LEARNING DAILY

 

Psalm 9:1-2, I will praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will tell of all Your marvelous works. I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High. (NKJV)

 

All of us know that Thanksgiving is Thursday.  For many people it is a day to enjoy family and/or friends around a bountiful meal and an afternoon of relaxation. It is a day of celebration with thanksgiving due to a bountiful harvest.  It needs to include a time of personal reflection over the faithfulness of what the Lord has done for us over the past year. Take a moment to write down just ten things God has done for you – continue beyond ten if you want. Don’t forget to celebrate the victories you have seen in your life and the victories you have seen in the lives of others.

 

I am thankful for a new friend and the opportunity to pray with and rejoiced over how God brought victory to him and his family.  I am thankful for the healing brought to two of my friends in their fight with cancer.  I am thankful for the provision of God each day in both physical and spiritual needs. I am thankful for God’s Word and the opportunity to share it each day. I am thankful for victory over a month-long session with covid-19. I am thankful for family and friends.

 

The thanksgiving needs to be a daily part of our prayer life. Philippians 4:6 tells us, “Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God” (NKJV).  It is through prayer that we renew our trust in the Lord’s faithfulness as we give our anxieties, our cares, our needs to Him. Understand that we will never truly thank God until we learn to trust Him. How can we be grateful to God for all He has given us until we realize we are dependent upon Him for all we have?

 

Being thankful is not really a request!  A strong hot coffee is a reason for one of my friends brings a hearty thanks from him.  Another friend is thankful for another year of good reports about his victory over kidney cancer. Choosing to obey God about being thankful we are blessed in so many ways. Because we have a thankful heart, we look for ways to bless others.  I am not the best at volunteering but I tag along once in awhile when my wife does.  There are other ways to bless people.  A word of encouragement through a text or email to check on someone or just to let the person know you are thinking about them. Just to enjoy some time with another can bless him and you.

 

Too often we look only to give thanks for the big things that we see. The reality is there are so many little things each day that happen and we take them for granted.  Consider those little things when you make your list of things you are thankful for.  I will bet you will be amazed at what you take for granted. 

 

Do you get the idea today?  Be thankful for what you have and that the God of Creation loves you and is with you as you walk on the narrow way to His kingdom.