When You Do This You Do God's Will

1 Thes. 5:18 - "…in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."   NASU
 

• Tomorrow Is Thanksgiving Day In The USA 

First of all, I would like to wish every one of my readers a very Happy Thanksgiving.
 
Tomorrow is the day that has been set aside for us to give thanks for all the blessings we have been given by God. I am sure we do not wait until this one day of the year to give thanks. 

• Every Day Is Thanksgiving Day For Christians 

According to the scripture above, we are to give "thanks" in everything. It would also be my understanding that we are to give "thanks" every day. Paul says that when we give "thanks" we are doing the Will of God and one way to do God's Will daily is to give thanks daily.
 
When people say to me they want the "Will of God" to be done in their lives I say to them be "thankful" and you will be doing the Will of God.
 
They always get this strange look on their face and say, "I am thankful, but you know, I really want to do the Will of God."

I tell them, according to the Apostle Paul, if you are "thankful" in everything you will be doing the Will of God.

• Being Thankful Is An Attitude That Guides Our Behavior 

Almost always when you tell someone to be thankful in all things their next question will be, "So God expects me to give thanks even if one of my children dies?"
 
Instead of me answering that question since I have never had one of my children die I quote a man who was familiar with the death of a child. In fact, he lost 10 children in one disastrous day. Job's wife even wanted him to curse God for what had happened to their family.
 
Job 2:9-10 - Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!" But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips. NASU
 
Job had lost his 10 children, all his animals, his herds or in other words, his wealth, but Job's ATTITUDE guides his BEHAVIOR.
 
He didn't sin by saying things that he would later regret.

Job wasn't "thankful" for the death of his children or the loss of his wealth, but his attitude was he would accept good from God, and now that adversity had come into his life he would accept it as well. 
 
Many times in life we have to accept things that we don't like.

• Job Is A Great Example For Us

In life, everything that happens to us will not always make us say "thanks."  Likewise, when those events happen to us that stop us in our tracks, we don't want to curse God and die either.
 
We must wait upon the Lord and in time once the pain has decreased some we will start to allow God to give us the answers to the trials we face.
 
Job's attitude guided his behavior. The scripture says, "In all of this Job did not sin with his lips." In other words, he didn't curse God and ask to die.

• Develop An Attitude Of Thankfulness  

The best advice I can give you in this Pump Up is to develop an attitude of thankfulness. I know in all my prayers I begin by giving thanks to God for something. I want to do the Will of God and one way I can do His Will is by giving thanks.

If you do a little inspection of your life you will find you have more to give thanks for than you might realize.

Develop an attitude of thankfulness and you will never regret it.

Think About This: 

It isn't what you have in your pocket that makes you thankful, but what you have in your heart.

Stay Pumped,
 
Gary A. Serago

Minister of God's Word