“Praise the Lord! Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy is everlasting.” (NKJV)
Thanksgiving should not be seasonal for the Christian; rather it should be an integral of his or her lifestyle. The psalmist showed us why we should praise and give thanks to the Lord: “for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.” Thanksgiving should arise in our hearts because of God’s goodness to us. He shows His goodness to us by everything that happens in our lives. We might think that His goodness is not shown during the bad times of our lives, but those might be among the best times of our lives. I can look back over my life and see how good has always come out of the bad things that happened in my life. It is during those times that God has taught me and deepened my faith in Him. I have many testimonies from other Christians who are in agreement with me. That’s why Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:20: “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul was an expert in giving thanks for “everything.” Take 2 Corinthians 6:4-5 as an example: “But as God’s ministers we commend ourselves in everything: by great endurance, by afflictions, by hardship, by difficulties, 5. by beatings, by imprisonments, by riots, by labors, by sleepless nights, by times of hunger…” There is more, but these should suffice to show that Paul knew what he was writing about when he wrote that we give thanks “always for all things.” No difficult time seems good at the time, but when we look back we see that God was doing a great work in our lives for our good. We should nott, however, forget the good things that He does for us that are not difficult. Think about your own life for a moment. Do you have a family? Thank God. Do you have good friends? Thank God. Do you have a job? Thank God. Can you breathe? Thank God. You get the idea. There are many ways that God has been good to us, but nothing compares to His giving His Son to die on the cross for our sins, and saving us when we put our faith in Him. If you will put your mind to it, you will be able to think of many, many things in your life that you can thank God for. If you can’t, you really need to get your priorities straight and focus on Him. Psalm 106:1 also reminds us that: “His mercy is everlasting.” This means that God will never run out of mercy. That is good news, because if He did we would really be in trouble. Think of living in a world where we only had God’s wrath to look forward to. It wouldn’t be pretty. Isn’t it great that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”? That is mercy. God treats us better than we treat each other, and for that we should be grateful. In His mercy, God wants the best for us. He doesn’t want us to wallow in sin. He doesn’t want us to live in misery. He doesn’t want us to go through life feeling guilty. He has arranged things so that we do not have go through these, and other, things. It amazes me that people do go through all of these things, even Christians, but the fact is that we do not have to. We should be thankful that His mercy helps us live better lives. I have counseled with people over the years, who were miserable and there didn’t seem to be anything that could take them out of their misery. There was/is a “Bible filled with answers to all of their dilemmas, but often they would not pay attention to that. It must break God’s heart when He offers great mercy and people choose not to take Him up on it. His mercy is available to all who will call on Him, and it is everlasting mercy. We should be thankful that God is the God mercy. Meditate on God and His part in your life, and see that He is good to you and that His mercy applies to you. Bro. Joe
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“Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name, make known His deeds among the peoples!” NKJV
Psalm 105 is a relatively long psalm about God’s relationship with His people, Israel. It tells of God’s faithfulness to His people in delivering them from Egypt. The psalm concludes with these words: “He brought out His people with joy, His chosen ones with gladness, He gave them the lands of the Gentiles, and they inherited the labor of the nations, that they might observe His statutes and keep His laws.” The psalm is a reminder to God’s people of all ages in a metaphorical sense that He has delivered us all from our “Egypt’s” into abundant life in Him. In this spirit, I saw in the first verse three priorities for all of God’s people of every age. The first priority that I saw in this verse was that God’s chosen people are to “give thanks” to Him. Of all people, we should be the most thankful people on earth. Throughout the Old and New Testaments we read of God’s faithfulness to His people – to the Jews first and then to believers in Jesus Christ. We should be thankful that God seeks a relationship with us, indeed, longs for a relationship with us. I’m afraid that just as Israel forgot about the blessings of God, we will do the same if we are not careful. The call of the world is strong, and Satan, our greatest enemy, knows this and tempts us with the world’s goods. But God’s mercy and grace keep us and continually calls us back to obedience. We need to understand this and get it down good: We owe it to God to be thankful to Him for all of His blessings in our lives. We owe it to God to be thankful for Him because of who and what He is – period. Pause now, and “give thanks to the Lord.” The second priority that I saw in this verse was that God’s chosen people are to “call upon His name.” Of course you know that this means we are to pray. Prayer is not a task that God has given us; rather, it is a privilege and a perpetual joy that He has allowed us. Prayer should be the first priority of our spiritual lives, or I should say that prayer is the first priority of our spiritual lives. Those who know about such things say that communication between a husband and wife is of utmost importance in the fulfillment of the marriage relationship. The same is true of our relationship with God. Prayer should be a reflex, for lack of a better word, in the life of a Christian. It should be as automatic as breathing. We have God’s ear all of the time, not just on special occasions. In fact, it is when we are going through the most difficult of times that we should call upon the name of the Lord. It is a pity that some people get out of communication with God during troubled times and do not feel like praying. We do not pray just because we feel like it; we pray because we have to. If you haven’t already, make prayer a priority in your life. The third priority that I saw in this verse was that, along with being thankful and praying, we should “make known His deeds among the people.” This means that in spite of the fact that many people today see religion as “a personal thing,” the Bible does not teach us that this is so. Throughout scripture, we are reminded to tell other people about what God has done in our lives. Israel had many magnificent stories to tell about what God did for them in choosing them and delivering them. These are our stories as well, to which we can joyfully add that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Surely, each of us have stories that we can tell about what Jesus has done in our lives. This is what “make known His deeds” means. It is important to tell others about what the Bible says about God’s great deeds, but it is also important to tell others about the great deeds that He has done in our lives. This begins with the fact that when we believed Jesus saved us from our sins. Keep in mind that these should be your priorities too!!! Bro. Joe “And whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.”
