Very few of us understand what thanksgiving really means or how it relates to all that God wants to work in the earth and in our lives. Thanksgiving is a basic ingredient of doing the will of God. The Scriptures contain recipes that show us how to measure up to divine perfection; and in many of these, thanksgiving is a basic ingredient.
Every recipe usually has a basic ingredient. For example, the basic ingredient of bread is flour, and other ingredients are combined with the flour to produce the bread. As we shall see from several Scripture passages, thanksgiving is basic to doing the will of God. When we want to be obedient to God, when we want to worship God, when we want to pray and intercede, when we want to love and relate to one another, we must recognize that all of this is related to thanksgiving.
It is essential that thanksgiving become a way of life to us, that it continually flow forth unto the Lord. Paul emphasizes this in Ephesians 5:15–20. Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father. This passage begins by telling us not to be ignorant of the will of God, but rather to be alert to what the will of God really is. It continues by talking about songs and hymns. Notice, however, the emphasis on giving thanks. We are told always to give thanks, to give thanks for all things, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul expresses a similar thought in I Thessalonians 5:16–19: Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. The Spirit can only be quenched in an unthankful heart, in a heart that does not rejoice, in a heart that has stopped praying. Quenching the Spirit is prohibited; it is not allowed.
The will of God is definitely related to thanksgiving, but you are not only to be thankful for a few things that you are glad about; you are to give thanks for everything. Regardless of the human verdict about your problems or circumstances, you are to give thanks. Even if something happens to you that seems to be disastrous, you are to give thanks and praise to the Lord. The Word emphasizes rejoicing and thanksgiving because they are always related to doing the will of God.
The Word says that thanksgiving is part of doing the will of God. We are told to rejoice always. In everything we are to give thanks. Always, for all things, we should give thanks to the Lord. Keeping that in mind, let us consider this question: Is it possible for a person to do the will of God without being thankful in his heart to the Lord? Is God satisfied with a reluctant obedience? For example, if your heart is not in tithing, but you decide to tithe anyway, God does not consider it as tithing. He wants a willingness and a dedication on your part. God wants a relationship with you. You cannot give grudgingly or of necessity, because the Lord loves a cheerful giver. Your heart must be in it.
Let us use the example of Jonah as we consider what rejoicing always, in all things, has to do with doing the will of God. Jonah was a runaway prophet, but he surely knew how to pray. We may want to be able to pray like Jonah, but we do not want anything to happen to make us learn to pray like that. Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the stomach of the fish, and he said, “I called out of my distress to the Lord, and He answered me. I cried for help from the depths of Sheol; Thou didst hear my voice. For Thou hast cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the current engulfed me. All Thy breakers and billows passed over me. So, I said, ‘I have been expelled from Thy sight. Nevertheless I will look again toward Thy holy temple.’ Water encompassed me to the very soul, the great deep engulfed me, weeds were wrapped around my head. I descended to the roots of the mountains. The earth with its bars was around me forever, but thou hast brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God. While I was fainting away, I remembered the Lord; and my prayer came to Thee, in Thy holy temple. Those who regard vain idols” (literally, “empty vanities”) “forsake their faithfulness, but I will sacrifice to Thee with a voice of thanksgiving.” (Here thanksgiving comes into the picture again.) “That which I have vowed I will pay. Salvation is from the Lord.” Then the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land. Jonah 2:1–10.
Jonah did not get out of that situation until his heart began to give thanks to the Lord. He repented of being rebellious and bitter. If you wonder when God will ever do anything for you, He will when you begin to repent in your heart, like Jonah did, and promise the Lord that you are going to be thankful. Being thankful will turn your focus back toward God.
Problems loom up and become great when they are out of focus, when your emphasis and thinking is wrong, when you magnify one little incident in your life and forget everything else. A man becomes a Jonah if he is upset by someone walking by without greeting him at church. If he magnifies that trivial incident and focuses upon it, he will miss the blessing that he should receive from the service where God is moving. How stupid to waste an entire service, so engrossed with the fact that someone seemed to ignore him. Such a Jonah will have to come to the next service with a different focus. He will have to lift his hands, praising God and giving thanks to the Lord, or he will never “get out of the stomach of that fish.”
