Thanksgiving Every Day – Dr. Charles Stanley

in trusting God with today the 365-day

devotional from the teachings of Dr

Charles Stanley we are encouraged to

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in touch the Teaching Ministry of Dr

Charles Stanley reaching the world with

the Gospel of Jesus Christ next on in

touch Thanksgiving every

day well Thursday morning people all

over the country are going to be sitting

down this big table when you think of

Thanksgiving if you’re just really

honest now what’s the first word comes

to your

mind

now know reason you’re laughing because

you don’t want to answer the

question um how many of you just be

honest when you think of Thanksgiving

think of

turkey now okay I’m going to ask it

again what do you think of first of all

Thanksgiving Day think of turkey eating

having a big time and you sit down to a

wonderful table that somebody’s prepared

and you have all these meats and turkey

and and um all the vegetables and all

the pies and cakes and all that and you

just sit there and have a fantastic time

I wonder how many people really ask a

sincere

blessing Lord thank you in Jesus name

for this wonderful table amen or do you

really and truly thank God for it and I

think about so often um have you noticed

sometimes when people pray and I don’t

have anybody in

mind sometimes people pray and they’ll

pray a pretty long prayer and then

they’ll say in Jesus name

amen that’s the most important part in

jesus’ name that is on because of what

he’s done for us and sometimes I think

we’re not nearly as grateful as we ought

to be and we don’t express it as often

as we ought to express it and expressing

gratitude toward him is very important

to him and I’m going to show you that in

a moment very important to him yet on

Thanksgiving Day people they’ll have the

meal and um either if there a football

game or whatever is on they going to cut

the TV on and as soon as have had

dessert thanksgiving’s over and so

they’re into something else every single

day when you and I wake up we can still

see we can still hear we can still walk

we can still eat in other words all the

functions that we enjoy every day of the

every day so why not wake up every

morning saying thank you Jesus and

during the day thank you and people say

well is that what you do I thank him all

the time other words if something good

comes my way I just say thank you Jesus

thank you thank you thank you or if I’m

hurting uh somewhere in my life I’ll

just say thank you Jesus I know that you

have a reason for this and I’m going to

trust you to heal me thank you Lord and

it’s a rebuke the devil thank you Jesus

you’re the one who’s in

charge we should live lives of

Thanksgiving all the

time so I want us to start this message

for a few moments and go back to the Old

Testament and look at that sacrificial

system in the Old Testament so

Thanksgiving was a vital part of the

sacrificial system and so I want us to

turn to Psalm 92 for a moment and read a

few verses here if you’ll turn there for

a moment and notice that very first

verse how it begins Psalm

92 it is good to give thanks to the Lord

and to sing praises to your name oh most

high and that’s what we’ve done this

morning

to declare your loving kindness in the

morning and your faithfulness By Night

morning and night giving thanks with 10

string Loot and with a harp with a

resounding music that means loud and

resounding music upon the liar for you

oh Lord have made me glad by what you

have done I will sing for Joy at the

work of your hands how great are your

works oh lord your thoughts are very

deep now think about the Old Testament

for example and think about um the

offerings one of those offerings was a

sacrifices it was a sacrifice of

Thanksgiving and the sacrifice of

Thanksgiving they performed every

morning and every evening well why would

first of all what’s that lot sacrifice

business about so I want to listen

carefully remember now that Israel there

was just Hebrews at that time God had

taken them out of Egypt down to SI they

got that received the law Into the

Wilderness and then made a big uh

mistake and they spent 40 years in their

Wilderness but but down to SI and you

think well why did God give all that

stuff for example in the Book of

Leviticus and I will agree with you that

if you don’t understand what’s going on

it it looks sort of boring don’t do this

do that and such specific

detailed detailed descriptions and

warnings if they violated them so God

used sacrifices and the laws he gave in

order to teach them and so one of the

things he wanted to teach them was

Thanksgiving so what did they do they

offered a Thanksgiving sacrifice every

morning and every evening what was he

doing he wanted them to be reminded

first of all that he was God and that

they were to honor him as God that they

were to depend upon because he was the

source of everything that they had and

of course they discovered that pretty

quickly and so God had a very specific

reason for that Thanksgiving sacrifice

so when I look at the Old Testament and

see and for example in the 50th Psalm he

says in the 23rd verse he who offers a

sacrifice of Thanksgiving honors

me think about that uh you might ought

to turn to that underline it Psalm

50:23 He Who offers a sacrifice of

Thanksgiving honors me a thankful heart

still honors God when you say thank you

Jesus thank you thank you thank you Lord

thank you dear God I praise you and

thank you what you’re doing is you’re

honoring him as your Lord You’re

honoring him as the source of that

blessing whatever it might be thank you

