“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” I Thessalonians 5:18.

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that if you polled any child of God and asked if they give thanks to God every day…you would get a resounding, yes! Besides from having hearts overflowing from the goodness of God, it is His will that we give thanks. “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” I Thessalonians 5:18.

Yet, as faithful as we are in giving gratitude and glory to God, we must sometime check ourselves in prayer. Have you ever started prayer with two minutes of thanks and concluded with thirty minutes of petitions for self and others? So, what’s wrong with that…certainly it is a blessing to give God thanks and pray on the behalf of others; the point is that many times we spend more time in the asking than we do in the thanksgiving…. I do not think we do it intentionally, when we begin to pray, we tend to rush over all that God has already done.

But my friends we miss innumerous spiritual blessings when we do not take ample time to thank God for bringing us safe to this moment in time; thanksgiving ushers in joy, peace, comfort, and assurance of His continued love and provisions; it opens our hearts to see the assurance of God’s grace in all other things that we seek.

My parents, and grandparents would so often start prayers like “Lord, I thank you for life and strength, eyes to see, legs to walk, ears to hear, food to eat, a roof over my head, and being in my right mind!” These things seem very basic…but vital to all the blessings that we seek!

If your heart may be in fear of a difficult circumstance that you must encounter…meditate on the blessing of knowing that God is always with us…no, He will never leave us alone “and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” Matthew 28:20b. -and just like He fed the children of Israel with manna from on high in the desert, praise God, no matter what the pantry looks like right now… or the bank account reads -we can be thankful for His faithfulness to provide all that we need “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” Psalm 37:25.

The gracious and loving God that we serve, who knew each of us from the beginning of time- is working all things out for our good! “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28. We can say…thank you Jesus, for being the faithful lover and comforter of our souls!

So, let us spend more time thanking God for what we have, looking with great expectations of what He will do! “I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works.” Psalm 9:1.

God blessings of peace, love, and grace be with us all.