Thank You!

“I will give thanks to the LORD because of his righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High.”

Psalm 7:17

The first Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1621 sometime between September 21 and November 1.  After the first harvest, Governor William Bradford proclaimed a day of thanksgiving and prayer for all the colonists and neighboring Indians.  In the American Revolution, an annual day of national thanksgiving was suggested by the Continental Congress.  By the middle of the 19^th century, many states had adopted a Thanksgiving Day.  In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln appointed the Thanksgiving Day to be the last Thursday in November.  He proclaimed that on this day we were "to observe the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father Who dwelleth in the heavens.” President Franklin D. Roosevelt adjusted it to the fourth Thursday in November in 1939.

Today’s government has distanced itself from the true reason why this holiday was created – thanksgiving and prayer.  Although the president still issues a proclamation of thanksgiving, the one true God is not attributed as the Giver of our blessings.

So as we celebrate this day, let’s be leaders of our family and loved ones.  Let’s demonstrate the principles of our faith that politically correct people shun.  God has been leading me to count my blessings even more this year.  He has opened my eyes more to the wonderful husband that I have who takes care of his family, protects us, and tends to our physical needs.  I have realized that when I focus on frustrations and desire a “better life,” ungratefulness grows in my prideful heart.  I am left empty because I have let my blessings slip away and leak out through the holes that ingratitude leaves in my heart.  When I am thankful, then I am Spirit-filled and Spirit-led.  Thankfulness stems from what thoughts I choose to focus on in my mind.

Take the time today to count your blessings.  Review the past year and write down 10 things that you would finish this sentence with, “I thank God for _____________”  Your list doesn’t need to be grand nor grammar perfect.  Then take the time to think about the people who have helped you get this far in your life.  Who has shaped you?  Who has mentored you?  Take the time to thank them and encourage them.  This will fan the flame in them so they will be encouraged to keep pouring into others.

Precious friend, as I counted my blessings, you have to know that I thank God for you all the time.  I don’t take you for granted.  God has given me a supernatural love for you.  Know that if you were the only one reading this that I would still write just for you.  Thank you for your diligence to read these writings from our hearts.  Thank you for wanting more of God in your life.  Know that He sees your desire, and He knows that you want an intimate relationship with Him.  God always responds to someone who truly just wants Him affirmatively.  Have a great Thanksgiving where you really celebrate it in a way that honors our God!

Pray with me:  Father God, we give You thanks!  You have poured out Your storehouses of heaven and given us Your best.  You inhabit the praise of Your people so hear our praise for You.  Thank YOU!  We thank You for all that You have done in our lives.  We choose to let You remove fretting, whining, murmuring, and complaining!  No more holes left behind by ingratitude -  only joyous thankfulness.  Thank You for adopting us as Your children and making us heirs.  It’s in Your precious Son’s Name, Yeshua’s Name, we pray.  Amen.