Ephesians 5:17, “Be not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is.”  20, “Giving thanks always.” It’s the same idea; God’s will is that we be thankful.

Different Positions of Thanksgiving

Number one, this is the easy part; there are those who are thankful after the blessing.  After God has just blessed you you’re thankful.

Number two is the ability to give thanks before the battle begins, for the victory that you know is going to come, this is in anticipation of the fact.

This is where the people of faith come in. These are the people who believe God before anything happens. These are the people who are celebrating before the war. These are the people saying, “Lord I see a problem coming, how wonderful. I’m going to believe You for victory in the midst of this, before it even gets there.”  This is Jesus in John 11 as He stands by the tomb of Lazarus.

Number three is the hardest of all.  It is to thank God in the midst of the battle, when it looks like you’re losing. Well, God’ people have a choice. The king set out a decree in the day of Daniel that nobody else should be worshiped or prayed to but him, it didn’t bother Daniel. It says in Daniel 6:10 “Daniel went into his room as his custom was and threw open the doors as they always were open toward Jerusalem and three times a day he bowed down and gave thanks unto the Lord his God.” And he knew what it would cost, and they took him and threw him in the lion’s den but that was alright. He was going to give thanks to God in the midst of the trouble. You know

In Acts 5;40 the early church is being terribly persecuted and it says in, They took them and they beat them and they beat them, and after they had beaten them, they said, don’t preach anymore, and they went out of there and they thanked God that they were counted worthy to suffer for His name.

It’s indicative of your character how you give thanks, because you worship God in connection with your heart. And if the only time you can worship God and thank God is after the blessing then you’re down on the first level. If however you can move a little bit higher and you can, you can thank God before the battle even begins in anticipation of the victory He’s going to give that’s better. But if you can thank God in the of the pain and the midst of the trial then you’ve reached the level of maturity that very few Christians really know.

There are four levels of life when it comes to Thanksgiving.

There are those people who are constantly complaining.

Some have simple ingratitude. They don’t complain; they just are not grateful, and they’re like a hog under a tree eating acorns, never looking up to see where they come from.

Another level of life is where there are people who are grateful for the obvious blessing. If they have health, they thank God for health. If they have food, they thank God for food. And they just thank God for the obvious blessings of life.

The Bible level, the level of this verse is; “Giving thanks always for all things.”

“Giving thanks always for all things unto the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

How Long Are We To Be Thankful?

How long, always. Blessings never cease; therefore, thanksgiving should never cease.

One day or one week of thanksgiving on Thursday in November is not enough.

Psalms 68;19 “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits, even the God of our salvation.”

Lamentations 3;23, speaking of God’s mercies, the Bible says, “They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness.” Every day, every day ought to have a liberal portion of thanksgiving.

And every prayer ought to be mixed with thanksgiving.

Philippians 4:4 “Be careful for nothing, that is, don’t worry about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.”

Most of us need to pull some of the groans out of our prayers, and shove in a few hallelujahs.

What We Are to Be Thankful For?

We’re to be giving thanks for all things. Why should we give thanks for all things?

Because God rules all things, and we should give thanks for all things.

We need to thank God for the very rudimentary things,

Water

Dirty dishes

If you have a place to live, not out in the woods, not homeless

when we are sorrowful

when we hurt

When we have problems that God alone knows how deep they are

But you don’t know how bad it is,

The Air we breath

Paul wrote this from prison. He is in Ephesus in prison. He’s been unjustly accused of starting a riot,

Be Thankful for Trouble

Trouble might correct us.

Hebrews 12:11: “Now, no chastening for the present time seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; but afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby.”

David said, “Before I was afflicted, I went astray.”

Trouble might force us to depend on God.

2 Corinthians chapter 12;7 “And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.” Three extended periods of prayer. Paul prayed, “God, please take away this excruciating thorn in the flesh from me.” And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” That is, God said, “I’m not going to take it away. I’m going to give you added strength.” And then, Paul said, “Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Thankfulness in trouble can confirm our testimony to other people, when you go through suffering.

Thankfulness in hardships can bring us to a deeper maturity and Christ-likeness. Affliction can be a wonderful teacher. Psalm 119;67 “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now have I kept thy word. Before I was afflicted I went astray.” Psalm 119;71: “It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes.” Many times, we never really look up till we get on our back.

Many times, we never see until our eyes have been washed with tears. God’s priority for you is spiritual maturity, to make you like the Lord Jesus Christ.

James 1;4, “let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect, entire, wanting nothing.” The word perfect means maturity, not sinlessness. We look at flowers.

Be thankful for hard times because it will bring the glory of God in your life.

1 Peter 4;12-14: Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, Don’t think it’s strange, as though some strange thing happened unto you, but rejoice, that means be thankful, ,in as much as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings, the word partaker means you’re having fellowship with Christ, that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

“Giving thanks always for all things.” God is God. He is a sovereign God. And you can arch the rainbow of Romans 8:28 over whatever it is: “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, who are the called according to His purpose.” And His purpose is to make you like the Lord Jesus Christ. And sometimes when we’re in trouble, we say, “God, why don’t You do something?” He may be doing something, making you like Jesus. You say, “What are You doing?” He says, “I’m doing something. You just can’t see. You don’t understand what I am doing.”

What Hinders Us From Being Thankful

Doubt hinders our thanksgiving. Doubt about God, doubt about the character of God. You’re not sure, first of all, that God’s Word can be trusted. When He says that all things work together for good to them that love God and are called according to His purpose.

Selfishness hinders our thanksgiving. This is the attitude that says, Look, I don’t want it the way it is, I want it the way I want it. I am not content with the way God is working out my life. I am not content with the circumstances in which I find myself presently. Selfishness says, I want to be in charge, I want to run my life, I want to call the shots.  Self-will is more important than God’s will.

Worldliness hinders our thanksgiving. The love of the world. Someone whose desire is filled with trivial things, like pleasure, prominence, popularity, prestige, people, places, possessions, pursuits. They’re consumed with all that stuff, and if that all doesn’t work out the way they want it, they’re not going to be thankful.

A critical spirit will hinder our thanksgiving. A critical spirit is a person who is bitter, a person who is negative, who has a sour life attitude. It can be produced by a number of things but if it is running unchecked, it will destroy a thankful heart.

Impatience will hinder our thanksgiving. Some people don’t give thanks simply because they’re discontent over the perception that God doesn’t move on their timeline. God doesn’t operate according to their schedule. God isn’t working by their clock.

Apathy will hinder our thankfulness. You could call it lethargy. I use the word coldness in thinking about the lukewarm heart of the Laodiceans or thinking about the Ephesian church in Revelation also that had left its first love. There’s a lack of zeal for Christian service.

Rebellion will hinder our thankfulness. And by this I simply mean just downright rebellion. I’m not thankful because I don’t like what He’s doing in my life. I’m mad and I’m unthankful and I know I’m unthankful and I’m going to stay unthankful.

True thanks should be given to the Father through Jesus. That’s what true thanksgiving is about.