Thanks Be to God

Psalm 100:4 - Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. 

As we approach Thanksgiving, we are especially reminded where thanks giving should be given. We can start small and be thankful for what we good things we have. Even if we haven't much we should be able to be thankful for something. Think of just one thing.

Take it a step further. We should be thankful as a nation for the freedoms we have thus far. Let's be thankful now before they are taken away. We see in the news there are a whole lot of people who cannot be thankful. What's that all about? How sad. Will that ever change?

Okay, so another level higher. The highest level. Being thankful to God...because it is He who has given us everything we have. If we are not thankful to Him we have turned our backs on the one Who has created all things that we might partake of them.

And if you don’t think we can’t go any higher than that...be thankful that He sent His Son that we might have spiritual freedom...along with eternal life. Galatians 5:1 tells us it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Free from the yoke of slavery in this world. What greater thanks do we need have?

I searched the scriptures for some additional words on thanksgiving and thanks. For His creation, for the love and provision to His people, and especially for offering His Son Jesus as a sacrifice for our sins and the victory of eternal life through Christ Jesus, His indescribable gift! Nothing speaks louder than the thundering voice of God through His grateful people:

Psalm 26:6-7 - I will go about Your altar, O LORD, that I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving and declare all Your wonders.

Psalm 69:30 - I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify Him with thanksgiving. 

Psalm 95:2 - Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. 

Psalm 116:17 - I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD.

Philippians 4:6 - Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

Revelation 7:12 - Blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.

1Chronicles 16:8, 34 - Oh, give thanks to the LORD! Call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples! Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.

Psalm 30:4 - Sing praise to the LORD, you saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name. 

Psalm 35:18 - I will give You thanks in the great assembly; I will praise You among many people. 

Psalm 75:1 - We give thanks to You, O God, we give thanks! For Your wondrous works declare that Your name is near. 

Psalm 92:1 - It is good to give thanks to the LORD, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High.

Psalm 107:8 - Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!

1Corinthians 15:57 - But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

2Corinthians 2:14 - Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.

Colossians 3:17 - And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

2Corinthians 9:15 - Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! 

1Thessalonians 5:18 - …in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 

Revelation 11:17 - We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was and who is to come, because You have taken Your great power and reigned. 

And here’s one I pray for all of you for your Thanksgiving day. May He touch your hearts as you enjoy your celebration.

2Corinthians 9:10-11 - Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God.