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Thoughts Archived > Thanksgiving For Life


21 Nov 2010

 

                               

 

November 21, 2010

 Revelations 7:12 

 Thanksgiving For Life

 

 

Revelations

"Amen!  Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength belong to our God forever and forever.  Amen!"

 

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Thoughts.....

 

Hello to all!  This morning, as the last few Sundays, and through the rest of November we will be looking at ways of saying and feeling thanks.  You may see some repeated words or phrases.  This is just to reinforce or let others new to the site know what we are doing. 

This month in the United States of America, we celebrate Thanksgiving...a day set aside to give thanks to God and for everything God has given us....family, friends, gifts.  But every day should be a day of thanksgiving.  This whole month, I thought we could look at what words are used in the Bible regarding giving thanks and the meanings behind them. 

This may appear to be an English grammar class of sorts, but it is really going to be inclusive of Hebrew-Aramaic, and Greek. I am going to provide for you what The Strongest Strong's Exhaustive Concordance Of The Bible has for references and definitions.  I would like you to take the time to review the scripture references and do the brief exercise I will provide in a bit.  The number at the end of the reference refers to the location of the definitions in the dictionary in the back of the book, for both the Old and New Testaments.  I will note the actual word, word source and definitions.  Please note the references given are from a compilation of the King James Version and the New International Version.  If you do not have either of these Bibles, you will find minor variations, and perhaps not the actual word, but the thought intent instead.  

May blessings abound as offer thanksgivings God and others. 

THANKSGIVING (28 references).

Leviticus 7:12-15                                      8426  Old Testament Hebrew-Aramaic Old TO 

Leviticus 22:29                                         8426                  "

Nehemiah 11:17                                       3034                  "

Nehemiah 12:8                                         1960                  "

Nehemiah 12:46                                       3034                  "

Psalm 26:7                                               8426                  "

Psalm 50:14                                             8426                  "

Psalm 69:30                                             8426                  " 

Psalm 95:2                                               8426                  "

Psalm 100:4                                             8426                  "

Psalm 107:22                                           8426                   "

Psalm 116:17                                           8426                   "  

Psalm 147:7                                             8426                   "

Isaiah 51:3                                               8426                   "

Jeremiah 30:19                                         8426                  "

Amos 4:5                                                 8426                  "   

Jonah 2:9                                                 8426                   "

2 Corinthians 4:15                                     2169   New Testament Greek ent Greek  

2 Corinthians 9:11                                     2169                  "

Philippians 4:6                                           2169                 "

Colossians 2:7                                           2169                  "

Colossians 4:2                                           2169                  "

1 Timothy 4:3                                            2169                  "

1 Timothy 4:4                                            2169                  "

Revelations 7:12                                        2169                  "

THANKSGIVINGS (2 references)

Nehemiah 12:27                                        8426  Old Testament Hebrew-Aramaic                  

2 Corinthians 9:12                                      2169  New Testament Greek

Old Testament Hebrew-Aramaic (chronological)

1960  huyy do, n.f.pl., GK songs of thanksgiving.

3034  yada, v. GK, to express praise, give thanks, extol, make a public confession, make an admission; to praise is to speak of the excellence of someone or something; to give thanks has a focus on the gratitude of the speaker.  

8426  toda, n.f., GK, thank, offering; thanksgiving, confessions of thankfulness; song of thanksgiving; thanks is the speaking of the excellence of a person or object, with a focus on the personal gratitiude of the speaker.

New Testament Greek (chronological)

2169 eucharistia, n, GK, expressions of thanks, thanksgiving, gratitude.

   

If you've been studying this month you see we have patterns.  Feel it, express it, confess it, offer it, sing it, give praise with it.  Read the scriptures and see which words pop out at you.  Think about whether you have felt, done, acted on, performed any of these recently....and whether you are willing to do this today....for all eternity?  It's really important to read at least some of the references (either as given or in complete text) to get a feel for what occured before and after...the why...the thanks....a miracle?  How will you express thanksgiving to our Lord? What gift of gratitude will you give him and others?

Let's look a little bit at the scriptures together.

In Nehemiah 11:17, Mattaniah son of Mica, son of Azbdi, a descendant of Asaph, opened the thanksgiving services with prayer.  How many of you belong to a church that holds thanksgiving services?  How many belong to a church that knows that every service is a thanksgiving service?  Must you go to church to have a thanksgiving service?  It says he opened every thanksgiving service with prayer.  You can serve your Lord with thanksgiving before you open with prayer.  This is what praise is all about, folks.  "Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise."  Psalm 110:4   And Psalm 147:7 says "Sing out your thanks to the LORD; sing praises to our God, accompanied by harps."

