What to be thankful for this year

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a time we can quickly be stressed as hostesses, cooks or even participants.  Not only in what we serve, it could be who we invite (or forget to invite). We may feel stressed by where we might feel obligated to go. We may very well forget in preparations (like Martha in Luke 10:38-42), to keep our eyes on Jesus and choose the good part. Here are some Bible verses that you could print out, or make your own to read or share. Last year we cut them up into sections and put them into a bowl for people to read out loud for the others edification.

How Quickly we can forget to be thankful to Him.

The Bible tells us — in everything give thanks. (1 Thess 5:18)

How many of us can look back on a time(s) that the Lord has really moved or touched us, showed us comfort or compassion? He has done many great things in my life. Do I look back and remember to thank Him? Did the blessings stop, or did we maybe forget too quickly to be thankful like the 9 lepers?

Luke 17

 ¹¹ Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. ¹² Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. ¹³ And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”  ¹⁴ So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.  ¹⁵ And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, ¹⁶ and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.  ¹⁷ So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? ¹⁸ Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” ¹⁹ And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”

We need to remember to give Him thanks for the wonderful things He has done. And to look and see all He has blessed us with in our lives, even in hard times.

I am thankful for the Lord, His love and great sacrifice for us 

John 15:13 reminds us of God’s indescribable LOVE:

Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. 

Jesus died for our sins on the cross freely, no one took His life. He said in John 10 that He gave His life willingly, and then after He died on the cross, He was buried and rose again from the dead in three days. This was witnessed by many. That proved that Jesus is God because He has the power to take His life back up again. And that whosoever would believe upon Him as their Savior will have eternal life.

1 Corinthians 15 tells us that Jesus had the victory over sin death and the grave. In His resurrection we are assured that those of us who have believed on Him will also be raised unto eternal life when we die as He promised. Something to truly be thankful for.   

For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O Death, where is your sting?  O Hades, where is your victory?” The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Cor 15:53-57

Give thanks for God’s Love, which endures forever

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God^] Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is 1 John 3:1-2 

Praise the Lord! Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.  Ps 106:1

We are to be thankful for the free gift of eternal life.

How wonderful to be forgiven for all our sins, the moment we believe. (Colossians 2:13-16; Acts 13:38-39).  

In 2 Cor 9:15, we are reminded to thank Him for this:

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

And how amazing that we are more able to forgive because of His mercy to forgive us first.

And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.  Ephesians 4:32

Please be thankful and in prayer for Faithful pastors, teachers and those who contend earnestly for the faith once delivered.

What a blessing to know those pastors or teachers who keep the gospel clear of any additions, who do not corrupt the simplicity that is in Christ, and don’t put up with those who do (2 Corinthians 11:3-4).  Paul said later in this chapter (vs. 12-15), He did it to cut off the opportunity of those who masqueraded as ministers of righteousness.

Thank God for for the blessing of friends, and learning to be a friend to others

A man who has friends must himself be friendly, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:24

A friend loves at all times, And a brother is born for adversity.  Proverbs 17:17

As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.  Prov 27:17 

Thank God if you have a good husband or wife

Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor.
For if they fall, one will lift up his companion.  But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up.  Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,  that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word,  that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.  So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself.   For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church.  For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones.  “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”  This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.  Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.  Eph 5:15-33

He who finds a wife finds a good thing, And obtains favor from the Lord.   Proverbs 18:22

Thank the Lord for your children

Behold, children are a gift of the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one’s youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.  Ps 127:3-5

Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.  Prov 22:6

Thank the Lord for your grandchildren

Children’s children are the crown of old men (or women).  Prov 17:6a

Thank Him for the food He provides – Especially the Bread of Life  

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.  John 6:35

O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusts in him.  Ps 34:8

Be thankful for the Joy of Fellowship with other believers

The Mystery of the body

Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.  But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.  Col 3:12-14

For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.  Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.  Eph 3:14-21

Be ever so thankful for His Word

I thank God for the blessing of having a Bible to hold in my hands.  For the benefit of having His Word that we can search online. His Word which He magnifies above His name, comes with power, and was written ahead of time for our comfort (Heb 4:12; Rom 15:4).

My soul clings to the dust; Revive me according to Your word. My soul melts from heaviness; Strengthen me according to Your word. This is my comfort in my affliction, For Your word has given me life. Ps 119:25, 28, 50

I am thankful for my Parents

Like anyone’s parents or children, both of mine were/are imperfect as the humans they were. My father is now present with the Lord. But they were and are godly parents who an example of loving Christ and His forgiveness in our human state.

Thank the Lord for Shelter over our heads.

Thank You Lord for work which provides money for the things we need and to help others.

Thank You Lord for the roof over our heads and even our bed to lie in, and the eternal shelter we have reserved.

Jesus said speaking of Himself in Luke 9;

“Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.  Ps 91:1

Are we thankful for the beauty of His Creation?

Do we ever just stop and thank Him for the awesome things we see each day? The Bible says even the heavens and earth declare His glory (Ps 19).

I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.  Ps 139:14

Be thankful for the Lord’s sheer goodness to us

I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart; I will tell of all Your wonders.  I will be glad and exult in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.  Ps 9:1-2

I am so personally thankful for the Lord’s comfort in grief and sorrow

Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.  Matthew 5:4

For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.”  Jeremiah 31:25

I would have lost heart, unless I had believed That I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living.  Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!  Ps 27:13-14

So Thankful that nothing will ever separate us from His love

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Rom 8:35-39

That no man, not even us, can snatch us from His hand, we are His forever when we believe.

 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.”  John 10:27-30

Be thankful that you know Him today. Remember He counts even the hairs on your head which change daily, in fact in moments sometimes.  God even stores your tears in a bottle and numbers your wanderings. He does the same for the stars which are all named, not one falls that He does not know, (including the little sparrows that fall to the ground). Jesus is a man of sorrows, acquainted with our grief. He knows our innermost thoughts, even before we think them, and He cares. God has so many precious thoughts towards us, that we are told in Psalm 139, that it cannot be compared to the numbers of the grains of sands in all the beaches in the world. Our God first loved us and commended His great love towards us by Jesus giving His life in our place. He loves every single person contrary to what some teach and desires that not one person should die without Him. We are so blessed with so much, may we remember to thank Him today for all He has done.

We are not promised tomorrow.  So please, if you don’t know Him, click here to find out more.

Please add your comments below of thankfulness if you feel so led.