Thanksgiving

I hope today finds you in the company of friends, family and loved ones. As you hang out and celebrate, I pray that you can look back on the previous year with thankfulness, even for the hard times.

I wanted to share a list of verses with you our Sunday School teacher gave us in our last class.

First, know that God wants us, in fact commands us, to be thankful in all things. We need to be intentional in giving thanks. Like biblical love, it is an affirmative action, not just a mindset. Second, don't forget the little things. Don't just remember the big awesome things that have happened, but be thankful for the food in your pantry, the roof over your head, the job you go to each day.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

• Hebrews 12:28-29 - Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.

• Psalm 28:7 - The LORD is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.

• Psalm 69:30 - I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving.

• Psalm 95:1-6 - Oh come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!

• 1 Chronicles 16:8 - Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples!

• 1 Chronicles 16:34 - Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!

• 1 Thessalonians 5:18 - give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

• Psalm 107:29-32 - He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad that the waters were quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven. Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! Let them extol him in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.

• Colossians 2:6-7 - Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

• Psalm 34:1 - I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

• Psalm 100:4 - Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!

• Jonah 2:9 - But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the LORD!"

• Ephesians 5:3-4 - But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.

• Colossians 3:15 - And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.

• 1 Timothy 4:4-5 - For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.