bless you all as we enter into His gates with thanks giving, and into His courts with praise. Giving thanks to Him and praising His name. Shalom.
The Latter Grace 