LIBERTY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
Thanksgiving: The Power of a Thankful Heart
Submitted to Dr. James Sulfridge
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of
DSMN 500
Discipleship Ministries
By
Anthony Bean
"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for
you in Christ Jesus."
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
It is not always easy to give thanks, but this is the very thing we must do in order to see
God's will accomplished in our lives. This is how we move into higher realms of faith for
ourselves, for our city, and for our nation.
Thanksgiving has great power to bring joy and break the power of the enemy. Whenever
you give thanks to God, despite the most difficult circumstances, the enemy loses a big battle in
your life. When you give thanks in the midst of difficulty, you bring pleasure to God's heart. He
is looking for Christians who live in a realm of praise and thanksgiving where the enemy no
longer has an ability to hold or manipulate that person. Satan is defeated when we have a
thankful heart because thankfulness during difficulty is a sacrifice pleasing to God.
Are you thankful? Are you thankful for your present circumstances? Are you thankful for
your salvation, your friendships, and your job? Thankfulness is a key to your life. It is the key
that turns your situation around because it changes you, your outlook, and your attitude. There
is power in a thankful heart.
Thanksgiving Brings Contentment
Begin to thank God for all the blessings he has given you instead of dwelling on the
negative. Discontent dries up the soul. Look at what Elizabeth Elliott, who lost her husband on
the mission field and has faced multitudes of hardships, says about loving God's will and being
content. "To love God is to love His will. It is to wait quietly for life to be measured by one who
knows us through and through. It is to be content with His timing and His wise
apportionment. It is to follow in the steps of the Master, as did Paul, who was able to say that
he had learned contentment no matter what the circumstances. His circumstances when he
wrote that? Prison. No easy lesson, but great gain which is the sum of godliness plus
contentment (I Timothy 6:6)."
Look at the example of Jesus. He followed the will of His Father to the very end. He obeyed
without complaint. In Philippians 2:5-8, Paul says that we should have the same attitude. Jesus
made himself nothing and took on the very nature of a servant. He humbled Himself and
became obedient to death. We also are to have this same attitude with a humble and thankful
acceptance of God's will for our lives.
"Jesus loved the will of His Father. He embraced the limitations, the necessities, the
conditions, the very chains of His humanity as He walked and worked here on earth, fulfilling
moment by moment His divine commission and the stern demands of His incarnation. Never was
there a word or even a look of complaint." -- Elizabeth Elliott
To help you in thanking God, we created a 30 Days of Gratitude Prayer Guide HERE.
Download and print this guide to keep with you as a reminder of God's love and promises.
Offer God a Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving
The Duke of Wellington was the great British military leader who regretted that he had not
learned the secret of praise during his lifetime. He had many great accomplishments and even
defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. He was a brilliant and demanding man and when he was older,
he realized that there were areas in his life that needed to change. In his old age a women
asked him this question, "What would you do differently if you had your life to live over
again?" He thought carefully and said, "I would give more praise." This is a lesson for all of us; if
we would learn to be people of praise and thanksgiving all the days of our lives it would be a
great accomplishment.
David said in Psalm 116:17, "I will sacrifice a thank offering to you and call on the name of
the Lord." Let each of us seek to have an attitude of gratitude and thanksgiving, rising to a new
level of holiness in our lives. Here are 3 ways to practice an attitude of thankfulness in
everyday life:
Thank and praise God for everything in your life. Thank Him for even the difficulties. It
is a sacrifice to do this. But He can turn troubles to triumph. "Through Jesus, therefore, let us
continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise -- the fruit of lips that confess his name" (Hebrews
13:15).
Don't allow yourself to complain about anything. During the difficult times, be very
careful to watch your tongue. Instead of complaining, think of ways you can verbally offer God
the sacrifice of thanksgiving.
Don't compare yourself with others. Don't wish that your life was different. God knows
what is best. The Bible says having a thankful heart is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. When
we begin to thank God for what we have rather than comparing ourselves with others, it opens
the door for God's blessings.
"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you
in Christ Jesus."
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
It is not always easy to give thanks, but this is the very thing we must do in order to see
God's will accomplished in our lives. This is how we move into higher realms of faith for
ourselves, for our city, and for our nation.
Thanksgiving recognizes God’s provision, “with thanksgiving” reminds us of God providing
for us. I don’t have to worry because God is good all the time. I am grateful I can bring my
requests before a holy God who listens and answers prayer. I’m thankful God offers me a peace
that passes understanding and promises to guard my heart and mind through Christ Jesus. You
see how thanksgiving ties the whole thing together!
