Thankfulness on Thanksgiving

Amidst the vague sense of thankfulness in the culture today in the United States, God’s people should reflect on the fact that we alone can be truly thankful.  We know that God is the one to whom we should be supremely thankful.  He has not only given us all things, but he has given us his very Son.  Here is a simple guide that you might use today (or any day) to cultivate an attitude of thankfulness in prayer.

Praying with Thankfulness
A Simple Guide for Individuals and Families

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.”

John Piper: “Gratitude honors God. Gratitude is the echo of grace as it reverberates through the hollows of the human heart. Gratitude is the unashamed acceptance of a free gift and the heartfelt declaration that we cherish what we cannot buy. Therefore gratitude glorifies the free grace of God and signifies the humility of a needy and receptive heart….  Proud people don’t say thanks.”

C. H. Spurgeon: “Let your songs be grateful songs, in which the Lord’s mercies shall live again in joyful remembrance. The very remembrance of the past should tune our harps, even if present joys be lacking.”

Thomas Manton: “We, that are worthy of the heaviest judgment, surely should be thankful for the smallest mercy.”

Peter T. O’Brien: “Thanksgiving is almost a synonym for the Christian life.”

Thank God for his Character & Working

Psalm 95:2-6 – Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!  For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.  In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also.  The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!

Psalm 106:1 – Praise the Lord! Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!

Psalm 75:1 – We give thanks to you, O God; we give thanks, for your name is near.  We recount your wondrous deeds.

Rev 11:15,17 – “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever….  We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign.”

Thank God for His Grace, Mercy, and Love in Salvation

Romans 6:17-18 – But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed,  and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

2 Cor 9:13,15 – They will glorify God because of your submission flowing from your confession of the gospel of Christ . . . Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!

Romans 7:24-8:1 – Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! …. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

1 Cor 15:56-57 – The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Thank God for His Growth of the Church

1 Thess 2:13 – We also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.

2 Thess 1:3 – We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing.

1 Cor 1:4-9 – I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge—even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you—so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.  God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Pray for a Further Spirit of Thankfulness

Psalm 35:18 – I will thank you in the great congregation; in the mighty throng I will praise you.

Col 3:16-17 – Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.  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.

1 Thess 1:2-3 – We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Phil 4:6 – Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

*This was originally posted on this blog back in 2011