In certain types of aircraft, a pilot sits in a special kind of seat. If his plane is about to crash, he can push a special release button which ejects him out of the plane. Then with the help of an attached parachute, he can float down safely. The Lord has a special release button for you, but it will not work until your spirit is right, until there is thanksgiving in your heart.
Thanksgiving is the basic ingredient of all obedience. Jonah could not be obedient and go to Nineveh until there was thanksgiving in his heart. God does not countenance reluctant obedience. He does not count your service when you are bitter and rebellious. He counts it only when you come before His presence and thank Him for all things. Even if you do not understand your situation, give thanks. Even when people or devils intend to do you harm, give thanks.
We should be more thankful. Do you frequently stop and think of all the things for which you should give thanks to the Lord? Or are you one who thinks that you have nothing to be thankful for? Perhaps you are like one little boy in a certain Sunday School class. One Sunday the teacher suggested that each child stand and tell what the Lord had done for him for which he was thankful. The first little girl stood up and said, “I thank Jesus that He made me so pretty.” The banker’s son got up and said, “I thank God that my dad is the banker and I have a good allowance.” One boy said, “I thank the Lord for my new bicycle.” As they went down the line, each one could tell of something for which he was thankful to God. Finally all eyes focused on one little boy who was sitting there, all forlorn, with uncombed hair down over his eyes, both of which were slightly crossed. To make matters worse, he had an impediment in his speech. The teacher asked, “Sonny, don’t you want to stand up and tell us what you are thankful for?” With some hesitation, he muttered, “I ain’t thankful for nuthin’. The Lord just about ruint me!”
Do you ever feel that way? If so, tell the Lord that you are determined to praise Him and to give thanks for all things. You will be surprised to see how it really works. You can always find something to be thankful for. I had an experience many years ago which made this truth about thanksgiving very real to me. Struggling with a deeply broken heart, I remember going off alone, tears streaming down my cheeks. I was so broken that I could hardly speak. I tried to sing, but it was just a sorry mess. Finally I said, “Lord, I am dedicated to worship You, to sing before Your presence, and to give You thanks.” The thanksgiving that I gave out of my tears triggered off the release I needed. God saw that I was determined to be a worshiper, and I was released. That day was a turning point for me in some very deep dealings of the Lord.
Thanksgiving is a basic ingredient, not only to obedience to the Lord, but it is also a necessary ingredient before worship can come forth, as we see from Psalm 100:1–5: Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful singing. Know that the Lord Himself is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise. Do not come into the house of God a grouch or a murmurer. Do not come before the Lord with rebellious feelings within your heart. Give thanks to Him; bless His name. For the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting, and His faithfulness to all generations. This Psalm indicates so clearly that before worship must come thanksgiving. You enter into His gates with thanksgiving. Do you want to become a worshiper of the Lord? Then first of all, give thanks. If you ever have difficulty in worshiping the Lord, search your heart, and see what kind of spirit you have. Begin to come forth with the thanksgiving to the Lord that He requires, and watch how you will break into the worship.
Psalm 95 emphasizes this also. O come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving. The margin reads, “A song of thanksgiving.” Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods… Psalm 95:1–3.
Thanksgiving is also the basic ingredient of all intercession. Regardless of how great a burden you have, how you agonize and cry out to God, be aware that there is something of an egotism involved in all intercession that is presented without thanksgiving. It is an obvious fact that intercessors can develop a certain spiritual pride, as they pray for the leaders and key ministries. It is a super-spiritual attitude that seems to shout, “I’m an intercessor!” What is it that makes an intercessor palatable to God in his supplication, intercession, and crying out to the Lord? Again, a portion of Scripture gives us the answer—Philippians 4:4–7: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your forbearing spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing. Suppose there is anxiety in your heart, based on a legitimate spiritual burden that God has laid on your heart. What are you to do? Should you lie awake all night worrying about it? No! Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication (just interceding until you get an answer is not enough; you cannot forget the next important phrase) with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Then, instead of the turmoil and the anxiety, you will experience the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension. It shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
To reiterate—thanksgiving is a basic ingredient of every obedience, of every worship service; it is a basic ingredient of every period of intercession and every prayer we speak.
Thanksgiving is also a basic ingredient of our love and of every love relationship, as we see from Colossians 3:12–21. This Scripture speaks about love and about all of the relationships that come out of the love which God puts in our hearts.… As those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved (that is you), put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against any one; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. And beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. (Thanksgiving is involved in all love relationships that we are to have.)