In the last article I wrote about letting “the peace of God rule in your hearts,” being thankful, and letting “the word of Christ dwell in you.” I called it “Three Good Rules for Christian living.” Notice that this text begins with the conjunction “and.” This means that Colossians 3:17 is a continuation of the theme of Christian service and fellowship given in verses 15-16. When we are equipped with peace, thankfulness and the word of Christ, we are ready to serve the Lord effectively. This verse tells us how to serve the Lord. Notice the word “whatsoever.” (It is translated “whatever” in NIV.) “Whatever,” tells us that no matter what the service we are to render we are to do it in the name of the Lord Jesus. This suggests to me that there is no service that we can render for the Lord that will be of little consequence. One might think that being an usher is not as important as teaching a Sunday School class, leading the singing or preaching. (We could say that about any number of services that go on at a church.) Ushering would fall under “whatever.” If you are going to be a church usher, don’t just give out bulletins, but make it a ministry of hospitality so that people will not just feel welcome but will realize that what is going on in this church service is important. The usher is the first person that a new visitor meets at a worship service, and they make a good or bad impression according to how they greet people. Whatever you have been gifted to do, whether it seems like a big job or a small job, it is to be done in the name of the Lord and it will definitely not be a small job. “Whatever you do in word” is important and should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus. In other words, we need to be careful what we say to people so that what we say is worthy of the name of Jesus. I have heard some words at church that did not seem like service to the Lord. In fact, I have probably said a few words to people that were not worthy of the name of Jesus. We should make sure that the words we use will have a positive effect on people. This does not mean that we should never speak negatively, because sometimes a negative word will have a positive outcome. We should just make sure that what we say is the truth and that it will help the person that we speak to in a positive way. In the third chapter of James we find a scathing denunciation of misuse of our words. James 3:6 is an example: “And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity, so is the tongue among our members, that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire of hell.” We should make sure that the words that we use are not “set on fire of hell” if you get my drift! We should make sure that our words will serve the Lord Jesus. “Whatever you do in…deed” is important and should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus. I think that we should be careful that our words match our deeds, or vice-versa. You know the old saying: “What you do speaks so loudly, I can’t hear what you are saying." We have been saved to work and to do deeds for the Savior. Our works cannot save us, but they can make us effective and can serve as a witness for the Lord. We need to ask ourselves if what we are doing can be done in the name of Jesus. In other words, we should make sure that our deeds are good deeds. Jesus said in Matthew 5:16: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” If our works are done in the name of Jesus, they will glorify the Father. Make sure that whatever you say or do can be said or done in the name of Jesus. Bro. Joe “Come before (the Lord’s) presence with thanksgiving…”
How can we come into the presence of the Lord without being thankful? After all, the only reason that we have access to Him is because He allows it by grace. We have an understanding of being in the Lord’s presence that the psalmist did not have. The psalmist lived before the “veil of the temple was torn in two.” Because of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, we are in His presence at all times. Not only should we “come before His presence with thanksgiving;” we should live in His presence with thanksgiving. There are at least three areas of our lives that we should approach the Lord in thanksgiving: when we worship, when we work, and when we witness. We should approach the Lord in thankful worship on a daily basis. Sunday worship is not enough. Every Christian should set aside a time for Bible reading and prayer each day. It is safe to say that every great Christian, throughout Christian history, has disciplined himself, or herself, to have devotions every day. How else can we express our thankfulness to Him for all that He has done in our lives? If you do not have a devotional time in your daily routine, you need to start one now. Also, we should be aware of God’s presence every moment of every day and be thankful that He is with us. We should also approach the Lord in thankful worship in corporate worship with our church. Sunday should be a day of worship and praise with our fellow Christians. Again, all great Christians took time for this. If we are truly thankful, why would we have to be begged or manipulated into publicly worshipping God? Public worship identifies us with the people of God, and indentifies us with all of the great people of God – past and present. We should go about our work in our chosen professions in a spirit of thanksgiving. Work was ordained in the Garden of Eden. Even before they