Thanksgiving (an overview)

Thanksgiving in America

Pocket Dictionary of Liturgy & Worship Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving Day. In the United States a harvest celebration with its source in the Plymouth, Massachusetts, colony (1621). It was officially established as a national holiday by President Abraham Lincoln (1863) and set to its present observance on the fourth Thursday of November by President Franklin D. Roosevelt (adopted 1941). Canadian Thanksgiving is the second Monday in October.

1. Thanksgiving is more than a feast, it is a spiritual Practice.

1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 (NKJV)

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

It seems plain enough:

1 Thessalonians 5:16 NKJV

16 Rejoice always,

Rejoice only when:

things go my way.

I am Happy

have money

your expectations are met

No! the two word verse is REJOICE ALWAYS

Always seems to cover it.

thankfulness starts in prayer.

1 Thessalonians 5:17 NKJV

17 pray without ceasing,

as I meditate on the verse above it occurs to me that we get hung up on the word “pray”.

when you hear the word pray, what comes to mind? there is an old southern gospel song called “have a little talk with Jesus.

so i wonder if we prayed without ceasing how our life would change.

have you ever seen some one talking to themselves and though “they are crazy” the question is are they really?

how many people talk to themselves? not in a crazy way, but we talk to our selves.

what if we took all that talking to ourselves and pointed it toward talking to God.

rather than talking to EVERYONE around you what would it look like if Jesus us my best friend.

In EVERYTHING give thanks for this is the will of God for you!

Let’s take this verse backwards

You are in Christ!

Galatians 3:26–28 NKJV

26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

I have put on Christ through the public proclamation of my personal surrender to Christ Jesus.

I am a son of God. you are a daughter of God. You used to be a son of a what? and now you are a son or daughter of God.

You got there through relationship with Jesus Christ.

there is no status in Christ:

Jew or Greek.

Nether slave or free (worker or owner)

male pr female.

everything is gone there is just Jesus!

For this is the will of God for you!

Romans 8:28 NKJV

28 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.

one of the things that we are challenged with is when we find ourselves in a place our situation that weh don’t want to be in only o realize that it is the will of God!

however, we are called by God.

in order to move in faith over optimism has to do with refinement over just vibes.

God is working things out for his glory in my life.

Learning to give thanks in all things is the key to real joy.

the core of all of this is trusting God in all things.

trusting God in all things means cognitive distance, it means going against what your intellect knows.

This is the real test of faith. because I have been there I have learned to trust God in the process.

we learn to trust God, We give thanks, we find Joy, Joy brings interest in the Lord,