thanksgiving

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Thanksgiving and Attitude

“In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:13)

One of the instinctive elements of a true believer is a thankful heart. We realize that a normal part of our daily life should include a continual attitude of thankfulness. It’s more than just saying “Thank You” to someone who does something nice for us. It’s displaying an attitude to those around us that whatever happens in life, I am going to respond as someone who sees God in every aspect of life.

There is a difference in “being thankful” and “giving thanks”. Being thankful is a result of a giving thanks. Being thankful is an act of the will regardless of how we feel. It is also an act of trust and obedience. Being thankful is a result of, and prerequisite to, having a thankful heart. Being thankful is an overt act of obedience, and the sweet result is having a thankful heart.

Does that mean we are to be thankful when we receive tragic news like, “You have cancer” or “You have lost your job”, or when we lose a friend or loved one through death? Yes, we are to be thankful – but not how you might think. No one in his right mind would say, “Praise the Lord, I have cancer.” Or would they say, “Hallelujah, my close friend has died.” That would be delusional.

But what it does mean is that we are to be so dependent upon a sovereign God for every event and circumstance in our life that we look for God’s hand and blessings in the midst of the trial. What God really desires is for us to be so “other-worldly” that nothing can shake our confidence and trust in Him. He wants us living at the level where we know that God knows best, even though in the midst of our problem we can’t see the blue sky for the fog.

It’s all about attitude

Whether we realize it or not, all our attitudes spring from some sort of belief system. For example, when our attitude takes a nosedive and we become discouraged or angry, it’s a result of a “belief system breakdown”. Our crisis of belief becomes, “do we trust God with this or are we doubting His ability to “work all things for our good?”

They have a saying in the Air Force, “Your attitude will determine your altitude”. So if you want to have an thankful heart that soars, then you must maintain a great attitude. That’s because having a thankful heart is all about “attitude”. It’s an attitude that gets its confidence from God’s love and care.

Bottom Line
You can gauge the depth of a thankful heart by observing attitude. Does your attitude reflect “God’s got this problem” or does it reflect doubt, fear and anger. Remember that our attitude often notifies our face.

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Give Thanks for Every Circumstance

“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
(1 Thessalonians 5:17)

The above scripture is one of those passages that we learn early on in our Christian life. Most of us apply the “thankful thing” when we get a little disappointed when our vacation doesn’t work out. We say something like, “well God knows best and all things work together”. I must admit, that’s not a bad thing.

But what about those times when our life falls apart? It might be that we lose our job, or experience a debilitating illness, or even worse, what if we lose a loved one in death? Do we really have a thankful heart in those situations?

This scripture is not suggesting that we jump up and down with thanks because we have a life-changing loss, but the passage is teaching us to apply the supernatural element of giving thanks to our loss. God wants us to see Him in the midst of our circumstances.

There are least four reasons we should give thanks in all our situations.

Giving thanks in all situations is what we do as committed followers of Jesus.
Part of our spiritual DNA is to trust God in all things. Even when we can’t understand or comprehend why this is happening to us, our duty is to give thanks to God because He can see the big picture. Our God is sovereign and in control, and He is up to something when things happen to us that we cannot control. Note the following verse:

“For our light affliction and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen (our current situation), but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal”. (2 Corinthians 4:17)

Giving thanks in all situations is an act of faith.
Our faith is measured by our level of trust. It is trust that enacts the supernatural element of God’s grace. He wants us to be so dependent upon Him that whatever happens we immediately run to Him and draw on His grace to help us through the crisis. Jesus wants to be our rest, our peace, and our “present help in the time of trouble”.

Giving thanks in all things causes us to focus on our blessings rather than our loss.
I think one of the reasons we take loss so hard is that we are so centered on what has been taken away from us, that we miss the joy of our present blessings. Each of us has been blessed in immeasurable ways. By reflecting on God’s goodness we are able to see clearly that we are a recipient of God grace, mercy and blessing. We then move from a sense of loss to a sense of God’s overwhelming love. It’s then that we can cast our burden on Him.

Giving thanks in all things causes us to live with Heaven in mind.
When it comes down to it, this life is preparation for eternity. As a committed follower of Jesus, we are not of this world. Matter of fact, the scripture teaches us that we are strangers and pilgrims in this world. A stranger is not familiar with the territory; he has no desire to get attached to this world. A pilgrim is one who is just passing through to another destination.

I have often heard the phrase, “He is so heavenly minded he is no earthly good”. This is usually a reference to someone who is serious about his walk with God, most of the time it’s not a compliment. I think the opposite is true; when “you are so earthly minded you are no heavenly good”. The more we learn to trust God in all things, the greater the upward pull toward heaven.

