Preparing for Thanksgiving 🦃 There is power in thanksgiving

Hebrews 13:15 tells us: 

Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.

There is power in thanksgiving thriugh the sacrifice of praise.

The terms "sacrifice" and "praise" might seem to be opposites.

We think of sacrifice as offering something at great cost to ourselves.

Praise, on the other hand, sounds joyful coming from a grateful heart.

However, in the spiritual realm, sacrifice and praise are intertwined.

* Praise doesn’t really cost us something. We often find it easy to praise God. When He’s blessed us, helped us, and protected us, we can easily praise Him. But that’s not a sacrifice.

*Then there are those times when God doesn’t come through the way we hoped He would and our difficulties worsen. God can seem very far away, and like He has forgotten us.

*To praise God in those times requires sacrifice. And it takes an act of the will to lay our all on the altar when we don't understand.

In John 8: 12 we’re told, “I am the Light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the Light of life.”

As followers of Jesus darkness should not characterize our lives.

Oh, it will come to try to darken the doorway of our hearts. but we can choose our response.

I read a story about a woman that felt unappreciated, unloved, and unworthy to be called a Christian.

One day while scrubbing the kitchen floor, not paying attention to the radio that was playing Christian music…

A woman’s voice on the radio grabbed her attention when it loudly asked:

“Are you living on Grumble Street? Are you complaining about all the things that are wrong in your life? Stop it.”

The voice on the radio continued, “Move over to Praise Street and begin to thank God for all the things that are right in your life. Offer Him the sacrifice of praise.”

It was like God Himself had spoken and it couldn’t have been more suited to her need.

The light came on in her heart and mind as she realized that there was something she can do!

She could choose to set her mind on thankfulness.

You see, we can choose thanksgiving even when we don’t feel like it.

And this woman began to: 

Thank God, that she can scrub a kitchen floor.

That she has a home and a family. 

She set out to become thankful.

And she started to see things to be thankful for that had never previously crossed her mind.

Like, the friendly neighbor that waves to her every morning, and for how the wind gently blows the wind chimes hanging on her window and for the afternoon sunshine.

You see this woman had allowed her mind to focus on the things that were a negative impact in her life; and that negative focus darkened her mind and she was only able to “see” the dark and dreary things in her life.

Jesus says that when we follow Him, we will not walk in darkness.

So, let’s allow the light of Christ to rise up with thanksgiving in our hearts.

And yes, it’s a discipline. Yes, it’s a sacrifice.

But it’s a weapon.

So, be sure to have your arsenal full and use it every day!

When we bring a "sacrifice of praise," we are choosing to believe that, even though life is not going as we think it should, God is still good and can be trusted and we choose to praise God in spite of the storms.

             God Bless and Happy Thanksgiving!