Philippians 4:6-7
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
INSIGHT
-Thanksgiving in Hebrew is written as todah and it means to give praise or thanks offering to God. Few of us are strangers to anxiety. It creeps in over big and little things, gnawing away at our insides. Anxiety is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind and distracts the heart from the promises of God. Sometimes we are anxious about our finances thinking; how can we make this month’s bills? What if I lose my job? How will we put the kids through college? How can we meet our medical bills? How will we ever save enough for retirement? What if the economy fails? Other times we are anxious about our health especially as we grow older thinking, if I get cancer? What if I’m disabled or have to go into a nursing home? If we’re younger, we may have these same anxieties concerning our aging parents. Some youth are anxious about their future thinking; will I ever get a well paying job? Will I ever get married? Will I ever get children? What if I fail in life? Others are anxious about their children thinking, will they turn out okay? Will they avoid drugs and sexual immorality? Will they be caught up in LGBTQA+ issues? Will they be able to get into college and then get a decent-paying job? Will they marry a godly person and have a happy home? What kind of world will their children have to live in? These are some of the anxieties that go through our minds but it is not a conclusive list. We are called to pray so as to experience God’s peace in His presence through thanksgiving. We are called to give thanks to the Lord in all things, during lack and plenty, sickness and health, brokenness and wholeness, despair and satisfaction, poverty and wealth, delay and prosperity, joy and sorrow, heartbreak and hope, and we will receive our breakthroughs at God’s perfect time.
PRAYER
We give thanks to You Lord for You are good and Your mercies endures forever. Thank You Lord Jesus for the gift of life and the far that You have brought us. Your word reminds us that a live dog is better off than a dead lion, so we have hope in You dear Lord Jesus. Thank You for the plans that You have for us, plans to prosper us and not to harm us, plans to give us hope and a future. We thank You dear Lord Jesus and honor You. May You grant us rest in all our anxieties and tribulations. May You grant us Your sure peace our Prince of peace. May You open the flood gates and rain upon us, our families, businesses, jobs, economy and all the nations of the world. We give thanks to You Lord for You have provided for us, protected us, sustained us, comforted us, guided us, journeyed with us and supplied all our needs according to Your unending love. Have mercy on us Lord and cleanse us from all unrighteousness by Your precious blood. May Your peace Father that surpasses all understanding guard our hearts and minds always in You Christ Jesus. Amen
Further reading: Ecclesiastes 9:4, 1 Chronicles 16:34
Leviticus 7:13-15
Along with their fellowship offering of thanksgiving they are to present an offering with thick loaves of bread made with yeast. They are to bring one of each kind as an offering, a contribution to the Lord; it belongs to the priest who splashes the blood of the fellowship offering against the altar. The meat of their fellowship offering of thanksgiving must be eaten on the day it is offered; they must leave none of it till morning.
INSIGHT
–Several nations like the USA and Canada have dedicated national celebration holidays to offer their thanksgiving to God for various benefits. The church has also provided a platform for congregants to offer their thanksgiving to the Lord in form of praise and gifts during church service. This is foundational and stems from the Old Testament. Leavened bread and meat were offered to the Lord as thanksgiving sacrifice; and the priest would smear blood on the offering to sanctify it. In the same manner; Jesus offering Himself on the cross as the propitiation for our sins and calls us to offer our bodies as pleasing sacrifices; holy and acceptable to Him; which is true and proper worship (Rom 12:1). We are also called to give our thanksgiving offerings to God as He guides us.
PRAYER
We give thanks to You Lord for You are good and Your love endures forever. We give thanks to You Lord for You are good and Your mercy endures forever. You have so much for us that we cannot tell it all. We count our blessings and name them one by one. You have granted us peace and salvation through Your beloved Son Jesus Christ; Your mercy endures forever. You have blessed us with beautiful families; Your love endures forever. You have bestowed upon us good health; You mercy endures forever. You have provided for our basic requirements; Your mercy endures forever. You have blessed us and expanded our boundaries; Your love is everlasting. We give You praise Lord and proclaim Your holy name; for Your mercy is everlasting. You have protected us from the destructive schemes of the evil one; Your mercy endures forever. You have successfully taken us through the difficulties that we experience for Your love endures forever. You have granted us the gift of salvation; Your love is everlasting. You have given us the gift of faith and promised us everlasting life; Your grace endures forever. Purify us with Your precious blood Jesus for Your love endures forever. We sing praises to You Father and make known of all Your wonderful acts; for Your loving-kindness is everlasting. All glory and thanksgiving belong to You Jesus; now and forever. Amen
Further reading: Psalms 136:1-26
Psalms 95:1-3 NKJV
“Oh come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the Lord is the great God, And the great King above all gods.”
INSIGHT
-This is a Psalm of David, and a call to worship the Lord, by the priests or Levites to the assembled Israelites at the temple. With thanksgiving, our worship should express hearts filled with gratitude to our God, who has done so much for us. Thanksgiving should be done with a conscious sense of God’s presence, as the Rock of our salvation.
