WHY DO WE GIVE THANKS TO GOD PART 2
Psalm
124:1-8
1If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, now may Israel say;
2 If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up
against us:
3Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their anger was kindled against
us:
4Then the wasters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul:
5Then the proud waters had gone over our soul.
6Blessed be the Lord, who had not given us as a prey to their teeth.
7Our soul is escaped as a bird, out of the snare of the fowlers; the snare
is broken, and we are escaped.
8Our help is in the name of the Lord, who make heaven and earth.
11. FOR HIS MANY DELIVERANCES: The book
of Psalms 124 from verse 1 make us to understand that if it is not the Lord who
was on our side, the evil ones would have consumed us, the waters of the enemy
would have over flown and carried us away.
The deliverances of the Lord in our lives are the
reasons we (you and I) are still
alive today. If God were to withdraw His
hands of deliverance, then the enemy
would have destroyed us. But thank
God for His mighty and saving hands, His protective hands that He uses to deliver and to save us. The book of Psalm 18:48-50 says 48“He deliver me from mine enemies: yea, thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man. 49Therefore will I give thanks unto thee; o Lord, among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy
name. 50Great
deliverance giveth He to His King; and showeth
mercy to His anointed, to David, and to His elect for evermore. We need to thank God for His hands of deliverance from the enemy, from the terror of the night to the arrow of the day
God has been our great deliverance and
we should thank Him for.
12. FOR HIS NEARNESS AND READINESS TO HELP US
Psalm
75:1says
“His name
is near” And that is a good enough
reason to thank Him. His name is near
means that God is near. And because
God is near His help is near. The Bible says whosoever shall call upon the name
of the Lord
shall be saved. Romans 1013. The Bible also says the name of the Lord is a
strong tower, the righteous runs into it and he is safe. Proverbs 1810.
God is a very present help in the time of need. He is a well-timed help, a timely help. Psalm 461. His name is near;
His help is not far from you. The
assurance that God’s name, God’s help is near you should make you to thank Him. “We
give thanks to you, O God, we give thanks, for your Name is near;
men tell of your wonderful deeds”. Psalm
751
13. FOR HIS MARVELOUS WORKS: The book
of Psalm 1051-2 says “Give
thanks unto the LORD; call
upon his name: make known his deeds
among the people. Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye of all his
wondrous works”. This is telling that the works of the Lord
are wondrous; they are not ordinary and so, we should thank Him as beneficiaries
of these wonderful works.
14. FOR
THE INHERITANCE OF THE SAINTS WE ARE PARTAKERS OF We are partakers of God’s
inheritance and we should show appreciation to God for this privilege of
sharing out of His inheritance. You are to give “thanks to the Father, who
has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of
light” (Colossians 1:12 ) This
is not a right; it is a great
privilege. Those who are outside the kingdom of light have no portion in this
inheritance.
15. FOR THE VICTORY GIVEN TO US IN CHRIST
JESUS
According
to the book of 1 Corinthians 1557, the Bible says, “But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Here, the Bible is telling
us of the victory over sin that Jesus Christ has swallowed on the cross of
Calvary. He swallowed up death in
victory, therefore we don’t need to be afraid of death any longer. And by his death on the cross and His resurrection,
Jesus has gotten for us eternal life. Hallelujah! What a victory! And for
this, we need to give thanks to Him
16. FOR HIS PROVISION: We need to
thank God for every provision, for every supplies, for everything we receives
from Him. There is nothing we have that are not supplied by Him and received
from him. We must be careful not to take
Gods provision for granted and be too familiar
with this provisions in our lives. God’s
provisions should not be taken as if we have gotten them through our power or
knowledge. No We should acknowledge God’s
benefits as benefits and not rights. We must not be deceived to say that our
hands have gotten them for us and
therefore become ungrateful. We should thank God for the provision of food, we
should thank God for the provision of
water, we should thank God for the provision of good health and for all other
provisions.
We
should learn from our Lord Jesus Christ.
According to the book of Matthew
2627, the Bible says: “And
He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it
to them, saying, ‘Drink ye all of it;” Before we start eating, do we thank him for the
provision of the food? Before we drink
water, do we remember to thank God for
the provision of the water? You may think that is going too far. Did we
remember to thank Him for the provision of the children’s
school fees. Nothing is too small or too
big to thank God for. Before the
miraculous feeding of about 5,000 people,
the Bible says in John 6:11 “And
Jesus took the loaves, and when He hath
given thanks, He distributed to the disciples, and the disciples then to them
that were set down and likewise of the fishes as much as they would” Let
us learn to give thanks to God for what we consider as small and also
for the big provisions of God.
17. FOR
HIS HEALINGS AND MIRACLES: As earlier mentioned, only one out
of the ten lepers - the Samaritan leper came back to give thanks for his
healing. Luke 1716 says
he threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him.
