November 17, 2009
Blessings abundant toward you in the name of our risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
In Psalms 100 we are exhorted to “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.” To give thanks is to express gratitude, appreciation, and/or acknowledge a reality or event. Thankfulness starts as an internal acknowledgment and then is manifested in a variety of ways, i.e. verbally, physically, and, for Christians, spiritually. Consider Colossians 3:15 where God asks “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.” As Christians we can have physical, emotional, and spiritual realities from God which are not available to others, giving us a more complete understanding of and cause for thankfulness.
Follow with me in II Corinthians 9:8,11. “v8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: v11 Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.” We as sons and daughters of the Most High have, through His grace, all sufficiency in all things, that we might abound to every good work. If we have sufficiency in all things through God we are also enriched in all things through His grace to an overflowing and abundant state. God abounds towards us a complete sufficiency to the point that we are full; satisfied in every thing. In this truth is the cause of our thanksgiving back to God.
(more…)