Give Thanks in Everything

1 Thessalonians 5:18 NKJV

in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Give Thanks in Everything?

Even during BAD things?

Even in the face of evil?

“This is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

Miracle of Five Kernels of Corn

The Pilgrims suffered religious persecution by the Church of England. They desired to worship freely and sought out a place in the New World. In July 1620, they sailed west on the Mayflower. The Pilgrims experienced seven weeks of hell due to poor lighting, rolling and pitching of the ship, tormenting by the ship’s crew, and incredible stench. Halfway across the Atlantic, the large cross-beam supporting the main mast began to fail. If this happened, they would likely be lost at sea. After intense prayer, William Brewster became enlightened with an idea to use a giant printing press screw to support the breaking beam. This worked and all, even the skeptical sailors, expressed thanksgiving to the Lord. These circumstances and dangers caused the Pilgrims seek the Lord and confess every sin that came to mind. By the time they reached land, they were spiritually cleansed. They landed at Plymouth which was protected by Cape Cod. It was a safe harbor and miraculous spot. They were amazed to find a cache of corn that was left by the hostile Patuxet Indian tribe after the tribe was wiped out by a plague years earlier. Other tribes avoided the area fearing evil spirits. Before arriving at Plymouth, the formed a government by which they all agreed to live. It was called the Mayflower Compact. They finally set foot on land in mid-November of 1620. The first winter was extremely harsh. Food became scarce. In January, the Common House caught on fire, a building they upon which they all depended. This led them to engage in more earnest prayer which bound them together in greater relationship. By Spring, about half of their number had died. The miracle was that half had survived. That year, an Indian named Squanto taught the Pilgrims how to survive in that difficult and untamed wilderness.

After a bountiful harvest, the Pilgrims and about ninety-Indians celebrated in a three-day feast that became known as the First Thanksgiving. New arrivals from England consumed much of the provisions that had been harvested for the second winter. By Spring, the food rations for each individual was down to five kernels of corn per day. They survived, however, and experienced another bountiful harvest. When people approached the table for the Second Thanksgiving feast, they found five kernels of corn on each plate as a reminder of God’s mercy and grace under the most severe conditions. [Much of this story was taken from The Light and the Glory by Peter Marshall and David Manuel (1977).]

Five Kernels to Remember

Kernel 1: We have been spared what we deserve.

We deserve judgment.

God has shown us MERCY.

Psalm 103:10–14 NKJV

He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father pities his children, So the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.

Kernel 2: We are blessed with what we do not deserve.

God has shown us His bountiful GRACE.

Ephesians 2:4–7 NKJV

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Kernel 3: God is in control.

God is in control of the outcome (life of Joseph).

Joseph was not in control.

Joseph’s brothers were not in control.

Potiphar, was not in control. (Neither was his wife!)

The prison guards and prisoners was not in control.

People are not in control of your outcome.

They may be part of God’s process, but they are not in control of the outcome!

Circumstances are not in control of your outcome.

God is in control of your outcome!

Genesis 45:7–8 NKJV

And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

Genesis 50:20 NKJV

But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.

Kernel 4: God is preparing you for His purpose.

Preparation involves process. God is in control of the process.

Romans 8:28 NKJV

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

Through CORRECTION: Correction purges the sin that defiles and hinders.

Hebrews 12:7–11 NKJV

If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Through TESTING: Testing refines and prepares you as God’s vessel.

Psalm 105:16–22 NKJV

Moreover He called for a famine in the land; He destroyed all the provision of bread. He sent a man before them— Joseph—who was sold as a slave. They hurt his feet with fetters, He was laid in irons. Until the time that his word came to pass, The word of the Lord tested him. The king sent and released him, The ruler of the people let him go free. He made him lord of his house, And ruler of all his possessions, To bind his princes at his pleasure, And teach his elders wisdom.

1 Peter 1:6–7 NKJV

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,

Kernel 5: We are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:31–39 NKJV

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Response to the Word

Determine to give thanks to God in everything—the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Psalm 107:22 NKJV

Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, And declare His works with rejoicing.

Hebrews 13:15 (NKJV)

Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.

Be thankful! God has spared you from what you deserve (mercy).

Do you need to receive God’s mercy? Surrender your life to Jesus Christ today!

Be thankful! God has blessed you with what you do not deserve (grace).

Be thankful! God is in control!

Be thankful! God is working all things together for your good!

Be thankful! God made you are an overcomer in Christ Jesus!