Thanks-Giving

Thanks-Giving

“But I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving;

 I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.”  (Jonah 2:9)

    Like everyone else, I’ve been thinking about Thanksgiving Day approaching.  Most years we set around the table and say what each of us is thankful for.  Typical thanks are for family, friends, loved ones, etc.  However this year I really have searched deeper into my heart on what Thanksgiving really means. 

What I found was amazing.  Almost everything I found about thanksgiving involved the last half of the word and that is Giving.  It includes sacrifice and generosity to God and to others.  The above scripture says it well; Jonah sacrificed to God with thanksgiving. 
 
We see in Psalm 50:14 that we should “Offer to God thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High.”

What this means is to give God thanksgiving and then give Him sacrifices and tithes.  This is called a ‘thank-offering sacrifice’ as is written in Leviticus 7:12.

We are told all through the Bible that God wants us to prosper. Why does he want us to prosper? So we can give and help others.  Now you may be thinking that God hasn’t prospered you and you don’t understand it.  Perhaps it’s because of the way we handle things.  This is how it works: first you give God thanksgiving, then you give from what you have and after that God will begin to prosper you.

2^nd Corinthians 9:11 explains it further, “Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God.” How great is this?  When we give to others then they can also praise God with thanksgiving.

This is a true story.  A young couple and their two children who lived nearby our church were very poor and didn’t know where their next meal was coming from, came to our Food Pantry.  Soon they began attending church and gave their hearts to the Lord.  They had almost no money, but began receiving food stamps.  Out of their love of God, they began tithing from their food stamps.  They brought a portion and gave it back to the food pantry.  The father found a job and soon moved his family into a decent home and had a car given to them.  They prospered and continued to offer thanksgiving to God. 

After some time they chose to do other things and quit giving to God; not only their tithes, but their time and talents.  Within a very short time they lost their home, jobs, and car. It wasn’t long and they were back where they started.

I’m not saying God punished them by taking things away; they did that to themselves.  However, there is a plan that God shows to us in Luke 6:38, “Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over.”  

He also shows us that when we give him praise and thanksgiving, we can ask him for what we need.  Look at this in Philippians 4:6, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”

Thanksgiving flows back and forth to God and from God.  So on this time that we celebrate with family and friends, let us “Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving” Psalm 147:7

Let us “Give thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Ephesians 5:20