GIVE THANKS

Welcome to our first blog discussion. We will be starting off with a 21 Day Reading Plan titled: Give Thanks. In this study we will be learning how, why and when we should give thanks. We will learn that giving thanks in not just for Thanksgiving.

Give Thanks to the Lord!

Day 1 (for Thursday):

What Does It Mean to Give Thanks?

Today's Reading: 1 Chronicles 16:4-36

1 Chronicles 16:4-36: This chapter is a Psalm of Thanks to God by David. Praise and Thanksgiving was a large part of how David celebrated God's mercy and wonderful acts for Israel. Under the new covenant with God, ALL BELIEVERS are priests of God and should offer the spiritual ministry of praise and thanksgiving to God.

(v. 10): Glory in His holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.

Our happiness, security and freedom from anxiety are dependent on our gratitude to God and us seeking His face daily (vv. 8-11). If we continually pursue God (v. 11) we will find our hearts full of His revelation and strength, so we should rejoice in the security of His love and goodness.

(v. 29): Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

When we give praise and thanks to God, it needs to be done with an earnest desire to be near Him. In other words, don't just say the words, actually mean it. He only accepts spiritual and jubilant worship that comes from an inward disposition of reverence and purity and the fervent commitment to resist all things that are not of God and offensive to His holy nature.

This first read is a little long but oh WOW, what an amazing Psalm of Thanks. It made me realize that I should not hold back in how I praise God. Sometimes when we are in church and worshiping with the band or choir, we sometimes look around and see how others worshiping (I know I do). Some raise their hands, some just stand there quietly listening to the music and may or may not be gently swaying back and forth. We all worship in our own way, but David let it all out. He praised God with his whole heart and with every part of him. I don't know about you, but I need to be more like David. Don't worry about what others are doing but focus on how I praise and give thanks to God. He has been right beside me through many storms and great times and I need to thank Him for that every day.

I will leave you with these two questions: 1) What is the best way to show our thankfulness to the Lord? 2) How often should we give Him our praise and thanks?

Thanks for joining and I can't wait to see what you all take away from this reading.

God Bless!