Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving week is upon us, Thanksgiving is an American tradition where we acknowledge all that we’re thankful for.  It’s become a tradition that many people don’t realize that it was natural in the days of the Pilgrims to have a day of Thanksgiving after a harvest, it was a custom to give thanks to GOD for their blessings. So much was it custom for people to recognize where their bounty came from that during the Civil war, Abraham Lincoln instituted Thanksgiving as national holiday. Below is part of the Proclamation that President Lincoln wrote when he issued our national observation of Thanksgiving day:

"The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God…..

 No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union."

What I love about Thanksgiving, is so many people publicly acknowledge what they are thankful for, even on Facebook, people have been posting everyday a different reason for their thanks. Being thankful is so important, when we stop and give thanks we are no longer focusing on our problems, situations, issues or anything negative that we are experiencing. Instead our focus is now on, what we have received as a blessing, and when your focus is on the positive your heart is able to be enlarged.

When we give thanks, we allow our hearts to soften and not harden. If you’ve read my devotions before, you've read about the dangers of hardening your hearts.  I quoted my Pastor on my Facebook page, Stir Me Up Lord, ‎"When you have confidence in GOD, you focus on the potential and not the problem". When we focus on GOD; our thanksgiving will increase, when we acknowledge GOD as our source, when we give HIM all the praise and thanksgiving that HE deserves, that’s how and when everything falls into place. I love the Message translation of 2 Corinthians 9:8-9, “God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you’re ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done. As one psalmist puts it, He throws caution to the winds, giving to the needy in reckless abandon. His right-living, right-giving ways never run out, never wear out.”

“Let them praise the Lord for his great love and for the wonderful things he has done for them. Let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving and sing joyfully about his glorious acts.” (Psalm 107:21-22 NLT).Here the Bible tells us to offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, a sacrifice means giving up something of value. The ‘value’ means that our thanksgiving is of ‘value’ to HIM. The fact that we are ‘giving up’ something is the part where it’s not easy on our part, which makes it all the more valuable to GOD. When we stop and give thanks to GOD, we are acknowledging HIM, we are putting our focus on HIM, and we are giving our time to HIM.  

When our hearts are hardened we are no longer able to give thanks, we begin to have the mindset that everything we have is of our own merit and our own hard work.  Our focus is negative, unable to see the light in any situation. We begin to become callous and stiff, unable to see the good, instead we start focusing on the bad and develop a poor attitude towards life and everyone around. We think we are owed; that we deserve this or that, to the point where giving anything, much less offering thanks becomes almost impossible.

There is only one incurable condition in the whole Bible; that is the heart that has become so hardened that it will no longer listen, it is full of rebellion, stubbornness, and self-righteousness. Pharaoh was a good example of a man so full of himself and his pride; he refused to listen to any wisdom or counsel. How many plagues were set upon Egypt and he kept his heart hardened, Exodus 8:15 “But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not heed them, as the Lord had said.” Each time a plague was delivered, Pharaoh would tell Moses that he would let his people go if GOD would stop the plague, GOD would end the plague and Pharaoh would forget the ‘source’ of his relief and go back on his word. Pharaoh was seeing miracles, he would even admit that the events were from GOD himself, and yet he would stiffen his neck, rebel against all that he saw and believed, yet still he refused to obey GOD.  This constant hardening of his heart, led to Pharaoh’s destruction, “He who is often rebuked, and hardens his neck, will suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.” (Proverbs 29:1 NKJV)

The key to being tenderhearted is thanksgiving, if we are continually thanking GOD we are keeping our hearts pliable, moldable, and we are able to enlarge our hearts for GOD.   “Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name.” (Hebrews 13:15) I’ve written before on this verse and the act of sacrifice, but right now I just want to point out that we are to ‘continually’ offer thanksgiving of praise to GOD.  Continually, means we are always offering thanksgiving, not just once a year, or even just at meal times (saying grace).

A good start to continually giving thanksgiving, is to practice this, Psalm 119:164 (MSG), “Seven times each day I stop and shout praises for the way you keep everything running right.”  My pastor’s wife, said when she started doing this, at first it wasn’t natural to her to do this seven times a day, but after a while it became habit and just second nature for her.  Today is my first day to undertake this task, they say after 21 days most people are able to form a habit from a routine, so hopefully I will be posting that in 21 days the results of my new ‘habit’. If you are not in the habit of always thanking GOD (not just when things are going right, but during the typical day to day activities, and even the tougher times), would you consider joining me in giving thanksgiving to the Lord seven times a day?