Living In Thanksgiving
Psalm 100:1-5
When I say, Living in Thanksgiving, I’m talking about living a life of constant thanksgiving to God, which the Bible clearly calls all Christ-followers to.
But, in the last couple of years, I’ve lost a good part of my living in thanksgiving to God. Has that ever happened to you? As I’ve kind of drifted away from living in a constant state of thanksgiving to God, it has really affected me and it has really affected the people around me. It’s not some big sin (as we define them) that has caused my drift away from living in thanksgiving.
For me, the robber of my living in thanksgiving seems to be long-term stress, workaholism, and unmet expectations that I’ve put on myself and on God. And the reason for my drift away from living in thanksgiving might be similar to yours, or yours might be completely different. Either way, the first question we have to ask today is: Is there something in my life today that is keeping me from living in thanksgiving, because the lifestyle is critically important.
As believers, we are called to live in thanksgiving. But even those outside the Bible-believing community readily know the transforming benefit of living in thanksgiving.
So, number one, I’d like us to honestly see what it looks like when we are not living in thanksgiving. Then number two, I’d like us to see what it looks like when we are living in thanksgiving. And then finally, number three, we need to see how to begin the journey to go from not living in thanksgiving to living in constant thanksgiving to God.
Have I said “living in thanksgiving” enough?
Alright, we have to start with what it looks like when we are not living in thanksgiving, and to do that, first, we have to accept a critical truth. It can be found in Matthew 12:34-35.
Matthew 12:34–35 (ESV)
34 . . . For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
35 The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.
No, don’t get all defensive at that verse – you’ll just be proving what I’m saying is right.
34 . . . out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks
Matthew 15:18 says the same thing.
Matthew 15:18 (ESV)
18 . . . what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.
We don’t like it. We try to deny it. We defend and justify and rationalize it. But the truth is what comes out of our mouth is – at the very least – a sign of what is in our heart. When I say it’s a sign, I mean, I know that when you’re angry, you say things you don’t mean. But it does mean that you’re angry, right?
And I think the first sign of a Christian slipping away from a thankful heart is when we begin to hear negative, critical, and judgmental words coming out of our mouths. An ungrateful, unappreciative attitude toward God and others is usually the dangerous beginning of us no longer living in thanksgiving.
Proverbs 15:15 (NLT)
15 For the despondent, every day brings trouble; for the happy heart, life is a continual feast.
We have to honestly see where we are at on that scale, and we have to know that learning to live in continual thanksgiving to God will move us from the despondent side of that verse, to the happy heart side of that verse.
Step one is to honestly see where you’re at, so you can begin to let God heal you. Because if you don’t, you will risk falling into one of the greatest dangers warned against in the Bible, which is… bitterness. Bitterness is a poison. But, it’s not a poison that we drink. It’s a poison we manufacture in our own heart and then it poisons the people around us.
Hebrews 12:15 (NLT)
15 . . . Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.
Bitterness grows up in our own heart, and it can create generations of trouble as it passes from a grandparent to a parent to the kids. Bitterness is a plague that will make everyone around you sick. That’s why Ephesians 4:31 says this,
Ephesians 4:31 (NLT)
31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander . . .
All those sins come from a heart poisoned by bitterness, and I promise you learning to live in a constant state of thanksgiving to God is the remedy for the poison of bitterness.
So, that’s what not living in thanksgiving looks like. Now, let’s see what living in thanksgiving does look like. As always, the Word of God says it best. In just five verses, Psalm 100 makes it perfectly clear what living in thanksgiving looks like.
Psalm 100 (NLT)
1 Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth!
2 Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before him, singing with joy.
3 Acknowledge that the Lord is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation.
As you recover from an unthankful or bitter heart, this Psalm should be your daily scripture meditation for a month. Every day, dig into it more, and more, and more.
Have you ever met a Christ-follower who truly has thanksgiving to God just pouring out of their life? When you do meet them, it often impacts you for life.
