Thankful Thursday - starting 10/28
Well, I had decided to start making Thursdays my day to post something or things I am thankful for and while browsing the internet, I found this really neat blog hop called Thankful on a Thursday. I am really excited about the opportunity to pause during each week and reflect on the things for which I am grateful - then share it with my bloggy friends :)
I am the Jr. High Sunday School Director at our church and last month the lessons were on the different types of prayer. My personal opinion is that we neglect prayers of thanksgiving the most. It's easy to ask God for things, to pray for forgiveness when we messed up (which is again asking God for something), and it's easy to fall on our knees on behalf of ourselves or others in times of adversity. However, we are commanded to give thanks. These are a few verses I found - and there are many more!
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 ~ Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
Psalm 107:1 ~ Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.
Psalm 7:17 ~ I will give thanks to the LORD because of his righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High.
Psalm 28:7 ~ The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.
Psalm 100:4 ~ Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.
Psalm 105:1 ~ Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done.
In Romans 1:21 we are warned about the outcome of a thankless life:
"For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles."
2 Timothy 3:1-2 says, "But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them."
It is made clear in the Bible that the lives of thankless people are godless , unfaithful, and unfruitful. In fact, we are told to have nothing to do with those who are living so selfishly. Now, I do not believe that we are to just forget about such people and not witness to them and love them, but as far as keeping them as our closest friends, this would not be good. If we surround ourselves constantly with only people who are ungrateful and ungodly, we will become like them because the world's influence is so great. We need to be witnessing to the world in full force but also surrounding ourselves with people who lift us up in encouragement and hold us accountable. We need to be reminded how fortunate we are and how many opportunities for thanksgiving present themselves throughout the course of the day. We are a people who have been richly blessed and we tend to focus on the most futile and fruitless things don't we? It is my goal to live a life of gratitude and to give thanks to my Creator for the abundant blessings He has showered on me and my family. I hope you will come along with me on this journey! God is GOOD! ALL the Time!
I am the Jr. High Sunday School Director at our church and last month the lessons were on the different types of prayer. My personal opinion is that we neglect prayers of thanksgiving the most. It's easy to ask God for things, to pray for forgiveness when we messed up (which is again asking God for something), and it's easy to fall on our knees on behalf of ourselves or others in times of adversity. However, we are commanded to give thanks. These are a few verses I found - and there are many more!
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 ~ Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
Psalm 107:1 ~ Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.
Psalm 7:17 ~ I will give thanks to the LORD because of his righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High.
Psalm 28:7 ~ The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.
Psalm 100:4 ~ Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.
Psalm 105:1 ~ Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done.
In Romans 1:21 we are warned about the outcome of a thankless life:
"For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles."
2 Timothy 3:1-2 says, "But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them."
It is made clear in the Bible that the lives of thankless people are godless , unfaithful, and unfruitful. In fact, we are told to have nothing to do with those who are living so selfishly. Now, I do not believe that we are to just forget about such people and not witness to them and love them, but as far as keeping them as our closest friends, this would not be good. If we surround ourselves constantly with only people who are ungrateful and ungodly, we will become like them because the world's influence is so great. We need to be witnessing to the world in full force but also surrounding ourselves with people who lift us up in encouragement and hold us accountable. We need to be reminded how fortunate we are and how many opportunities for thanksgiving present themselves throughout the course of the day. We are a people who have been richly blessed and we tend to focus on the most futile and fruitless things don't we? It is my goal to live a life of gratitude and to give thanks to my Creator for the abundant blessings He has showered on me and my family. I hope you will come along with me on this journey! God is GOOD! ALL the Time!
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