PRAYER
We shout for joy to You Lord our God. We worship You with gladness; and come before You with joyful songs. Lord You are God, the Rock of our salvation. It is You who made us, and we are Yours Lord. We are Your people, the sheep of Your pasture. We enter Your gates with thanksgiving and Your courts with praise. We give thanks to You and praise Your name, for You are good and Your love endures forever and Your faithfulness continues through all generations. May Your everlasting mercy and grace of thanksgiving fill our hearts, marriages, families, churches, societies and nation. Amen
Further reading: Psalms 100:1-5
1 Corinthians 10:16-17 NIV
“Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf.”
INSIGHT
-In the blessing of the last supper we share the body and blood of Jesus on the cross. We thank God for the blood of Jesus which was shed as an atonement for our sins. Jesus redeemed the world through His precious blood. His Body was beaten and bruised for our healing and freedom. We therefore share in the body of Christ and when we take the Holy Communion, we participate in the body of Christ and in the blood of Christ. Partaking of the Holy Communion thus, is a way of giving thanks to Jesus Christ for His blood and His body, and we who believe in Him are one body with Him.
PRAYER
Dear Almighty Father, we thank You for Your love and mercy that You showed us for when we were still sinners You died on the cross for us. Lord we thank You for Your blood that was shed for us. By Your blood You have made us righteous. It is only Your blood that washes away all our sins and makes us white as snow. May You cleanse us with Your precious blood dear Lord Jesus. We thank You for the suffering You endured for us. The beating and pain You endured for our sake so that we may obtain healing and freedom. Thank You dear Jesus for Your love. Lord Jesus we have victory in You over all sickness, infirmity and obstacles. We have freedom through Your precious blood. May You heal our nation and all the nations of the world. May Your salvation power reach the unreached. We worship You and praise Your holy name, now and forever. Amen
Further reading: 1 Corinthians 11:23-27, Matthew 26:26-28
1 Corinthians 15:57
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
INSIGHT
-Thanksgiving is the secret to victories in God. When Judah was attacked by a great multitude from Syria including the Ammonites, Moabites and people from mount Seir, king Jehoshaphat gave thanks. This son of David humbled himself fasted, prayed and gave thanks to God. He exhorted his troops to firm faith in God. Faith inspired him to true courage as his heart was gradually established during the shaking times. The Lord caused these wicked groups to destroy one another when Jehoshaphat led them in a solemn thanksgiving, and thus celebrated their victory in Christ Jesus (2 Chronicles 20:20-24). It is through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ that we have victory in Him. Jesus was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. When we believe in Christ Jesus, He credits unto us righteousness (Romans 4:24-25).
SUMMARY
Thanksgiving is a fundamental way of offering our prayers and praise to God. Thanksgiving is a type of prayer just like supplications and intercessions (1 Timothy 2:1). Thanksgiving offering is geared towards expressing gratitude to God (Leviticus 7:11-16; Psalms 107:21-22). We offer thanksgiving as we give glory to God (Psalm 69:30; Psalm 95:2), as we enter His gates with thanksgiving (Psalm 100:4), and sing to the Most High God with thanksgiving (Psalm 147:7 ). Thanksgiving should come from the heart as we recount all of His wonderful deeds (Psalm 9:1). After lamentations there comes thanksgiving in hope of answered payers (Psalms 7:16-17 ; Psalms 28:6-7). When we are anxious we should give thanks and God gives us peace in our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6-7). Thanksgiving was a central component of prayer for Paul (Colossians 1:12), and for strengthening churches (2 Corinthians 4:15). Jesus offered thanksgiving through prayer over a meal, such as the feeding of the multitudes (Matthew 15:36; Mark 8:6; John 6:11 John 6:23) or at the last supper (Matthew 26:27; Mark 14:23; Luke 22:17-19). Jesus also thanked the Father for hearing His prayer that God hide His secrets from the wise and reveal them to children (Matthew 11:25; Luke 10:21) and for raising Lazarus (John 11:41). The heavenly hosts express thanksgiving as a way of worship to God for creating all things (Revelation 4:9-11) and for redeeming multitudes of humanity (Revelation 5:9-14). Thanksgiving is offered to God for His nature, He is good and His love endures forever (Psalm 106:1; Psalm 118:1; Psalm 136:1), and the Rock of our salvation (Psalms 95:1-3). Thanksgiving is offered to Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior for He redeemed us by His precious blood of the cross and therefore we have victory in Him.
PRAYER
We give thanks to You Jesus, for You are good, and Your steadfast love endures forever. We thank You for You went on the cross for the salvation of all mankind. It is You who has redeemed us by Your blood out of every tribe, tongue, people and nation by Your saving grace. We give thanks to You for loving us and saving us from darkness to light. Thank You for You have never left us orphaned but You have given us the Holy Spirit. We thank You for this far that You have brought us and the far that You are taking us. We thank You for the breakthrough’s that we have experienced in our lives, families, church, and nation, and what You are still doing. We thank You for we have victory in You dear Lord Jesus. Thank You for the plans that You have for us, plans to prosper us and not to harm us, plans to give us hope and a sure future. We thank Lord Jesus and honor You. May You bless us and keep us. May You shine Your face towards us and be gracious unto us. May You show Your countenance unto us and give us peace. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us now and forevermore. Amen
Further reading: Revelation 5:9-10
Blessed Weekend
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