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Psa 138:2; I will bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your unfailing love and your doctrine; for you have magnified your doctrine above your name.
In the context of the national Thanksgiving Holiday that is celebrated on the 4th Thursday in November so it is appropriate to briefly discuss the holiday and it's greater meaning for believers in client nation USA.
We noted that thanksgiving is both an expression of the spiritual skills as well as and indication of capacity for divine blessing. Thanksgiving is an expression from capacity of the believer's appreciation for God that is based on a mental attitude of gratitude to God who is the source of every perfect grace gift.
Last time we noted that the ultimate in mental attitude thanksgiving and the overt expression of gratitude toward God comes from occupation with Christ.
Without occupation with Christ, capacity for life, or Bible doctrine in the soul, thanksgiving cannot be sustained under the pressures of life in the devil's world. Heb 12:2-3;
Believers reach the peak of capacity for thanksgiving when they have personal love for God the Father and occupation with the person of Christ as the basis for their gratitude.
Thanksgiving is spiritual orientation to life through residence, function, and momentum inside God's power system for believers.
Thanksgiving fulfills the divine mandates of:
1Thes 5:18; "In everything give thanks; for this God's will for you God in Christ Jesus"
Eph 5:20, "Always giving thanks for to all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God even the Father."
Metabolized doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness produces thanksgiving toward God.
2 Cor 9:15, "Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift."
Rev 7:12, "Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and ability belong to God forever and ever. Amen."
Psa 100:4, "Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, honor His person."
Thanksgiving is a function of prayer.
Eph 1:16, "I do not cease giving thanks for you, and I make mention of you in my prayers."
Col 1:3, "We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you."
Col 4:2, "Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving."
Phil 4:6, "Stop worrying about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God."
Giving causes thanksgiving. 2Cor 9:7-12. "Each one on the basis as he has determined for himself in his thinking so give, not reluctantly, nor under pressure; for God loves a gracious giver.
v8: And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good of intrinsic value deed.
v9: Even as it stands written, `He has scattered abroad, He has given to the poor, His righteousness (virtue) abides forever.'
2Cor 9:10; Now He that provides graciously the seed to the sower provides graciously for the act of eating, and at the same time multiplies your seed sown and enlarges the harvest of your grace virtue.
v11: Because of your generosity, you will be enriched in all things which through us produces thanksgiving to God.
v12: Because the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but also overflowing through many with thanksgivings to God."
We see in 1Tim 4:3-4 ; that food should be accepted with thanksgiving,
This applies to all food, anytime, anywhere. God has provided the food and it is to be received with thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving before meals is a part of grace orientation with special emphasis on the appreciation of God's day-by-day logistical grace provision.
Thanksgiving before meals sanctifies the food, protecting the believer's health from any possible impurities in the food and so that the food will fulfill the requirements of the body when metabolized.
1Tim 4:4-5, for everything created by God is beneficial, and nothing is to be rejected, if it is received with thanksgiving.
v5 because it is dedicated to God's service by means of the word of God and prayer.
As is the case of Thanksgiving Day, Thanksgiving is often a public acknowledgment or celebration of worship. David set aside a day of thanksgiving when the ark was returned to Jerusalem. 1Chr 16:7-36.
The justice of God demands that the believer being blessed have capacity for that blessing. Capacity for blessing means capacity for the expression of thanksgiving.
Potential for thanksgiving depends on the amount of Bible doctrine in the believer's soul, so that the believer who is blessed is not only occupied with the gift that is received but the giver who is the source of the gift.
One cannot give thanks for what one does not recognize that they have received. Bible Doctrine enlightens the believer making them aware of what they have received from God who has provided everything for them from eternity past.
To enjoy the gift, the receiver must be occupied with the Giver.
True happiness is loving the Giver more than the gift. True thanksgiving is to be occupied with the Giver more than the gift. Capacity for life is to enjoy the Giver more than the gift.
Thanksgiving is a priestly sacrifice, Psa 116:17, Psa 107:22; Amos 4:5; Heb 13:15.
Thanksgiving is the mental attitude of the spiritually mature believer.
Thanksgiving is a function of the believer with capacity for life, Col 3:15; 2Cor 4:15; 2Cor 9:10-11.
Personal testimonies of mature believers are found in Dan 2:23; John 11:41; Rom 1:8; 1Cor 1:4; Phil 1:3; 2Tim 1:3;
Believer's who are positive to doctrine are motivated to give thanksgiving regarding others, 1Thes 3:9;
So, we see from this that for the believer in Jesus Christ, Thanksgiving is not just a national holiday to be observed once a year as a ritual, but thanksgiving to God is to be a continuous moment-to-moment attitude and response to God for His unfailing love that is continuously directed toward us under His grace policy.