Jeremiah certainly had reason for thanksgiving.  Oh my goodness.  Jonah was in the belly of a giant fish...and praising God...thanksgiving...and THEN God spit him out of the fish and saved his life.  Hmmmm.  Something to think about....thanking God before he answers your prayers.  It's called expectant hope....believing in things to come.

2 Corinthians 14-15 reads:  "We know that the same God who raised our Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself along with you.  All of these things are for your benefit.  And as God's grace brings more and more people to Christ, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory."   In 2 Cor 9:11 it talks about how all will be enriched to give more generously and glorifying God in doing so.   

Philippians 4:6 tells you to not worry, pray about everything giving thanksgiving to God....and the list goes on.   

Do you see the peace, the glory for God in thanksgiving?  Could you offer thanksgivings continually following Jesus Christ?  Would you be able to say, "With thanksgiving, I worship my Lord, and, I offer up many thanksgivings daily to my Lord for who he is, and all he has done for me and given me. "  

I'd like you to make a list of those to whom you feel you can offer THANKSGIVINGS. And also a list of those you can offer THANKSGIVING for in your life....recently and over your life.  Relax.  I am not going to ask for your list.  This is not going to be graded.  This is for you...and for God.  It is an attempt to help you realize what a major, or not so major, role God plays in your life....and others.  It is also an opportunity for you realize all you have been given in life, whether it be mental, emotional, physical, spiritual, or material.  Perhaps just friendship....a monumental gift.  A moment to offer thanksgiving to those who have stepped up, embraced, reached out.  You may not be able to say thank you directly.  Someone may have died.  Offer thanksgivings anyway.  Someone may live elsewhere or be lost to you.  Offer thanksgivings anyway.  God will know and the thanks will be showered on that person in another way...and upon you from God.   The world is round.  Perhaps they are filled with thanksgiving for you.  Have you considered what you have done for others?  Will you be found worthy of thanksgiving?   And what have you done for yourself that is good?  Have you been offering up thanksgiving that you live?  That Jesus died for you?   

Have you asked God for forgiveness for any sins you may have committed?  Have you offered thanksgiving to him?  Have you been offering thanksgivings to him for giving you Jesus?  Have you been offering thanksgivings to Jesus for dying for you?  Now may be a good time if you have not.  Have you been offering thanksgivings to Holy Spirit for enlightening you?  ThanksgivING implies continual thanks.  We need to be continually offering up thanksgivings to him for all he has done.   

I hope this will be an emotional journey for you...that you will take the time to let this soak into the core of your being....and that you will 'echo charis'....as we learned a couple weeks ago....'repeat charity'.

May you keep God close to your heart and bless God with every thanksgiving   May he keep, be thankful for and bless you!             

"Let the words of Christ, in all their richness live in your hearts and make you wise.  Use his words to teach and counsel each other.  Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.  And whatever you do or say, let it be as a representative of the Lord Jesus, all the while giving thanks through him to God the Father."  Colossians 3: 16-17  

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

 

COME YE THANKFUL PEOPLE

Come ye thankful people come, raise the song of Harvest home

All are safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin

God our maker doth provide, for our wants to be supplied

Come to God's own, people come

Raise the song of harvest home.

 

GIVE THANKS WITH A GRATEFUL HEART  * 

Give thanks with a grateful heart
Give thanks unto the Holy One
Give thanks because He's given Jesus Christ, His Son.

Give thanks with a grateful heart
Give thanks unto the Holy One
Give thanks because He's given Jesus Christ, His Son.

And now let the weak say, "I am strong"
Let the poor say, "I am rich"
Because of what the Lord has done for us.

And now let the weak say, "I am strong"
Let the poor say, "I am rich"
Because of what the Lord has done for us.

Give thanks
Give thanks. '

 

Psalm 100

Shout with joy to the LORD, O earth!  Worship the LORD with gladness.  Come before him, singing with joy.

Acknowledge that the LORD is God!  He made us, and we are his.  We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise.  Give thanks to him and bless his name.

For the LORD is good.  His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation. 