When was the last time some of us goes
on our knees to thank God for the healing He has given us When was the last
time some us went on our knees for the good
health he has given us. Even for the
miracles that we received? Some
people will be thinking that they have never
received or enjoyed a miracle. Our sleeping and waking up is a miracle We
ourselves, we are a miracle because
we are fearfully and wonderfully
made according to the book of . Psalm13914. Traveling to and fro, and returning
safely is a miracle. We should not wait
until we are involved in an accident in which all the occupants of the vehicles
die and we survived before you know
that God has been protecting us? Or do we pray to be involved in an accident
before we appreciate His protection? No.
This is how the devil has been cheating us from thanking God and receiving the blessings God would have showered on us for doing this. It is the effect of negative
mindedness. We think falling sick and
being healed is a better and greater miracle
than enjoying divine health by not falling
sick at all. Whatever we don’t
appreciate, we will not celebrate. Whatever we don’t value, we don’t cuddle. Whatever we don’t appreciate will depreciate (in our estimation). We should stop despising the healings
and miracles of God in your life.
But
which one do we always consider as
a big testimony that we like to listen
to in church? .
18. FOR ARRANGING AND SENDING PEOPLE TO BLESS
US: Apostle Paul
gave thanks to God for the availability
of Titus both in the work of his ministry, his assignments and being very helpful in the work of the ministry. For this, he gave thanks to God. We should always be thankful for the people
God has arranged to bless and help you. A man without help – the help of God and
the help of man will fail in life. There is no self-made man. Let us
learn to thank God for the people God has brought across your way in life to
assist us and help to realize our dream and carry out our life’s assignment.
The
Bible in 2 Corinthians 8:16- 20 says
16“But thanks be to God, which put the same earnest care into
the heart of Titus for you. 17For
indeed he accepted the exhortation, but being more forward. 18And
we have sent with him the brother; whose praise
is in the gospel throughout all the churches; 19And not that only, but who was also chosen of the
churches to travel with us with this
grace, which is administered by us to the glory of the same Lord, and the
declaration of your ready mind. 20Avoiding
this that no man should blame us in this abundance which is administered by us. ”
19. FOR
THE JOY GOD GAVE US BY TURNING OUR MOURNING
INTO DANCING: If we
believe and act on the word of God, then thanksgiving at the time of mourning and
sorrow is the best thing to do. Although,
the time of mourning is usually a time of pain and sorrow and at such a time acting
on the Word of God by giving
thanks is the best thing to do. The Bible says “that in all things, we should give thanks to the Lord. It did not tell us to give thanks only when the circumstance or situation is
pleasant but it says “all things,” When in trying period, we give thanks, that
is putting our faith to test Then God will now turns things around for us,
wipes away your tears and gives us a new
song. But unfortunately, some people only
give thanks after God turns situation around for them. This is
not good enough. In all things, give
thanks. According to Psalm 3011-12, David sang to
God. And said “Thou has turned for
me my mourning into dancing; thou has put off my sackcloth and guided me with gladness. To the end that my
glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O Lord my God,
I will give thanks unto thee for ever.
Henceforth, I want us to sing like David
20. FOR GOD WILL DO MORE FOR US: There is
an African adage that says when a child appreciates what you did for him/her yesterday;
he/she will receive more. When we
appreciate the kindnesses of God in our lives and others, we position ourselves
to be recipients of more from God. Those
who thank God get more from
Him. An ungrateful person shall go empty
handed. If God requests from us or demands from us thanksgiving, we had better
realized that He needs it from us. So who are you not to offer thanks to God
for all His manifold blessing in your life? When you count your blessings one
by one, as said by that song writer, you will be surprised at
what the Lord has done for you.
Make
thanksgiving a lifestyle to God both for yourself,
for your family members, for your
loved ones, for your Nation and for
everyone. Make it your lifestyle. The
more thanksgiving you make, the more thanks-worthy events God will do for you.
Don’t
forget, ingratitude is a sin. If you don’t know how to show appreciation, the
sea of kindness for you will dry up. I have listed here some of the reasons why
we must thank God. please, be honest and look at one or more of this reasons
that justifies why you should give
thanks to the Lord. Because you have a reason to praise the Lord, I urge to
begin right where you are. Now that you have perused these things, blessed are
you if you begin to do them.
*
NOTE:
ALL BIBLE PASSAGES USED ARE FORM KINGS JAMES VERSION
Do you know that the
Wright Brothers (Orville and Wilbur) were not the real originators of the
‘Flying Miracles’ – The Airplanes? The
man who is supposed to receive the credit for it was Dr. Samuel Langley, a
Professor of Mathematics/Astronomy. He
started the project, but after running into obstacles, criticism and financial
setbacks, he gave up. But just after
that, the Wright Brothers who were uneducated and with insufficient funds
celebrated a breakthrough by becoming the first humans to fly a manned plane. What was the difference? The Wright Brothers had what Professor
Langley lacked: PATIENCE AND RUGGED PERSISTENCE.
No wonder Thomas Edison told his team: “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they
were to success when they gave up”.
Refuse to give up on your life’s dreams and aspirations. There is a hidden Divine Calendar that is in
operation concerning your destiny. 
