This morning I am going to share my Thanksgiving message. Tomorrow I will be at my sister’s house. On Thanksgiving day the house will be full of family, food, fun and fellowship. I have a lot to be thankful for. As I prayed over what to share with you today, the message I feel led to share is one of having a “Thankful Heart”. Whether 2016 has gone the way you wanted or not, I am sure you still have many things to be thankful for.
In Paul’s first letter to the church in Thessalonica he taught us how to live a life pleasing to God. In his closing remarks he said, “Always be full of joy. Never stop praying. Whatever happens, always be thankful. This is how God wants you to live in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thes 5:16-18 ERV).
So what does this mean to you today? I will give you some things to be thankful for:
1. God made plans for you by His marvelous grace.
a) God planned for your arrival, He already mapped out your success, and His plans are not negatively affected by your performance, because His plans were made by (and continue to be rooted in) His unearned grace.
b) You never qualified for the plans God made for you. Jesus qualified you before the world began. That’s something to be thankful for.
2. God loves you unconditionally.
a) Nothing you did caused God to start loving you and nothing you do will make Him stop.
b) God’s love is not based on your performance. His love is based on His grace. This means that it is not contingent upon what you do or fail to do.
3. God has been better to you than you deserve.
a) In addition to reading about the goodness of God, you have already experienced it. God has already been better to you than you deserve.
b) God’s goodness towards you far exceeds your performance towards Him. That’s a reason to be thankful!
4. God is tirelessly dedicated to you and to the plans He made for you.
a) The Bible tells us that we can be confident of the fact that God WILL finish what He started in our lives (Phil 1:6); not because we are so good, but because He is.
b) Even when you are faithLESS to God, He remains faithFUL to you. Why? Because He lives IN you, His plans for you were set before you were born, and He is committed to the plans He made. For God to deny or disown you, He would have to deny and disown Himself (see 2 Tim 2:13). That’s a reason to be thankful!
5. God lives IN you!
a) God is love, in Him there is no selfishness at all. God is light, in Him there is no darkness at all. The God of love and light lives IN you. This means you should be love and light in this world. You don’t have to generate the love or light, all you have to do is ALLOW God’s love and light to flow and shine through you. When you do, there is no reason why you can’t be thankful.
b) God is ON you, IN you, WITH you and FOR you. When you consider the enormity of that reality, you can’t help but live your life with a thankful heart.
Closing Confession: Father, I thank for planning for me before I was born. For saving me from hell. For washing me in the Blood of Your Son. For filling me with Your Spirit. For calling me according to Your purpose. For loving me even when I ignored You. For never turning Your back on me. For looking past my faults, flaws and failures. For decided to use me by Your unearned grace. You are ON me, IN me, WITH me and FOR me. You are more dedicated to me than sometimes I am to myself. For that Father, I am thankful. I LET Your light shine through me, for all the world to see. I enter every day with a spring in my step, a song in my spirit, and a smile on my face, because I have a thankful heart. Thank You Father for being so good to me. I have so much to be Thankful for. May a spirit of Thanksgiving flow through me TO every person I come in contact with this week. I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
