<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It is good to give thanks unto the Lord.\u00a0 An act of thanksgiving from a recipient of a favor naturally gladdens the heart of the one who had demonstrated the act of kindness or favor.\u00a0 It is really good and pleasing to give thanks unto the Lord, but our insatiable and greedy nature hardly allows us see reasons to give thanks to God.\u00a0 Sometimes, we allow a seemingly unanswered prayer or unrealized ambition to becloud our brow.\u00a0 When we realize that we exist by the grace of God, we will then understand that giving thanks to God is a necessity.\u00a0 We do not favor to God when we give Him thanks. He does not need us to exist; but without Him, we cannot exist.\u00a0 It behooves us therefore, to give Him thanks always for our existence.\u00a0 Apart from this, there are innumerable reasons why we need to give God thanks; for example, the salvation of our soul, which also is a free gift from God.\u00a0 The Scripture clearly made us to understand that everything that pertains to life and godliness have been given to us by God, 2 Peter 1;3.\u00a0 That we are yet to access those things, should not be a reason why we should hesitate to give thanks to God for His goodness.\u00a0 To refuse to give thanks to God is not only a sign of ingratitude by an act of wickedness.\u00a0 In this study, we shall be discussing what thanksgiving is and its relevance in our Christian life.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Thanksgiving is an expression of a good feeling for help or favor received; a grateful thought expressed orally or by action in relation to an occurrence; showing gratitude for mercy or benefit enjoyed.\u00a0 It is also an expression of appreciation for an existing condition or privilege being enjoyed by someone.\u00a0 Thanksgiving acts as an intuition to make people repeat or extend the scope of acts of kindness they have done.\u00a0 It is a product of a merry heart.\u00a0 Absence of thanksgiving can dampen the enthusiasm to show or continue to show kindness.\u00a0 It testifies of the goodness of the person to whom it is directed.\u00a0 Thanksgiving acts as a lubricant to the wheel of good relationship with God.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Thanksgiving is necessary because it is God\u2019s expectation from us, 1 Thessalonians 5:18.\u00a0 If we consider it necessary to show appreciation for a kind gesture, to give thanks becomes imperative.\u00a0 It is the will of God that we should give thanks always, and our obedience to the will of God increases our chances of obtaining His promises, Hebrews 10:36.\u00a0 Thanksgiving sometimes gives us opportunity to grow in understanding the role of our faith in receiving blessings from God, Luke 17:16.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n For a thanksgiving to be acceptable to God, it must conform to the standard of the Scripture; it must come from a grateful and willing heart, devoid of any form of grudge or hypocrisy and pretense.\u00a0 It should not be out of necessity.\u00a0 The decision to give thanks and how much or with what substance, should be out of personal conviction and must not be with reluctance or the response to pressure.\u00a0 The thanksgiving that comes in response to the leading of the Holy Spirit is more likely to be acceptable unto God, for the Spirit knows the mind of God. The substance of thanksgiving must be pure and of good quality to reflect the goodness and perfect acts of God.\u00a0 The quality of the materials of our thanksgiving matters to God, Malachi 1:7-8.\u00a0 The thanksgiving that demonstrates our love for God will surely be acceptable to Him.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The first expression of our thanksgiving to God should be a presentation of our bodies as a living sacrifice unto Him, Hebrews 12:12.\u00a0 We should also express our thanksgiving with our lips in worship, praises and testimonies.\u00a0 Christians should form the habit of confessing the goodness of God in praises of thanksgiving, Hebrews 13:15; Psalm 100:24.\u00a0 Musical instruments of all kinds should be used in our praises of thanksgiving to God, Psalm 150:35.\u00a0 We are also required to present our substance in thanksgiving to God, Genesis 4:34, 8:20-22.\u00a0 Thanksgiving can be expressed privately in our closet and in public worship, Daniel 6:10; Psalm 35:18.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Thanksgiving makes one acceptable to God, Genesis 4:6-7.\u00a0 It brings restoration, just as authority lost by man was restored to Noah in Genesis 9:1-3.\u00a0 It makes room for additional blessings as in 2 Chronicles 1:6-7 in the case of Solomon.\u00a0 Thanksgiving enhances answered prayers by God, Psalm 50:14-15.\u00a0 We are made whole by our thanksgiving as in the case of the one leper that returned to thank the Lord.\u00a0 That means we will have additional blessings when we come before God with thanksgiving.\u00a0 When we give thanks to God, our account in heaven grows, Philippians 4:17.\u00a0 Joy and peace are also assured when we give thanks.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Christians generally give thanks to God for favorable occurrences or for remarkable blessings received.\u00a0\u00a0 A few give thanks for what they have not received; it is very rare to see someone giving thanks to God for what is considered bad in the eyes of society.\u00a0 Truly, we come to church to give thanks to God after a fatal accident survived or for surviving an armed robbery attack.<\/p>\n Can we sincerely give thanks to God for our unrecovered stolen car, or for our failed business?\u00a0 When evil strikes, we can still be thankful for God\u2019s presence and for the good that He will accomplish through the distress.\u00a0 Can we thank God that we failed a promotion examination, or degree examinations? The Scripture enjoins us to give thanks to God in everything because it is the will of God concerning us in Christ Jesus, 1 Thessalonians 5:18.\u00a0 This conforms to Romans 8:28, \u201cAnd we know that God causes everything to work together for the good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them\u201d.\u00a0 We disarm the devil when we, in obedience to the Word of God, sincerely give thanks to God for a seemingly unfavorable situation.\u00a0 May God give us the grace to \u2018count it all joy when we encounter different kinds of challenges in our Christian faith, and learn to give Him thanks for them all.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Psalm 92:1 \u2013 \u201cIt is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It Is Good To Give Thanks Unto The Lord Central Thought: Thanksgiving is appreciating GOD for His blessings. Text: Genesis 4:2-7; Psalm 92:1-3; Luke 17:12-19 It is good to give thanks unto the Lord.\u00a0 An act of thanksgiving from a recipient of a favor naturally gladdens the heart of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sundayschool"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=605"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2704,"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605\/revisions\/2704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}2. Why is it necessary to give thanks?<\/h5>\n
3. What are the features of an acceptable thanksgiving?<\/h5>\n
4. How should we express our thanks to God?<\/h5>\n
5. Discuss some benefits of Thanksgiving.<\/h5>\n
Daily Living Application:<\/h3>\n
Memory Verse:<\/h3>\n