Thankful Psalms 40:1-5 Lamentations 3:19-26 1 Chronicles 16:8-11 Psalms 100:1-5 Psalms 7:17 Romans 8:35-39 Colossians 2:6-7 Hebrews 12:28-29 Psalms 107:1 11.21.18

THANKFUL

BREAD

¹ I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. ² He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. ³ He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD. ⁴ Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods. ⁵ Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare.  Psalm 40:1-5 (NIV)

¹⁹ I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. ²⁰ I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. ²¹ Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: ²² Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. ²³ They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ²⁴ I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”  ²⁵ The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; ²⁶ it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.   Lamentations 3:19-26 (NIV)

⁸ Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. ⁹ Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. ¹⁰ Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice. ¹¹ Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always.  1 Chronicles 16:8-11 (NIV)

¹ Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. ² Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. ³ Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. ⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. ⁵ For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. Psalm 100:1-5 (NIV)

¹⁷ I will give thanks to the LORD because of his righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High.  Psalm 7:17 (NIV)

³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶ As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” ³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.   Romans 8:35-39 (NIV)

⁶ So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, ⁷ rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.  Colossians 2:6-7 (NIV)

²⁸ Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, ²⁹ for our “God is a consuming fire.”  Hebrews 12:28-29 (NIV)

¹ Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. Psalm 107:1 (NIV)

BUTTER

“Faith without thankfulness lacks strength and fortitude.”  John Henry Jowett

“Since I know I have nothing I have not received – I can’t even claim the breath in my lungs – all things come from His loving and good hands – all things.  I am to be grateful.  I must train my mind and my mouth to be perpetually thankful for all that He has given me.  God delights in the praise of His people.”   BHY 

“Be thankful for the smallest blessing, and you will deserve to receive greater.  Value the least gifts no less than the greatest and simple graces as especial favors.  If you remember the dignity of the Giver, no gift will seem small or mean, for nothing can be valueless that is given by the Most High God.”    Thomas A Kempis 

“Whenever you react with praise and thanksgiving for an opportunity to grow more like Jesus in your way of reacting to things, instead of grumbling or feeling self-pity, you will find that that whole situation will be changed into a great blessing.”    Hannah Hurnard

“Our cries to the Lord — are what give us communion with the Lord.  It’s the dire distress that drives us into the deep devotion.  It’s when all fails, His love never fails — and this is why we are a people who can always give thanks.”   Ann Voskamp

“He who can give thanks for a little will always find he has enough.”   Anonymous

“Martin Luther wrote in his book, Table Talk:  ‘The greater God’s gifts and works, the less they are regarded.’  We tend to exhibit a degree of thanksgiving in reverse proportion to the amount of blessings we’ve received.  A hungry man is more thankful for his morsel than a rich man for his heavily-laden table.  A lonely woman in a nursing home will appreciate a visit more than a popular woman with a party thrown in her honor.  If the birds only burst into song once a year, we’d all pay close attention.  But because they are singing every morning, we scarcely bother to listen.”    Robert J. Morgan

“The disease of not-enough… is cured when you give thanks for more than enough grace. ‘He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all — how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?’  If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing Himself to the worst by sending His own Son  —  is there anything else He wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us?” (Romans 8:32, NIV, MSG)  If God already gave us the extraordinary extravagance of Jesus — He will give the ordinary enough of right now.  It’s always our relentless desire for more — that destroys more and more of us. The more you want —- the more you will be destroyed.”   Ann Voskamp

“Gratitude is not an option for believers who want to splash in waves of grace...God commands His followers to be thankful.  Some spend a lot of time wondering about God's will for their lives. We can be absolutely certain of at least one aspect of His divine will: we are to be thankful! We are to give thanks! In all things!”   Ellen Vaughn

“A life of thankfulness releases the glory of God.”   Bengt Sundberg

“If anyone would tell you the shortest, surest way to all happiness – he must tell you to make it a rule to yourself to thank and praise God for everything that happens to you.  For it is certain that whatever seeming calamity happens to you, if you thank and praise God for it, you turn it into a blessing.  Could you therefore work miracles, you could not do more for yourself than by this thankful spirit, for it heals with a word speaking, and turns all that it touches into happiness.  It be the noblest sacrifice that the greatest saint can offer unto God.”  William Law

“Gratitude is not only a response to God in good times — it’s ultimately the very will of God in hard times.  Gratitude isn’t only a celebration when good things happen. It’s a declaration that God is good no matter what happens.”   Ann Voskamp

“Who among us does not need grace?  Who among us does not long for merciful loving-kindness?  Who among us does not need forgiveness?  Every morning get up and teach yourself the Gospel – we all are sinners in need of a Savior – and be ever so thankful that we have One.”    BHY  

HEART SAVOR

• ·         The child of the King is to be perpetually thankful – in everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.  For we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.
• ·         Being thankful is easy when we consider what He has already done for us by saving our scrawny necks.  If He has done the greater will He not do the lesser?  Do not worry about anything, pray about everything, be thankful in all things.
• ·         Being thankful gives way to a fully satisfied heart.  When a heart overflows with thankfulness and is filled with the fullness of Jesus, there is no room left for grumbling and complaining and an insatiable desire for more.