Let the Word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs (now note the next phrase) singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Thankfulness! And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. Three times the concept of thanksgiving is interwoven into this description of the whole course of compassionate and loving relationships that we are to have with one another and with the Lord. Three times thanksgiving is named in this passage as a basic ingredient of love and every love relationship.
Verse 18 continues: Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. This is a key verse when we speak about submission; but it is unfortunate that we often begin reading this verse, not realizing how important the preceding portion is in the understanding of this admonition to wives. A wife may tell her husband that she is subject to him, but if there is no love in her heart for him, her words will in no way satisfy either God or any self-respecting husband. Wives should be subject to their husbands as is fitting in the Lord, but only with love. And love will not be there until there is thankfulness. Love is not activated until her heart is thankful. All of this indicates that thanksgiving is the basic ingredient in every love relationship.
Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them. Do not be arrogant in showing your authority, by insisting that everyone recognize you as the head of the house. Any manifestation of authority without love is an abomination in the sight of God.
Authority must be exercised with love and with thanksgiving. When a man tells his wife that he loves her, but he has no appreciation or thankfulness in his heart for what she is doing, she will most likely respond with the feeling that he is taking her for granted. What she actually needs and wants is some evidence of his thankfulness and appreciation for the fact that she has dedicated her life to him. Similarly, when you tell God that you love Him, do it with thanksgiving and praise in your heart. Luke 17:11–19 records the healing of ten lepers. Nine of the lepers probably loved the Lord in a way, but only one returned to say, “Thank You, Jesus, for healing me of my leprosy.” Jesus said, “Where are the other nine?” Be thankful!
You can have no right relationship, either with God or with one another, if you are not thankful. Your authority, your submission, and everything in your life must include thanksgiving. It is not enough for a wife to tell her husband that she is submissive to him and loves him just because she knows she is supposed to love him. The husband is looking for something more. He is taking his responsibility seriously, working hard so that he can bring home the money to take care of his wife and family. Wives should be thankful for their husbands, and the husbands should be thankful for their wives. Thankfulness is a part of love and every love relationship.
Our Scripture in Colossians speaks about authority and submission, and the next verse is addressed to the children. Children, be obedient to your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord. When a child is asked by one of his parents to do something, and he responds by stomping off and mumbling that he never has any fun, and then reluctantly does what he is told, that child is not blessed of God. There has to be love in his submission to his parents. There must be respect and honor, and there can be no honor and no respect without love; nor can there be any love without respect and honor. The woman who must continually struggle to love her husband also has no respect for him.
In the family the inter-relating must be with love. Fathers, do not exasperate (provoke to anger) your children, that they may not lose heart. The father who is tyrannical and stern in disciplining his child will often drive that child into a place where either his spirit is broken, or he becomes totally rebellious and alienated from the father. Such a tyrannical father finds it very difficult to express love, if indeed he feels any love for the child.
A mother who is continually nagging cannot manifest the love that God wants. If she can humbly say, “Thank You, Jesus, for this child that You have given me to raise; thank You for the stewardship of it,” she will not be a nagger. Love has to be expressed with thanksgiving. Every relationship must include thanksgiving.
In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God. The will of God cannot be performed in the life of any person who is rebellious, who is always complaining and murmuring and criticizing, and never grateful or thankful. Wake up to the realm of thanksgiving! Wake up to the will of God!
In the days that are before us, we will be coming before the Lord and thanking Him for even a crust of bread. And when we thank Him for that crust of bread, His unceasing supply will flow through to us. Do not be satisfied with a meaningless ritual of giving thanks at the table. Go a step further. Be truly grateful. Say, “Lord, we are the people of Your pasture. We are the children of Your table. Thank You, Lord, for this food that we have.” Receive it with true thanksgiving in your heart, and bless it. Then there will be something on that table at the next meal too.
Thankfulness is the first requisite of faith, of love, of obedience, of every relationship, of prayer and intercession, and of worship. Do not be so occupied with the technicalities of ministry that you forget to season liberally every relationship with thanksgiving and love. Everyone can be thankful. It starts on the level of the soul and enables you to open up the whole realm of your spirit to God. Always be thankful!