I was with one of these always thankful Christ-followers this week. This church, and many of us individually, lost a very dear friend this week in an accident and I was asked to share that tragic news with his mother and his brother, with most of his family gathered around for support.
And when I shared it, this mom went into emotional shock for sure, but all that could come out of her lips was thanksgiving to God. Thanksgiving for how good God is, for how much God loved her son and her entire family, and thanksgiving for how grateful she was that her son was in the actual, very real, presence of Jesus. And her response of thanksgiving to God in the face of that tragic news put me into emotional shock.
Guys, it is what we know to be absolutely true about God that enables us to live in thanksgiving to God. When a person knows that they know, that they know how good God is and when they know all that God has done for them, it shows in thanksgiving no matter what they are facing.
That person has peace that passes understanding (Philippians 4:7).
That person lies down in rest at night because they know the Lord is with them. (Psalm 4:8)
That person has exceeding joy down deep in their soul as over 50 verses in Psalms and Proverbs say.
That person has confidence that God is leading and guiding them for his name’s sake (Psalm 31:3)
And that person is content in whatever situation they are in (Philippians 4:11)
This is what living in thanksgiving looks like. It looks like peace, rest, inner joy, confidence, and contentment.
And… there’s more. Living in thanksgiving is also the key to honoring God, to worshiping God, and to serving God in all that we do. That is what living in thanksgiving looks like.
(#1) So, we’ve seen what not living in thanksgiving looks like and (#2) we’ve seen what living in thanksgiving does look like. (#3) Now, we need to see, how do we begin the journey from not living in thanksgiving to living in thanksgiving to God.
The first thing we need to see is that living in thanksgiving is our expression of constant gratitude for all that God has done for us, and for his constant care and concern for us.
We think this life is so long. God says, “It’s a vapor. I designed it as a vapor.” Genesis 1:27 says you were created in the image of God, meaning as an eternal being. God wouldn’t create you for this little eighty years of sojourning in this world. And we can be eternally thankful that he’s made a way to forgive us of our sin, to give us his righteousness, and to reserve a place in heaven for us to spend with him for eternity. No matter what’s going on, we can be thankful for that. Constantly.
Living in thanksgiving is especially our constant expression of gratitude for God saving us and making a place for us to live with him for eternity.
We live in constant thanksgiving because of who God is to us and what God has done for us.
Psalm 100 – in verse 3, says, The Lord made us, and we belong to him. We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture
And verse 5 says, the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever (toward us), and his faithfulness continues to each generation
If we belong to God today, through our faith in Jesus Christ, then these truths about God are true in our lives.
The Bible is full of reason and direction for us to be living in thanksgiving.
1 Chronicles 16:8 (NLT)
8 Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness. [because of] . . . what he has done (for us).
1 Chronicles 16:34 (NLT)
34 Give thanks to the Lord, [because] he is good! [and because] His faithful love endures forever (to us).
Psalm 68:19 (NLT)
19 . . . praise God our savior! [Because] each day he carries us in his arms.
If you have made the Lord of Heaven your Savior, then each day he is carrying you in his arms, and you can thank him for that every day.
Psalm 116:12–13 (NLT)
12 What can I offer the Lord for all he has done for me?
13 I will lift up the cup of salvation and praise the Lord’s name for saving me.
Listen, the moment you step into eternity and realize all that salvation means to you, you are going to praise the Lord’s name in thanksgiving (literally) forever.
And listen carefully to Hebrews 12:28.
Hebrews 12:28 (NLT)
28 Since (because) we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe.
Because we have been adopted into the Kingdom of God, we should be living in thanksgiving and pleasing God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe.
Okay, listen, really getting a hold of a dozen scriptures like these is the beginning of the journey to living in thanksgiving. And I just added a page on thanksgiving scriptures to the “Scripture by Topic” resource on the Calvary Chapel Nuevo and the Wordbymail websites.
Again, the final question is, how do I begin the road to living in thanksgiving? The answer is: Be consumed more by what God has done for you than what this world is doing to you.
