This is the third year I am doing a Thanksgiving post. Why? Because it has been shown that it is healthy and therapeutic to be thankful. It is good for you! God has blessed you! When I stop and think about my life, I can have two different attitudes. I could complain and grumble about all that I have had to endure. I could complain about what is wrong with myself or with the people around me. I can complain about the country and the world and all that is wrong with it. OR I can give thanks that I am alive. That God has clothed me and fed me. That I am not starving, and I have a place to sleep. All this and so much more, I can be thankful for.
Gail read “The Last Green Valley”. It is historical fiction based on a true life story about this German couple who fled Ukraine during World War II. The husband, because of all the difficulties, lost faith in God. He focused on all the difficulties and thought that God had left him. A friend pointed out his wrong thinking. Yes, he went through a lot of tough situations but he survived. God was with him, guiding him through these tough situations. God in seemingly miraculous ways had allowed him and his wife to survive several difficulties. They made it to the West and ended up in Montana. Having a positive, thankful attitude did not change the difficulties, but it helped him go through the remaining difficulties.
There is no question in my mind what the focus of this attitude should be. We focus on God who made us and loves us. God has our best interests at heart. He works things out for our good (Romans 8:28), even in the difficult circumstances of life. We remember his goodness and all he has done for us. Even in those tough situations he uses it for our good. That is why he tells us to “give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).
If you are in a tough situation, how can you move to thanksgiving? I would look to the Psalms of lament, and you can even write your own. You first address God, and then tell him what is wrong. You then request God’s help and express your trust in him. And you end with praise and thanksgiving for God’s many blessings. You move from focusing on the problem to focusing on God with thanksgiving and praise.
Actually, worship is giving thanks and praise by remembering who God is and what he has done for us. An example of this is David offering a great song of thanks and praise in 1 Chronicles 16:8-36. At the end David says
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever! (1 Chronicles 16:34)
Let us remember the goodness and love of God, and give him praise and thanksgiving.
heinsite 
This reminds me of a lecture Andrew Wommack gave about the need to thank God for everything, because not to do so is actually sinning.
On the general topic of giving thanks, he quoted Deut. 28:41-48, Ps. 34:1-4, Ps. 100:4-5, Ps. 103:1-2, John 14:1, John 16:33, Phil. 4:4,6, Col. 2:6-7, and 2 Tim. 3:2. In that last verse, Wommack made the point that ungratefulness was actually a sin, just like all the others sins Paul listed in that whole first paragraph of that chapter in his second letter to Timothy. I had never connected unthankfulness with sin until he pointed that out. He also connects our giving thanks to God for everything with our ability to hear God clearly so we can completely fulfill his plan for our life here in this world. This episode (and the next two on the same topic) can be seen at:
Daily Show Archives
https://www.awmi.net/video/tv-archives/?yn=2010&wn=36&dn=1
Friday – How to Fulfill God’s Will: Episode 15
Audio Video
[video src="https://cdn.awmws.com/6a0ac5bd81af1184/jk5KpDJcqWAGKYUU/tv-2010-09-10.mp4" /]
Hi Paul:
I just clicked the Comment button below and posted a reply, and your blog site evidently lost it again. There is still a problem with this.
It’s odd that when you click that button in these e-mails, it takes you to your blog to a comment box which you can type in, but then it asks you to log in after that. And once you do, your comment is gone, as far as I can see. This happens every time.
Jeff
If I click the “Leave a reply …” button on your blog, it does the same thing — it allows me to type a reply, and then it asks me to log in. And of course, when I do, my comment promptly disappears again. But this time I get a notice about this being a duplicate comment, but my comment still doesn’t appear on your blog.
However, if I use my e-mail viewer’s Reply button to send a message to Heinsite, then it posts it directly and immediately on your blog. I suspect you will now need to remove two messages about my ongoing difficulties with your blog that may now be appearing beneath your latest post.
This has been an ongoing problem ever since you put this blog up.
Jeff
No. They are too casual with the key closet.
Dad
P.S. Time and where for Thursday?
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This reminds me of a lecture Andrew Wommack gave about the need to thank God for everything. There’s another reason for doing it besides helping us ‘change the channel’ in our thinking by widening our perspective by remembering all our blessings past and present and not just focusing on what’s wrong. There’s something else to consider than making ourselves feel better and making God feel appreciated. Paul commanded us to give thanks “in all circumstances” (1 Thess. 5:18) and “for all things” (Eph. 5:20), because not to do so is to become ungrateful, which according to Paul’s second letter to TImothy, is actually a sin.
On the general topic of giving thanks, Wommack quoted Deut. 28:41-48, Ps. 34:1-4, Ps. 100:4-5, Ps. 103:1-2, John 14:1, John 16:33, Phil. 4:4,6, Col. 2:6-7, and 2 Tim. 3:2. In that last verse, Andrew made the point that ungratefulness was included as a sin just like all the other sins listed in that whole 2 Tim. 3:2-5 passage. I had never connected unthankfulness with sin until he pointed that out. He also connects our giving thanks to God for everything with our ability to hear God clearly so we can completely fulfill his plan for our life here in this world. This episode (and the next two on the same topic) can be seen at:
Daily Show Archives https://www.awmi.net/video/tv-archives/?yn=2010&wn=36&dn=1 Friday – How to Fulfill God’s Will: Episode 15
Audio Video https://cdn.awmws.com/6a0ac5bd81af1184/jk5KpDJcqWAGKYUU/tv-2010-09-10.mp4
Jeff Lemke ________________________________