A Good Day For Thanksgiving

As you know, Thanksgiving is an annual, national holiday in the USA and it comes around once again on Thursday. So on November 28, for this government sanctioned holiday, many will commemorate the day in various expressions of thanksgiving with family and friends. I think that is a good thing! However, I would remind you of another thing…

There is a God-ordained day for thanksgiving, and it is mentioned repeatedly in scripture. Do you know what day it is?

It is today, the next day, the following day and so on. Yes, it is every day! It’s true! Every day that you live provides you an opportunity to give thanks to God. Here is what scripture
says—

“Always give thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:20).

“Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus”
(1 Thessalonians 5:8).

“Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” (Colossians 3:17).

“Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His love endures forever” (1 Chronicles 16:34).

“I will give thanks to you, O LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds” (Psalm 91).

“Let us come before Him with thanksgiving and make a joyful noise unto Him with praise” (Psalm 95:2).

“Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name” (Psalm 100:4).

(This is just a sampling, but you get the idea regarding thanksgiving)

I will concede that not every day is an equal day. Some days we would consider as good days and others we might admit are bad days. Certainly, some days are harder than other days. So what do we do on those days? We give thanks to God! This is what scripture teaches us—
 
You will recall from last Sunday’s sermon that King Darius issued a decree threatening the life of any who would pray to anyone but him for the next thirty days. Scripture says, “Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to God, just as he had done before” (Daniel 6:10).  

So for Daniel, whether it was a good day or a bad day, every day was a good day to give thanks to God. He honored God by doing this and God honored Him in time for this. Daniel is a biblical hero for us today because he prayed to God on that day. We too should choose daily prayer with thanksgiving as the established habit of our lives that we might find strength to face our daily challenges.

Devotedly yours,
Pastor Ron