I think sometimes we aren’t living in thanksgiving because we really don’t have a life-transforming grasp on what God has done for us and what God is doing for us today.
So, here is my challenge to all of us today. Ask God, really ask God, is there something in my life that is keeping me from living in thanksgiving? Is it that you don’t know how good God is to you? Or what he’s done for you? Or is it that you are more consumed with the short-term trials of this world than you are with the eternal promises of God? Or is it simply that you’ve never experienced the true goodness of God through a real relationship with Jesus Christ?
Ask God what is keeping you from living in thanksgiving and then set out on a determined journey of being healed from living that unthankful life and your healing will come from the power of God’s Word received in the power of God’s presence. Learn to get Alone With God and focus on being transformed in this specific area.
Get our Alone With God series on the wordbymail phone app.
Romans 12:2 says, Let God Transform you by Renewing your Mind and that is done through the living and powerful Word of God applied to your life in the living and powerful presence of God. And again, you can learn how to do that in our Alone With God series.
If you recognize that you are not living in thanksgiving, then set out on a mission to be transformed into a life of living in constant thanksgiving to God, and if you ask us, we will help you.
Remember 1 Thessalonians 5:18.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NLT)
18 Be thankful in all circumstances (be Living in Thanksgiving), for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
But, in the last couple of years, I’ve lost a good part of my living in thanksgiving to God. Has that ever happened to you? As I’ve kind of drifted away from living in a constant state of thanksgiving to God, it has really affected me and it has really affected the people around me. It’s not some big sin (as we define them) that has caused my drift away from living in thanksgiving.
For me, the robber of my living in thanksgiving seems to be long-term stress, workaholism, and unmet expectations that I’ve put on myself and on God. And the reason for my drift away from living in thanksgiving might be similar to yours, or yours might be completely different. Either way, the first question we have to ask today is: Is there something in my life today that is keeping me from living in thanksgiving, because the lifestyle is critically important.
As believers, we are called to live in thanksgiving. But even those outside the Bible-believing community readily know the transforming benefit of living in thanksgiving.
So, number one, I’d like us to honestly see what it looks like when we are not living in thanksgiving. Then number two, I’d like us to see what it looks like when we are living in thanksgiving. And then finally, number three, we need to see how to begin the journey to go from not living in thanksgiving to living in constant thanksgiving to God.
Have I said “living in thanksgiving” enough?
Alright, we have to start with what it looks like when we are not living in thanksgiving, and to do that, first, we have to accept a critical truth. It can be found in Matthew 12:34-35.
Matthew 12:34–35 (ESV)
34 . . . For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
35 The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.
No, don’t get all defensive at that verse – you’ll just be proving what I’m saying is right.
34 . . . out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks
Matthew 15:18 says the same thing.
Matthew 15:18 (ESV)
18 . . . what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.
We don’t like it. We try to deny it. We defend and justify and rationalize it. But the truth is what comes out of our mouth is – at the very least – a sign of what is in our heart. When I say it’s a sign, I mean, I know that when you’re angry, you say things you don’t mean. But it does mean that you’re angry, right?
And I think the first sign of a Christian slipping away from a thankful heart is when we begin to hear negative, critical, and judgmental words coming out of our mouths. An ungrateful, unappreciative attitude toward God and others is usually the dangerous beginning of us no longer living in thanksgiving.
Proverbs 15:15 (NLT)
15 For the despondent, every day brings trouble; for the happy heart, life is a continual feast.
We have to honestly see where we are at on that scale, and we have to know that learning to live in continual thanksgiving to God will move us from the despondent side of that verse, to the happy heart side of that verse.
Step one is to honestly see where you’re at, so you can begin to let God heal you. Because if you don’t, you will risk falling into one of the greatest dangers warned against in the Bible, which is… bitterness. Bitterness is a poison. But, it’s not a poison that we drink. It’s a poison we manufacture in our own heart and then it poisons the people around us.
Hebrews 12:15 (NLT)
15 . . . Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.
