A plaque I saw the other day took me back and really had me thinking…it read, “What if you woke up tomorrow with only the things you had thanked God for the day before?” Pretty sobering, right? I know we try to thank the Lord for what we have (especially around the table on Thanksgiving)…but what about thanking Him for things you no longer have. This could mean thanking God for delivering you from feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, and depression that had once ruled your life. Or this could mean thanking Him for complete recovery from illness, injury, or surgery that had plagued you this year. As the Scripture says, let’s be overflowing with thankfulness in all things…the things we have, and the things we don’t.
Tag: thanksgiving
Isaiah 12:4 ” Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name; make known among the nations what He has done, and proclaim that His name is exalted.”
We tend to thank God when good things happen…when prayers are answered or people are healed. But what about when things aren’t so good? Can we still find gratitude within pain and sorrow? Can we be like Job, who after losing everything near and dear to him, exclaimed,” The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, may the name of the Lord be praised.” Expressing gratitude to God within the storm moves our eyes off the chaos around us and focuses it on above.
Mark 14: 22-24 ” While they were eating, Jesus took bread, giving thanks and broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying, ‘ Take it; this is My body.’ Then He took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it. ‘ This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.’ He said to them.”
This was the first Communion Service…or Eucharist. The Greek word actually means thanksgiving, and that’s what we should be doing each and every time we celebrate Communion. Thanking Jesus for His sacrifice – His shed blood, and broken body for all. Jesus didn’t have to come to earth and die an unspeakable death…but He did… and every time we hold those elements in our hands we need to thank Him for that obedience. For without Him, we’d be lost. This Passion week, celebrate your own personal Eucharist of thanksgiving.
Isaiah 35: 10 ” …and the ransomed of the Lord will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and signing will flee away.”
Everyday we should be overjoyed and full of thanksgiving for what the Lord has done for us. Jesus paid the ultimate price for our freedom…He delivered us from the sentence of certain death and liberated us from our sins. Jesus ransomed us from ourselves and our depraved nature. Thank You Jesus for Your love and mercy!
Safetypinlove 