thank you thank you dear God and so you

might just Mark that verse down and

um I I would simply ask you this how

often in a given day do you say Thank

You

Lord thank you thank you thank you I’ll

tell you one time you do when somebody

almost hits you in your car you say oh

thank you

God well what about when you wake up in

the morning when you don’t have any

motivation except that God is your God

Jesus is the Lord of your life and he’s

going to walk with you all day long

gratitude Thanksgiving we should teach

our children children that we should

teach them very early in life that the

Lord in other words if a person’s not

grateful you know what they’re saying I

don’t recognize him as a source of my

blessings I don’t recognize him as a

source of anything I can make it myself

and God can take a person down so

instantly gratitude Thanksgiving it

should be a part of our thinking a part

of our life a part of how we operate so

when I look at to see for example how

they express their Thanksgiving in those

days uh think about it for just a moment

uh they we say they they offered

sacrifices which and this was an ongoing

thing you think well look at all the

animals what a waste it wasn’t a waste

in the eyes of God because they were

honoring him so they offered sacrifices

the Bible says they sang songs they sang

hymns they use instruments for example

to express their Thanksgiving they gave

to God they they prayed in other words

Thanksgiving was a major issue with God

and a major issue with the people of God

in those days so I would ask you this

I’d ask you this as humbly as I know how

but I want God to convict

you if you have not been thanking God I

pray the Lord God In Love Will convict

you of the sin of ingratitude because

that’s a sin any of us can stop

immediately right now change it you can

be grateful and so they expressed it in

all kind of different ways and they had

great big meetings and singing and

Thanksgiving and praising God so how do

we express Thanksgiving to God

today how would you say we sing right we

sing hymns we get together we eat we

Fellowship that words we come to worship

service but the truth is that every day

at your house every day at your house

you should be worshiping God in whatever

way you and the Lord see fit to do it

now when I think about the many

privileges that we enjoy um they should

evoke continuous Thanksgiving to God

every day so I’m putting these up here

so you can write them down then I want

us to think about what they are think

about this and all of these are

scriptural and I don’t have time to go

through them all but I just s list them

and they’ll put them up on the screen I

just want you to think about it for a

moment of all the expressions of God’s

grace and mercy number one he chose us

in Christ before the foundation of the

world we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit

we we’re sealed by the spirit of

God and we are eternally secure he says

he sealed us unto the day of

redemption we have the gifts of the

Spirit whether it’s service or giving or

administration of Mercy teaching

whatever it might be we have an intimate

relationship with him that’s why you and

I can talk to him personally and know

that he’s listening and that he’ll

respond to us we have peace we have the

peace of God peace with God is when we

get saved the peace of God is what he

allows in our heart day after day after

day we have the unconditional love of

God are you writing these down I hope so

I’ll slow down a little bit

okay we have we have the unconditional

love of God for

example at no point does God ever say I

will love you

if now he may bless me

if he may work something in my life or

heal me if but love me no

ifs

unconditional think about that this is

The Sovereign god of the universe saying

I love you no matter

what even if I’m disobedient his love is

there if his chastising hand is an

expression of his love to get me back in

line then of course Moment by moment you

and I live in his

presence that’s why he sealed us with

the Holy Spirit we have the Holy Spirit

living within us so you and I are never

distant from God you may feel

distant you may act distant but at no

point are you distant from awesome God

that we have then he says my God I’ll

supply all of your needs according to

his riches and glory in Christ Christ

Jesus that is he’s he’s the provider of

our needs his Divine protection he

watches over us and car us for us day

after day Moment by moment and think

about this we have the promise of a

bodily Resurrection you don’t like what

you have now it’s going to change one of

these days a bodily Resurrection we have

the awesome blessing of God’s

atonement in the person of Jesus Christ

total forgiveness of our sins remember

when he forgave you he forgave you past

present and future if he didn’t forgive

you that way then you then your

forgiveness is only limited when he went

to the Cross he paid our sin debt in

full forever so that every person who

accepts him as Savior all their sins

past present future atoned for otherwise

watch this otherwise he’d have to be

dying all the time no one death of

almighty God in the person of Jesus

Christ took care of our forgiveness

forever and ever and ever and then of

course we have an eternal home in

heaven we have the promise of the

Resurrection absent from the body

present with the Lord then the last

thing I would mention is

this we all have one of these let’s hold

them up let’s hold them up and thank God

thank you Jesus amen let’s tell him

thank you Jesus thank you Jesus for the

word of God because therein lies all of