Bottom Line
When things are falling apart it is difficult to stay focused and calm. The pain is real, and sometimes the suffering seems unfair. But as committed followers of Christ our response in every situation is to “give thanks in all things”. It’s what we do because we trust God not only for our salvation but we also trust Him for every situation that life throws at us. Rest assured that our trials and disappointments is our cue to give thanks in all things.

“Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace that passes all comprehension shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”. (Philippians 4:6-7)

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Thankful Heart

“In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

The church I was raised in was in the city limits, but our worship style was far from the typical city church. I guess you could say that we were a “country church” in the city. I learned a lot about being a Christian in that church.

One of the things that sticks out in my memory are the testimony meetings. At least once a month, the entire church service would be given to “testifying”. As a boy, I have to admit, that I often viewed it as more entertaining than inspirational, especially when certain “emotional leaning” personalities would take their turn to testify. I would set on the side of my bench wondering what they were going to say or do next.

As I grew older I began to see the value of testimony meetings. I now see that it gave the congregation the opportunity to publicly participate in the service, fulfilling 1 Corinthians 14:26 “…when you assemble each has a psalm, has a teaching, a revelation…” It was an opportunity for each person to tell how God had become practical in their daily life. To a young Christian this was a valuable experience that helped me get over the fright of publicly sharing my faith. As I look back on this experience, I think these meetings were one of the most important activities in my development of walking out my faith in my younger years.

However, with all the benefit derived from this experience there was also a downside. Now that I am older and more mature in my faith, there were a few glaring doctrinal errors I picked up in those meetings. One of the most prevalent errors was the one concerning thankfulness. As I recall, being thankful was reserved for salvation, the health of your family, the raise you got on the job, and your new car. In other words, it was perceived that thankfulness only related to being thankful for the good things, and the answered prayers. Don’t get me wrong, those are areas where we should be thankful.

But having a thankful heart is not just related to the good things that God gives us. Equally important is being thankful for all the other things that come our way. No one desires to have illness, marriage problems, relational issues, and financial reversals. But as growing and maturing believers we understand that our most significant growth comes when we are plucked from our comfort zone and placed in a state of unrest and brokenness.

Brokenness means coming to the “end of yourself.” I have been asked many times, “Which comes first, brokenness or coming to the end of yourself?” I usually respond, “I think they are most often simultaneous.” When we spend time in the valley, unable to help ourselves, we are forced to depend on God’s sufficiency. The result is we get to know God at a deeper level. Our faith has grown and we now trust God like never before.

So this Thanksgiving season, lets be careful to remember that having a thankful heart also includes being thankful for the pain, the suffering and those uncomfortable situations that God has seen us through.

So if you have the opportunity to tell what you are thankful for this season, how about telling how you are thankful for the valleys that He has seen you through? Then tell how the valleys has strengthened your faith. Maybe someone may need to hear how God has led you through the valley.

I am thankful for the valleys that God has led Brenda and me through this year. We have learned that God is faithful in and through the valley. We are also thankful for you, our friends. May your Thanksgiving holiday be blessed with wonderful memories and plenty of good food.

Blessings,
Larry Bennett

Having A Thankful Heart

Many believers misunderstand the difference in “Being thankful” and “Having a thankful Heart.” There are two key verses related to the two principles. The first is found in 1 Thessalonians 4 18, “…in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.” The other verse is Philippians 4:6,” Don’t be anxious about things; instead pray. Pray about everything. He longs to hear your request, so talk to God about your need and be thankful for what has come.”(The Voice)

Being thankful is an act of the will regardless of how we feel. It is also an act of trust and obedience. Being thankful is a result of, and prerequisite to, having a thankful heart. Being thankful is an overt act of obedience, and the sweet result is having a thankful heart.

Does that mean we are to be thankful when we receive tragic news like, “You have cancer” or “You have lost your job”, or when we lose a friend or loved one through death? Yes, we are to be thankful – but not how you might think. No one in his right mind would say, “Praise the Lord, I have cancer.” Or would they say, “Hallelujah, my close friend has died.” That would be delusional.

But what it does mean is that we are to be so dependent upon a sovereign God for every event and circumstance in our life that we look for God’s hand and blessings in the midst of the trial. What God really desires is for us to be so “other-worldly” that nothing can shake our confidence and trust in Him. He wants us living at the level where we know that God knows best, even though in the midst of our problem we can’t see the blue sky for the fog.

Can we mourn and feel the pain of loss and still be thankful? Sure, those are natural reactions to the events of life. But because we know that God has a bigger plan in mind, and He knows the impact of the event on our life before it happens, we thank Him for seeing us through the event. We have the assurance that because of God’s love and care for His children, He will successfully see us through.

So this Thanksgiving, reflect not only on the obvious things that you are thankful for, but as the Scripture so plainly teaches, “in everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus”.

“And know that the peace of God (a peace that is beyond any and all of our human understanding) will stand watch over your hearts and minds in Jesus, the liberating King” Philippians 4:7 (The Voice)