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Thanksgiving

Celebrating the holidays can make for wonderful, meaningful times in the Christian life. But the holidays can also present unique challenges for Christians. Keep Christ in Christmas. Celebrate fun family traditions on Thanksgiving.

As Christians we should be giving THANKS, and PRAISE to God everyday 24/7/365 days a year, not just once a week or so.

In the United States, Thanksgiving Day is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November. But did you know that seven other nations also celebrate an official Thanksgiving Day. Those nations are Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Japan, Korea, Liberia, and Switzerland.

Pilgrims never observed an annual Thanksgiving feast in autumn. In the year 1621, they did celebrate a feast near Plymouth, Massachusetts. Following their very first harvest. But this feast most people refer to as the first Thanksgiving was never repeated.

Oddly enough, most devoutly religious pilgrims observed a day of Thanksgiving with prayer and fasting, not feasting. Yet even though this harvest feast was never called Thanksgiving by the pilgrims of 1621, it has become the model for the traditional Thanksgiving celebrations in the United States.

And to our Canadian brothers, and sisters. The second Monday in October is the Canadian Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving in Canada corresponds to the English and continental European Harvest festival. With churches decorated with cornucopias, pumpkins, corn, wheat sheaves and other harvest bounty, English and European harvest hymns sung on the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend and scriptural lessons drawn from the biblical stories relating to the Jewish harvest festival of Sukkot.

The Apostle Paul put it in this perspective. "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God" (Philippians 4:6). Notice the phrase "with thanksgiving" tucked in there with "present your requests to God." It's essential to keep prayer God centered rather than self-centered. It's also the key to praying with real faith.

"Let us remember that, as much has been given us, much will be expected from us, and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips, and shows itself in deeds." – Theodore Roosevelt

"I do not think of all the misery, but of the glory that remains. Go outside into the fields, nature and the sun, go out and seek happiness in yourself and in God. Think of the beauty that again and again discharges itself within and without you and be happy." – Anne Frank

Psalm 95:1-6 O COME, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation! 2 Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to Him with songs of praise! 3 For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. 4 In His hand are the deep places of the earth; the heights and strength of the hills are His also. 5 The sea is His, for He made it; and His hands formed the dry land. 6 O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker [in reverent praise and supplication].

In the New Testament Paul tells of giving thanks to God.

Colossians 1:3,12-14 3 We continually give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah), as we are praying for you, 12 Giving thanks to the Father, Who has qualified and made us fit to share the portion which is the inheritance of the saints (God's holy people) in the Light. 13 [The Father] has delivered and drawn us to Himself out of the control and the dominion of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 In Whom we have our redemption through His blood, [which means] the forgiveness of our sins.

Ephesians 1:15-16 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints (the people of God),  16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of sympathy (pity and mercy) and the God [Who is the Source] of every comfort (consolation and encouragement), 4 Who comforts (consoles and encourages) us in every trouble (calamity and affliction), so that we may also be able to comfort (console and encourage) those who are in any kind of trouble or distress, with the comfort (consolation and encouragement) with which we ourselves are comforted (consoled and encouraged) by God.

We are actually commanded to give praise and thanksgiving to God.

Hebrews 13:15-16 Through Him, therefore, let us constantly and at all times offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, which is the fruit of lips that thankfully acknowledge and confess and glorify His name.  16 Do not forget or neglect to do kindness and good, to be generous and distribute and contribute to the needy [of the church [a]as embodiment and proof of fellowship], for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

I Thessalonians 5:16-18 Be happy [in your faith] and rejoice and be glad-hearted continually (always);  17 Be unceasing in prayer [praying perseveringly];  18 Thank [God] in everything [no matter what the circumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks], for this is the will of God for you [who are] in Christ Jesus [the Revealer and Mediator of that will].

Hebrews 12:28-29 Let us therefore, receiving a kingdom that is firm and stable and cannot be shaken, offer to God pleasing service and acceptable worship, with modesty and pious care and godly fear and awe; 29 For our God [is indeed] a consuming fire.

Philippians 4:4-7 Rejoice in the Lord always [delight, gladden yourselves in Him]; again I say, Rejoice! 5 Let all men know and perceive and recognize your unselfishness (your considerateness, your forbearing spirit). The Lord is near [He is coming soon].  6 Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God. 7 And God's peace [shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we, your unworthy servants, do give to you, most humble and hearty thanks for all thy goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all men.

We bless you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life, but above all for your inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, for the means of Grace, and for the hope of glory.

And we ask you, give us that due sense of all your mercies. That our hearts may be thankful unto you Lord. That we give forth praise, not only with our lips, but also in our lives. By giving up ourselves to your service, and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, with You, and the Holy Ghost be all honor and glory, a world without end.

AMEN!!