What should Christians think about Thanksgiving? How does this holiday align with the Word of God?
The Lord instructs:
“Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” (1 Thes. 5:17-18)
This verse tells us, no matter what we are going through, we need to be thanking God. In fact, when you feel like giving thanks to God the least is when you need to do it the most!
When times are good, it’s easy to thank God. I believe that level of thankfulness is good, and it pleases the Lord for us to honor him for the good things he does. (see Luke 17:11-19). When we thank God for the good things we have experienced, it reminds us of his goodness and faithfulness, and gives us courage to press onward through challenges ahead.
We can see this in Deuteronomy 7:17-19. When the Lord was speaking to the Israelites about going into the promised land where their enemies were many and strong, he told them not to be afraid of the enemies but to remember the great things he had already done for them when he delivered them from Pharoah and Egypt. And in Psalm 105:1-2, the Bible says:
“O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people. Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye of all his wondrous works.”
And, wow, we certainly have a lot to be thankful for! I thank God that he called me to himself when I was just a teenager, and saved me when I prayed a simple prayer. He took away my loneliness, forgave me my sins, gave me eternal life. I thank God for his Spirit in me and the most wonderful and amazing fellowship with Him. I thank God for my wonderful wife, my amazing children, and how he has taken care of us and prospered us all these years. I thank God for healing my son of autism! I thank him for calling me and enabling me to serve him in ministry! I am also thankful for my country and the incredible foundation of faith in God and freedom that we have. All of this, and I’m just getting warmed up!
If you are anxious or depressed today, please let me encourage you to start giving thanks to God for the things he has done. Once you start naming the things God has given you, it begins to change your focus. It causes you to look up to the One who loves you forever and saved you. Thanking God for one thing he did will make you remember more things. If you thank him for those things, you will think of even more. If you keep going, eventually your heart will be encouraged, peace and joy will enter in and you will be able to hope again.
When you do this, you can start small if you want. Thank God for anything good you can think of. James 1:17 says:
“Every good and perfect gift is from above coming down from the Father of Lights…”
You’re alive! Thank God. You are saved and have eternal life! Thank God! Do you have a Bible? Thank God! If you have a job, thank God! Do you have clothes on your back? A cell phone? A car? Well that means you are already richer than most of the rest of the world. Thank God!
If we will make it a habit to thank God all the time, every day, along with prayers and rejoicing, it will destroy anxiety and fear in our lives. In 1 Thes. 5:17, the Word says to “pray without ceasing,” and in the very next verse, it says to “Give thanks in everything.” This tells me that God wants us to make thanksgiving as much a part of our prayers as we do petitions (asking for things). Consider the instructions and the promises given to us in Philippians 4:4, 6-7:
“Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice… Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
Thanking God for things that have already happened is powerful as all this shows, but I want you to know that there is another level of thankfulness that unlocks even more of God’s power in our lives. I’m talking about thanking God by faith for his promises and things that you have not yet seen or experienced.
In Phil. 4:6, which I quoted above, it says “by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.” I believe the Apostle Paul is telling us that after you ask God for something, thank Him for his promise and for answering that prayer.
Jesus taught this same principle in Mark 11:22-24. He cursed a fig tree and it withered up. The disciples were amazed, and then he said,
“Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”
When we thank God for answers to prayer before we see those answers manifest, we are expressing our faith that God has done what we asked. By thanking him after we ask him, we are “believing that we receive” the “things soever [we] desire when we pray.” Faith must be spoken and acted on to be effective. Like Jesus said in that passage, “he shall have whatsoever he saith.” See also, 2 Cor. 4:13 (“We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;”).
When we thank God before the manifestation of what we desire, especially when things seem to be going the other direction, it takes faith. Faith, when mixed with God’s Word, profits us, and brings us into his promised rest. See Hebrews 4.
On this Thanksgiving holiday, let’s give thanks to God for all he has done! But also, let’s give thanks for the manifestation of all he has promised to do! As you thank him in these ways, I am confident that “the peace of God which passeth all understanding, shall keep and guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus,” just like the Word says!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!