sinned, Adam and Eve were told to tend the Garden. Work was not punishment; it was a privilege. Work did not become burdensome until sin entered the picture. The original words for work and worship are almost indistinguishable. We are not to just be thankful on our knees, but we are to be thankful as we go about our daily work. After all, we work in God’s presence each day. We should do Christian work, church work and otherwise in a spirit of thanksgiving. We should not begrudge the time that we spend in serving the Lord. We should be thankful for this work because the Lord allows us to work for Him. We are not doing God any favors. He favors us by letting us serve Him. Remember this as you go about your work for Him in your church and community – and be thankful. Every Christian is a witness for Jesus. We should not be afraid of this. We should be thankful. Again, witnessing is not our burden, it is our privilege. Witnessing should be a natural overflow of thanksgiving for what Jesus has done for us. How can we be aware that we live in His presence daily and not yearn to witness for Him in some way. The first witness that we have is our lives. If we live thankfully before Him each day, people will see our lives and, perhaps, want what we have. You have probably heard the hymn: “Living for Jesus, a life that is true, living for Jesus in all that I do. Living for Jesus a life that is free, this is the pathway of blessing for me…” All of the above gives us good reason to “come before "God’s presence with thanksgiving.” Remember that being thankful is not just a November thing, it is an every day thing. Bro. Joe “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto Your Name, O most High. 2.To show forth your loving-kindness in the morning and your faithfulness every night.”
We have a season that we call “Thanksgiving,” but thanksgiving should be a part of our everyday lives. We should be eternally thankful for all of the good things that Jesus has done in our lives. We see all of the beauty around us and we know that He is the author of it. We think of the coming of Jesus into the world, dying on the cross, rising from the tomb, etc. and we know that He is the One who made it all possible. We enjoy the fellowship that we have with our fellow Christians, and we know that He gave us each other. Yes, thanksgiving is a good thing. The psalmist suggests some things that should result from giving thanks unto the Lord. The psalmist wrote: “it is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto your name.” We sing praises to God because He has put a song in our hearts. What is the source of the song of praise that we sing in His name? It comes from the Holy Spirit who dwells in our hearts. I know that this is not always true, but sometimes when I look out over a congregation and see that some are not singing, I can’t help but wonder if they have a song in their hearts. I’m not known for my great singing, but I do a lot of it in church, in the shower, in the car, etc. (I did sing bass with “The Harper Trio” on a couple of occasions – by their grace. lol) Hymns just come naturally to me when I want to celebrate what Jesus has done for me. I sing aloud when I am alone and silently when I am with others, for obvious reasons if you have ever heard me sing. (I know three verses of many of the great hymns that I have been singing all of my life. That is because we usually skipped the third verse if a song had four verses.) Anyway, the song of thanksgiving does not need to be beautiful, it just needs to come from the heart. That is music to God’s ears. The psalmist wrote that to give thanks unto the Lord is to “show forth,” or proclaim, God’s “loving-kindness in the morning.” The suggestion that we show forth his loving-kindness in the morning and His faithfulness at night means that we should continually proclaim both. We are not only to be thankful for the fact that God loves us, but we are to share it with other people. It should be obvious to the people that we encounter on a daily basis that we are loved by God because we show them His love by the way we talk to them and treat them. We should proclaim that love to our families, our co-workers, or fellow Christians, people who are not Christians, and cashiers where we shop and waiters and waitresses where we eat. Part of being really thankful is sharing the joy of it with others. As mentioned above, the psalmist also wrote that we proclaim God's faithfulness when we are thankful. We know of God’s faithfulness in our hearts because we have experienced it by the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. However, it is not a secret that we keep but a joy that we proclaim to others, mainly by the way we live. We should proclaim God’s faithfulness just as we proclaim His love, by how we treat people. We should also proclaim God’s faithfulness by telling people about how He has been faithful to us. Surely, we all have experiences with God’s faithfulness to us that we can share with others. There are people out there who are just waiting to hear about God’s faithfulness. If we are Christians, we have testimonies of God’s faithfulness that others need to hear. By all means, be a thankful person for “it is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord.” (And don't wait until the November Thanksgiving season to stress your own thankfulness.) Bro. Joe |
AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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