 

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Let Us Pray

 

Dear Heavenly Father God, Lord Jesus, and Teacher...Comforter Holy Spirit.  Thank you....for everything.  We come to your presence with an abundance of thanksgiving.  May we all be blessed to know you love us and that you have given us the opportunity to be forgiven of our sins...if we ask, and, that we might receive eternal life, if we live a life of obedience to you expressing thankfulness with thanksgiving.  May we learn to continually be thanking you.  Please forgive us of our sins, and instill in us the desire to be a promise child.  Please Holy Spirit, come into our lives fully.  Baptise us all in your fullness.  Please fill us to overflowing with all those things we need by and of your grace, to be everything we need to be for you, those in the world to whom YOU send us, and for ourselves.  Lord, we am not worthy to receive you, but say the word and we shall be healed.  All are called to be ministers of Jesus Christ.  Now send us forth to do all you have called us to do and be for the people that so desperately need to hear your message...or be reminded.  Help us be encouraged to live the life we have started with you.  Help us to always be thankful and say thank you to you and to others.  We pray we will always be able to continually praise your Holy name in worship with thankfulness.  Keep us strong.  Help us to pronounce to the world who you are, that you are, and how wonderful you are, and that they can have you in their lives, too.  Help us to bring all to Holy Spirit that he might baptise them with the fullness of your love, your saving grace, your guiding grace....and may they always offer thanksgivings to you for what you have given them...been to them...and with what you have filled them.   Let us encourage others...and be encouraged.  Give us all in the world a new life in you.  And help us all be worthy to receive the prize of the high calling of God...eternal life.  May we all be grateful that you love us...thank you.  May we all bow down to you, our Father, God, and, Glorious Love....Jesus, Holy Spirit Sanctifier.  Help us to always be real...be true...be right...be loving...and...offer thanksgivings.  And SPEAK thanksgiving NOW.  Thank you....and...Amen.         

 

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More love.... 

  Benediction...Blessing

 

Let us hear from Paul as he prays:  

When I think of the wisdom and scope of God's plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.  I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit.  And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him.  May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love.  And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is.  May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it.  Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

Now glory be to God!  By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope.  May he be given glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever through endless ages.  Amen.  Ephesians 3:14-21 NLT         

 

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Scroll down to read Jesus' Prayer of Thanksgiving...'The Unforced Rythms of Grace'.

 

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Definition of a Christian:  Anyone who believes in God, Jesus and Holy Spirit, and accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior.  Regardless of church name or religious affiliation. 

It is not how we worship, but that we worship!   

 

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If you feel that the Church of the Holy Spirit has inspired or helped you, we'd like you to prayerfully consider tithing regulary to us or gifting us, so that we can further the work and carry out the will of the Father as proclaimed in Matthew 28:19-20 NLT

 to

 "Go and make disciples out of all the nations

baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.  And be sure of this:

I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

 

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  Our Current Cause

It is time to reach into the community and the world around you to see wherein lies the greatest need.  As you choose to focus on these areas, do so with a servant's heart.  Whether the need is for children, adults, or animals, or any cause in between that will help those in need, ask God how you can best serve his needs, what path you must take, and how long you should persevere.  Sometimes we are to be in the lives of others merely as stepping stones.  Sometimes we are to touch those lives forever.  Whatever journey you are called to take, whatever team you will be a member of, know this:  God is with you always...even til the end of time.  He loves you, is grateful for you, and will help you along life's way, especially if you are helping others along theirs, persevering with a servant's heart. 

Please accept my sincerest thanks....and God's....and may God richly bless you!   

 

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Trinity Missions

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Church of the Holy Spirit

and sent to

Trinity Missions

P.O. Box 86076

Tucson, Arizona

85754-6076

 

If you have any questions, we can be reached at:

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or

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Please note Trinity Missions or CoHS in your subject line.

 

As we grow, you will have options for allocating your gifts.

In the meantime, we hope you will trust us to direct them to where the need is the greatest.

 

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    One last thing....

 

 Jesus' Prayer of Thanksgiving

'The Unforced Rhythms of Grace'

 

"Abruptly Jesus broke into prayer:  "Thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth.  You've concealed your ways from sophisticates and know-it-alls, but spelled them out clearly to ordinary people.  Yes, Father, that's the way you like to work."

Jesus resumed talking to the people, but now tenderly.  "The Father has given me all these things to do and say.  This is a unique Father - Son operation, coming out of Father and Son intimacies and knowledge.  No one knows the Son the way the Father does, nor the Father the way the Son does.  But I'm not keeping it to myself; I'm ready to go over it line by line with anyone willing to listen."

"Are you tired?  Worn out?  Burned out on religion?  Come to me.  Get away with me and you'll recover your life.  I'll show you how to take a real rest.  Walk with me and work with me - watch how I do it.  Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.  I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn how to live freely and lightly.

 

  Matthew 11:  25-30

  The Message

 

And the people said,

"Amen."

 

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I now write most prayers in the position of ' I ' (first person) because most people are sitting at their computer alone, not in groups, and it allows those reading and praying to personalize the prayer as coming from them going to God.  Variations may appear on holidays when families may wish to use the prayer provided.

 

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*The words and music to "Give Thanks With A Grateful Heart" are by Henry Smith.  

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996.  Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189.  All rights reserved.

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Bible Authors and Minister