Give Thanks, For This is the Will of God

Did you notice the spelling?  Did you know this is probably the only time Thanksgiving and Hanukkah fall on the same day?  When this happened  the last time, Thanksgiving had not yet been recognized as a Holiday.  Because of the difference in our calendar and the lunar calendar - the projection  for this to converge again is 79811! l 

"And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another is psalms and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father” (Eph. 5:18-20).

Hey gang:  It is my sincere opinion that designating a day called ‘Thanksgiving’ is, in reality, designed for those who are non believers in the goodness of Jesus Christ.   Why do I say that?  Because Paul teaches us, in I Thessalonian's 5:18,  “In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”  In other words thanksgiving should not be a special day, but an on-going way of life for believers –Thanksliving”.  I have got good news for you, there is never a day goes by when God does not bless us in some way!

Let me put some meat on that statement.  We recently spent a month volunteering at Voice of Martyrs in Bartlesville, Oklahoma and had one week left on our commitment, but all went well and we finished our task a week early, so we packed up and returned home.  In the packing

I placed a notebook that contained financial records for the past ten years in the bottom of a box, without thinking. 

Later I needed something from the notebook and I could not find it anywhere.  We frantically looked in every nook and cranny with no success.  We even called the motel  in Branson, Missouri, where we had stayed during Veterans Week , but it was not there either.    My nerves were rapidly becoming frazzled.

My prayer was very simple and to the point, "Lord, I do not need this frustration at this time.”  Later that day we headed to town for a dinner engagement and , as I pulled out of the driveway, I heard a noise in the back of the car. When I checked, the box that contained the notebook, along with other materials, fell over and opened!  Now wasn't that lucky?  No way, Hosea!

Several years ago, I was pulling my recreation vehicle home from a weekend in the woods. We were on a back road, doing around fifty miles an hour, when a car pulled out of a driveway about five hundred feet in front of us.  Corrective action prevented my hitting the car, but shortly after that the driver slammed on the breaks and began a left turn off the roadway!  There was no way in the world I was going to keep from plowing into the car, but, somehow,  not only did I not hit the car, but did not shake up the contents of the coach! 

I have thought about that incident each time I drive by that spot and thank God for what he did that day.  Have you ever taken the time to sit down and make a listing of the times God blessed you with a very special blessing?  Have you ever considered the times He may have saved your life and you knew nothing about it?  Are you one who tends to use the phrase, “Boy that was lucky”?

If the will of God in Christ Jesus is to give thanks to God in everything, every believer should know why we should give thanks and be grateful at all time.  Gratitude is a feeling of thankfulness and appreciation for everything that Almighty God is doing in our daily life. 

Soooo, young colleagues, may I suggest that sometime in the leisure of your Thanksgiving celebration, take your Bible and concordance and do a word study on thanksgiving and gratitude.  You will find many such references in both Old and New Covenants for it is God’s will. 

George Washington’s First Thanksgiving Proclamation

            Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly implore His protection aid and favors…

            Now, therefore, I recommend and assign Thursday the 26^th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these states to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the Beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be that we may them all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind of care and protection of the people of this country, and for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

Blessings this Thanksgiving day,

Gramps