EVERYTHING WE NEED: How Can I Say Thanks?

     “How can I say thanks for the things you have done for me? Things so undeserved yet you gave to prove your love to me. The voices of a million angels could not express my gratitude. All that I am and ever hope to be I owe it all to you… To God be the glory… for the things He has done” (My Tribute lyrics).

     How can we say “thanks”?

     • We can start by praising God for all He has done for us. “…give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind” (Psalm 107:21 NIV).I have so many reasons for which to praise God — my salvation, parents who taught me about Jesus, my godly husband, my children, my grandchildren who are faithfully serving the Lord, my home, my church, my Christian friends, my health and the list goes on. I also thank Him for the opportunity to write this column.

     John wrote about the many unrecorded things that Jesus did and said: “…If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written” (John 21:25). While not at all comparable to Jesus’ words and deeds, I could not list all the wonderful things He has done for me, including the unpleasant and sad events that have come into my life over the years. “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances,for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (I Thess 16-18).

      • Singing praises to God is another way to show our thanks. “Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song” (Psalm 95:2). If sung from the heart, we can say “Praise the Lord. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him!” (Psalm 147:1).

      • Still another way to be thankful is to tell others what God has done for us. “Shout for joy to God, all the earth! Sing the glory of his name; make his praise glorious! Say to God, ‘How awesome are your deeds’!” (Psalm 66:1,2). When the demon-possessed man was healed, Jesus told him, “Return home and tell how much God has done for you…” (Luke 8:39). And that is exactly what he did — he went all over the town, telling about the amazing thing that had happened to him. Our testimony about God’s goodness strengthens the faith of others.

     If you think you might run out of things for which to be thankful, remember these words: “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing” (Psalm 16:2). When the Israelites were about to enter the Promised Land, God reminded them that they could not take credit for the large, existing cities or the houses filled with all kinds of good things. They had not dug the wells or planted the vineyards. He alone had given them all of it. He then warned them not to forget all His blessings (Deut. 6:10-12). He further warned them not to say “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me. But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth…” (Deut 8:17-18). We should ever be careful to acknowledge that God owns everything and blesses us accordingly. We cannot or must not take credit in whatever way God chooses to bless us. We deserve nothing; we can only be thankful.

     “Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all of his benefits — who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s” (Psalm 105:2-5).God’s Word gives us everything we need to know about how and why we should be thankful people. That knowledge should make us faithful servants, not just on Sunday, but every day of the week!