the source of all of our knowledge and

understanding now a true heartfelt daily

Thanksgiving has a powerful impact on

our life in other words if we’re

thanking him daily it’s going to impact

our life and that is being aware that

you are living in the presence of a holy

Almighty omnipotent omniscient

omnipresent God who loves you

unconditionally and all he’s asking is

recognition gratitude and obedience

could you give me one re reason for

being disobedient to God no would he ask

you to do something that would not be

for your best interest no and obedience

listen obedience is not to keep us from

having fun that’s the way some people

feel but obedience means that I can have

fun with a clear conscience and joy in

my heart no matter what’s going on so

let’s think about the impact that

Thanksgiving has in our life and the

first one is this and these are all

going to be here and I’ll give you time

to write them down CU I want you to

think about it number one it keeps us

continually aware that we are walking in

his presence which contributes to living

a Godly

life

Thanksgiving keeps us continually

aware that we are walking in his

presence which contributes to living a

Godly life which is his will for every

single one of

us

secondly it motiv elates us to look for

his purposes in everything that he

allows in our

life is some things uh we don’t

understand what he does or why he does

it but here’s what I’ve discovered if I

thank him for

it even though I don’t understand why

he’s allowing it if I thank him for it

eventually you know what happens he

lifts the veil and we begin to see well

well okay now I do you say well you mean

you you can thank God before it you

listen if I believe he’s Sovereign knows

all thing and loves me unconditionally I

can thank him for anything I’ve had to

thank him for some pretty tough things

in my life just like you have but it’s

the Thanksgiving that does what just

brings God into the situation in such a

fashion it it’s like it just lifts the

load a third one is this it helps us

bring our will into submission to his

will when we are suffering pain a

loss thanking him in the midst of

pain thanking him in the midst of loss

does

what it brings us into a point of

submission Lord I don’t understand it

but I’m going to thank you for it

anyway and saying so Lord I I this is

not my choice I would I wouldn’t have it

this way but because you’re Sovereign

and you love me unconditionally and you

know what you’re doing I want to thank

you Lord thank you thank you thank you

Jesus nobody wants to nobody wants to be

sick nobody wants to have any kind of

terrible disease nobody no nobody wants

a car wreck nobody wants their family to

be sick nobody wants the loss of

anything we thank him no matter what’s

going on we thank him and there’s

something about expressing Thanksgiving

I say it again lifts the

load it it know it’s what we are saying

is God you’re smarter than I am I know

you you know what’s best it was be my

choice but I want to thank you for it

anyway a fourth thing is

this continually thanking him keeps me

continually

reminded of who he is and his and his

position is God in my life thanking him

keeps me consciously aware that God is

in my life and if you will talk to

people for example who are not saved uh

who are not Christians and you talk to

them about most anything then I going to

bring up God unless they think you going

to bring it up and they said to you look

don’t give me that God stuff well the

truth is God could strike them dead in a

split second how foolish to talk about

God like that and in his Mercy he lets

them live reminds us of our continuing

dependence on him what is it in your

life you don’t depend upon God

for absolutely depended upon him for

every single solitary thing

he helps us trust him thanking him helps

me trust him when I don’t understand

why it helps me to trust him when I

don’t understand why something’s going

on God I don’t understand this I’m

thanking you for it because you know

better than I

do and somebody says well that sounds

unreasonable unreasonable to you but not

to God because he honors that listen I

think God honors Thanksgiving most when

I may feel like I have the least to be

grateful for but I’m thanking him anyway

and what does he do he responds to

that I think Thanksgiving is essential

to my rejoicing in the midst of

suffering in other words rejoicing that

is I want to thank you Father I I’m I’m

a I’m able to sing even though I don’t

feel like it I don’t I don’t see the

future as bright as but I’m going to

sing when you come to church on Sunday

morning and you may feel like the

Bottom’s dropped out of your life and

you’re walking backwards and nothing

nothing’s right and it can’t be right

and we start singing what

happens you’ll have to admit that that

heaviness is like a lifting fog because

you’re singing and what are you doing

when you’re singing you’re confessing

something I give thanks to you oh Lord I

praise your holy name I bless you you

may not feel that you keep singing and

you’re going to feel it why the spirit

of God’s begins to witness in your heart

that something good is going on and that

God is still in charge

and everybody’s probably been or will go

through some point in their life you say

well it looks so dark god listen watch

this carefully when you are walking in

in the dark place remember that the

light of the world is in you and step by

step he’s going to open the door he’s

going to show you the way he’s going to

guide you he’s going to lift you no

matter what’s going on so I’m I’m to

