It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High. Psalm 92:1
It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord!
The obvious meaning of thanks is gratitude or praise.
Taking a deeper look at the meaning of thanks…
it means to be well off, to fare well, and to prosper.
When we give thanks, we are declaring that we are well off! With our mouth we are determining how we fare in this life, in the circumstance, in the moment. Prosperity is on our tongue!
I thank my God upon every remembrance of you. Philippians 1:3
Thanksgiving is a direct result of remembrance. I’ve read this passage time and again. There have even been occasions when someone has addressed me this way, in a card or a loving word.
Upon every remembrance…
At the very mention of a name.
What would it be, if when a name comes up that we stop and say thank you for one another?
What would it look like to truly appreciate one another to such a degree that our gratitude enters into every conversation?
Thanksgiving has no lack of opportunity.
This month we are cultivating thanksgiving but by next year at this time, if we will determine to be thankful and be intentional …wouldn’t it be interesting to see just what thanksgiving has cultivated in our lives?
For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks? Psalm 6:5
In cultivating a heart of thankfulness, this thought may seem a bit morbid, I know. But the truth of the matter is, life is too short to be unthankful. Every day we are given opportunity to remember our Great God.
I believe that remembrance and thankfulness are relative to one another. In giving thanks, God knows that we have remembered Him. In thanksgiving we have acknowledged not only His goodness but Him personally.
Thanksgiving is for the living! As long as we are breathing…there is a reason to be thankful!
Luke 18:9-14,
And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
Did you know that thanksgiving is the will of God for your life? As Christians, we desire to know God’s will for our lives. We concern ourselves with “the plan”. Who am I? What is to become of me? Where am I to go? What am I to do? How will it be accomplished?
Does God?
Will God?
Can God?
All the woulds…
And shoulds…
And coulds…
They are endless.
The who…
The what…
The when…
The where…
The how…
They remain to be seen.
But this.
This says it all.
In everything, give thanks. This is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 1 Thessalonians 5:8
Do you know that this is the ONLY place in the word of God where you will find those words that each of us so long to have a revelation of?
This is the will of God…
God wants us thankful!
All the who, what, when, where, why and how’s are secondary to this.
Thankfulness doesn’t wait for the “would, should, could, does, will, can” of life.
all…
Little. Seemingly insignificant. Underestimated. Underappreciated. Overlooked. Underused.
Circumstances disregard it.
Unchecked emotions undermine it.
Fear overrides it.
And still it remains.
all…
I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
No matter who you are…the only time frame you have to work within is 24 hours.
Yesterday is gone and tomorrow remains to be seen.
Yet so often, yesterday diminishes today and plans for tomorrow belittle it.
What would happen if we would just live the 24 hours that are given to us?
Moment by moment embracing all.
All holds an eternal context. It excludes nothing. Factors nothing. It is what it is. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Inclusive.
I will bless the Lord every time. Every time. Every time.
All makes Him bigger.
It’s the magnifying glass held in the hand of the moment.
We look on Him and are lightened…radiant.
Psalm 34:1-5, I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together. I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.
Revelations 11:17, says, Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.
Thanksgiving reveals His lordship in our lives.
We can only truly be thankful when the Lord is reigning.
That means that thanksgiving is not situational nor is it circumstantial. It comes from a heart that is settled on who Jesus really is and what He has done for us!
Whether we know it or not, our words and our actions, as Christians, reflect our thankfulness to God.
Colossians 3:17 says, And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
So often we believe that thanksgiving is a spoken word of gratitude but not so. What we do, our attitudes and even our countenance, the look on our face and our physical demeanor can convey our thankfulness to God.
How thankful are you? It shows.
Living a life of thankfulness goes much deeper than a learned response.
Thankfulness produces something in us.
In fact, it becomes the key to distribution…a place where miracles are manufactured.
The story told in John Chapter 6 is a beautiful example of this. Jesus took what was given to him…a young boy’s lunch, seemingly not enough, and gave thanks for it.
In thanksgiving, a miracle took place and from there, distribution began and thousands were fed.
If we simply believe that it was the young man’s gift alone that brought such glory to God, we are mistaken.
What’s in our hand is dormant until thankfulness activates it! I am convinced those five barley loves and two small fish wouldn’t have multiplied until Jesus gave thanks!
How often do we forego thankfulness, simply because what we have doesn’t seem enough?
Genesis 28:10-19
And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.
And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first.
How often do we make the “law” and the command of God hard? The time was not yet, but we know that the law was written upon stone, upon the tablets and I can’t help but think of that when I picture Jacob laying his head upon these particular stones.
They were a pillow for him…a place where he could rest his head. The commands of God, a place where his mind could settle and his soul could enter into Divine communion.
These particular stones would have been used for building and the discovery for Jacob, after having dreamed was that this was “none other than the House of God”. Had he laid his head upon the symbolic Corner Stone?
When I lay my head upon Him and upon His Word, He will reveal to me what must be built. Jacob called the place Bethel meaning house of God, when it had previously been called Luz or perverse.
We live in a wicked and perverse (to distort, misinterpret or corrupt…to turn to self) generation. What will we call it? Will we, in the dark, gather the spiritual stones of this place and rest our head upon it? Will we discern the House of God in the midst of it?
There is a ladder set up in the midst of the earth now. The top of it, the Head Christ Jesus, reaches into and is seated in heaven. The angels will ascend & descend upon none other than the body of Christ. Will we offer our faith…our believing, speaking and works as the rungs for their feet to tread? Will my life be heaven’s access into earth?
On another note…
No one ever wants to be at the bottom of the ladder…the low man on the poll. But it takes each one. The hierarchy and status quo in the body of Christ must stop. It’s just as necessary for there to be a top rung as a bottom. The first step is just as important as the last. The top rung has no more claim to glory than the bottom. Have we considered that it’s true humility to be willing to be the last step into the earth. That in our resistance to take our place, heaven is hindered from being brought forth into the earth?
Just think of it.
Sure, the top rung gets the first step of heaven into earth, which is the spiritual order of things. The Apostle, prophet, teacher, pastor, evangelist should be accessing heaven. That’s how the rungs are built. It’s for the equipping and perfecting of the saints for the work of ministry. But it’s the bottom rung that’s the first step of earth into heaven.
So again, I ask, will my life be earth’s access into heaven?