A thankful heart lifts our thoughts heavenward! Here’s something for you to chew on. We
cannot complain and be thankful at the same time. Friends I’ve see this so much, I’ve been
guilty of it myself, complaining about someone or something and then go to God in prayer
thanking Him for such and such. You can’t be grumpy and grateful at the same time, yet I’ve
been in meetings where God’s people are complaining and almost without taking a breath offer
God thanks…I wonder if you’ve been complaining about something or someone…have you
prayed about it as much as you’ve complained about it??? Thankful people demonstrate God’s
power daily! Because it’s much easier to be grumpy than grateful. Complaining becomes a
habit.
We often hear a great deal said about habits, but usually talk about habits is on the subject
of bad habits. But why should we spend so much time focusing on bad habits and avoid
speaking and thinking about making good habits? Such as the habit of thankfulness. Yes being
thankful is habitual, I would say gratitude doesn’t come natural to most people. But we can
make it a habit to be thankful. Just as powerful bad habits are to quite just think the power and
effectiveness forming a good habit of thankfulness could be in our lives. Where instead of
grumbling about the way things are, we are grateful its not as bad as it could be.
Just think how much of the work we do is habitual. For example, I didn’t pick up a guitar
one day and said, “boy I really want to play this thing and it happened.” not it took practice,
learning how to tune the guitar, learning individual notes, then chords, then chord
progressions, and scales…but I just didn’t learn about those things…I made it a habit to practice
them. So we don’t just think about being thankful, or talk about being thankful, we make being
thankful a habit, practice it. Just like any number of other things you’ve determined to do…you
made it a habit. Just consider the value of making thankfulness a habit…[three things] three
values of making thankfulness a habit.
Thankfulness increases faith
Remembering what God has done makes grateful people. We are all prone, especially in
certain moods, to complain about our lot in life. We’ve all imagined or declared that this or that
time is particularly hard for us in the world. It’s easy to focus on the hard or negative things and
sometimes not so easy to be thankful. But, if we take the time to stop and ponder on what God
has done for us in the past and for His people in the past it’ll increase our faith and help prevent
anxiety in the present and in the future.
J.A. Broadus, a well known American pastor of the 19th century said, “When we are fully in
the habit of thankfully observing and recalling the loving kindnesses and tender mercies of our
heavenly Father, this will make us perceive more clearly, and lament more earnestly, the evil of
sin against him; and what is more, this will strengthen us to turn from our sins to his blessed
service.”
In Deuteronomy, God had brought the children of Israel out of the wilderness and was
getting ready to take them into the promised land when we goes over the 10 commandments
again with them. In Deuteronomy 8 He tells them this. “The whole commandment that I
command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and
possess the land that the LORD swore to give to your fathers. 2 And you shall remember the
whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he
might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his
commandments or not.”
Over and over again God tells His people remember what I’ve done for you in the past, if
you do it will give you confidence in the present and hope for the future.
Thanksgiving should be joined with prayer. Paul joins these two on multiple occasions and
tells us in 1 Thess. 5:17, “to pray continually” But he also adds in the next verse 1 Thess. 5:18,
“be thankful in all circumstances.” We should be thankful to God in all things, for everything
that is pleasant, and for everything painful, in everything…thank God. Our prayers should not
be dry and cold but they should be filled with thankfulness.
Much of being thankful has to do with contentment. This what Paul tells us in Phil. 4:11,
“I’ve learned to be content in everything.” And Paul faced wealth, poverty, freedom, and
slavery, yet he remained content in all of them because it was Christ who strengthened him. It
goes without saying, “to have whatever we like is for the most part an impossible dream of
human life; but to like what we have is a possibility and a privilege.” Be thankful.
Thankfulness for past answers builds faith for those to come. I realize that in times like we
are in it can be easy to focus on how bad things are or how things are getting worse, but
remember, even when it’s bad we have grounds to be thankful to God. If we can’t see it in the
present, we can remember when God has answered in the past. Present pain can rob us of our
joy and gratitude, but recalling God’s faithfulness in the past builds our faith and strengthens
us. Remember, that whatever it is we’ve lost, there is always a condition that might have been
worse. Whatever we may have lost, there is always something left... and that’s grounds for
thanksgiving.
Bible commentator Matthew Henry was an excellent example of this, after being robbed,
wrote in his diary the following: “Let me be thankful. First, because I was never robbed before.
Second, because although they took my wallet, they did not take my life. Third, because
although they took my all, it was not much. Fourth, because it was I who was robbed, not I who
robbed. He had a thankful disposition.