thank him and thanking him has a

powerful impact upon our life and I

wonder when’s the last time you could

say I really rejoiced about that I just

want to say Hallelujah Jesus praise God

when’s the last time you ever felt that

way I can tell some of you haven’t felt

that way in a long time I mean that

you’re so happy about what God’s doing

in your life that you’ve got just got to

tell him you can walk through your house

and just praise God in every room we

should thank God and praise him for what

he’s doing in our life and then of

course one of thing it does giving

thanks to God removes the anxiety you

can be anxious and worried about

anything you start thanking him praising

him focusing on him and it is amazing

how the anxiety disappears next thing

you know you think well you what am I

worried about I’ve got holy Almighty

Sovereign God on my side taking care of

me why am I down in the dumps listen

living in the dumps isn’t God’s plan and

he can get you out real fast you start

thanking him and praising him the devil

runs and God gets you out you’re

rejoicing and praising the Lord before

you know it because anxiety and fretting

over things is not the will of God then

of

course it keeps my focus on him rather

than my circumstances if I’m going

through situations you say yeah well you

don’t know what I’ve been through maybe

you don’t know what I’ve been through I

can tell you this I’ve been through

enough deeply enough painfully enough

that I know that when you think you

can’t handle anymore you start thanking

God and praising him God I want to thank

you thank you thank you I don’t like it

I don’t want it this wouldn’t be my plan

but I want to thank you you said thank

you I’m thanking you thank you thank you

thank you Jesus thank you Jesus thank

you Jesus you say well you mean to tell

me that’ll change your circumstance no

it’ll change your attitude about your

circumstance and your attitude toward

God and that makes all the difference in

the world then one thing I would say

this at last last thing uh and that

is you get up tomorrow morning you think

oh it’s cold this that the other I’m

going to tell you how to get over that

right now you want to those say Amen am

when you’re lying there moaning and

gring about your job and the weather and

the traffic you just start saying thank

you Jesus thank you thank you thank you

Jesus thank you Jesus I guarantee you

you’ll have energy to hop out of the bed

and do what you need to do why because

praise and Thanksgiving by its very

nature energizes us now what you’ve done

you’ve got your mind off the traffic and

that’s on God and it’s on the blessing

that he has for you during the day it

energizes us physically mentally

emotionally spiritually in every single

way so when I think about Thanksgiving I

don’t think about turkey I think about

almighty God and think about all the

things that you and I have to be

grateful for in our life so I want to

say this to you whoever you are and

wherever you

are for you to reject Jesus Christ the

son of God sent into this world virgin

born for the primary purpose of

revealing God to

us and going to the cross in our

behalf in the shedding of his blood he

paid our sin dead in full he was the

Fulfillment of all those sacrifices back

yand so

God governed Time and Eternity and

events to get Jesus to the cross a Roman

cross to die in our place so that we

wouldn’t have to die in our sins and be

lost forever for you to reject

Jesus the son of God who came into this

world in order to deliver you from sin

deliver you from its power fill you with

his holy spirit serve through you and

bring you to heaven for you to reject

him is the greatest expression of

ingratitude of anything you could ever

do

therefore I want to encourage you to

acknowledge that

God I’ve been ungrateful for my a lot of

lot of years of my

life I’m asking you to forgive me of my

sin I’m really ashamed God that I’ve

lived this long without trust trusting

you as my savior but today I’m trusting

you as my savior and thanking you for

your forgiveness and from this moment on

Lord I’m yours and I want to live for

you if you will pray that simple prayer

asking him to forgive you of your sins

remember you don’t have to beg him he’s

been waiting to save

you waiting to save

you there’s a song We Sing the savior is

waiting waiting for you

to come to your senses open your eyes

hear the truth believe the truth and let

God change your life here and for all

eternity and he’ll do it if you’ll let

him father how grateful we are oh how

grateful we are that you’re patient with

us you put up with us you forgive us

again and again and again and

again and Lord we just humble ourselves

before you today to pray

that every person who hears this

message will not only hear

it but heed the

admonitions to trust you as Savior and

Lord and Master of their life I pray for

every Christian who hears it today Lord

there would be some big time

confession of

ingratitude

Disobedience lawlessness in their life

ask you for forgiveness and make a fresh

new recommitment of their life to you as

their

savior we love you dear Lord and praise

you for the wonderful privilege of

knowing you sharing you and walking in

obedience to you every day father I pray

the very best of your blessings would

rest upon all those who listen and all

those who watch who know you as their

Savior and Lord and those who listen or

watch and do not know you as Savior and

Lord that the day right now wherever

they may be whatever time they’d stop

and make this decision which we know

will change their Eternal Destiny in

Jesus name

amen