Bitterness grows up in our own heart, and it can create generations of trouble as it passes from a grandparent to a parent to the kids. Bitterness is a plague that will make everyone around you sick. That’s why Ephesians 4:31 says this,
Ephesians 4:31 (NLT)
31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander . . .
All those sins come from a heart poisoned by bitterness, and I promise you learning to live in a constant state of thanksgiving to God is the remedy for the poison of bitterness.
So, that’s what not living in thanksgiving looks like. Now, let’s see what living in thanksgiving does look like. As always, the Word of God says it best. In just five verses, Psalm 100 makes it perfectly clear what living in thanksgiving looks like.
Psalm 100 (NLT)
1 Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth!
2 Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before him, singing with joy.
3 Acknowledge that the Lord is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation.
As you recover from an unthankful or bitter heart, this Psalm should be your daily scripture meditation for a month. Every day, dig into it more, and more, and more.
Have you ever met a Christ-follower who truly has thanksgiving to God just pouring out of their life? When you do meet them, it often impacts you for life.
I was with one of these always thankful Christ-followers this week. This church, and many of us individually, lost a very dear friend this week in an accident and I was asked to share that tragic news with his mother and his brother, with most of his family gathered around for support.
And when I shared it, this mom went into emotional shock for sure, but all that could come out of her lips was thanksgiving to God. Thanksgiving for how good God is, for how much God loved her son and her entire family, and thanksgiving for how grateful she was that her son was in the actual, very real, presence of Jesus. And her response of thanksgiving to God in the face of that tragic news put me into emotional shock.
Guys, it is what we know to be absolutely true about God that enables us to live in thanksgiving to God. When a person knows that they know, that they know how good God is and when they know all that God has done for them, it shows in thanksgiving no matter what they are facing.
That person has peace that passes understanding (Philippians 4:7).
That person lies down in rest at night because they know the Lord is with them. (Psalm 4:8)
That person has exceeding joy down deep in their soul as over 50 verses in Psalms and Proverbs say.
That person has confidence that God is leading and guiding them for his name’s sake (Psalm 31:3)
And that person is content in whatever situation they are in (Philippians 4:11)
This is what living in thanksgiving looks like. It looks like peace, rest, inner joy, confidence, and contentment.
And… there’s more. Living in thanksgiving is also the key to honoring God, to worshiping God, and to serving God in all that we do. That is what living in thanksgiving looks like.
(#1) So, we’ve seen what not living in thanksgiving looks like and (#2) we’ve seen what living in thanksgiving does look like. (#3) Now, we need to see, how do we begin the journey from not living in thanksgiving to living in thanksgiving to God.
The first thing we need to see is that living in thanksgiving is our expression of constant gratitude for all that God has done for us, and for his constant care and concern for us.
We think this life is so long. God says, “It’s a vapor. I designed it as a vapor.” Genesis 1:27 says you were created in the image of God, meaning as an eternal being. God wouldn’t create you for this little eighty years of sojourning in this world. And we can be eternally thankful that he’s made a way to forgive us of our sin, to give us his righteousness, and to reserve a place in heaven for us to spend with him for eternity. No matter what’s going on, we can be thankful for that. Constantly.
Living in thanksgiving is especially our constant expression of gratitude for God saving us and making a place for us to live with him for eternity.
We live in constant thanksgiving because of who God is to us and what God has done for us.
Psalm 100 – in verse 3, says, The Lord made us, and we belong to him. We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture
And verse 5 says, the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever (toward us), and his faithfulness continues to each generation
If we belong to God today, through our faith in Jesus Christ, then these truths about God are true in our lives.
The Bible is full of reason and direction for us to be living in thanksgiving.
1 Chronicles 16:8 (NLT)
8 Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness. [because of] . . . what he has done (for us).
1 Chronicles 16:34 (NLT)
34 Give thanks to the Lord, [because] he is good! [and because] His faithful love endures forever (to us).
Psalm 68:19 (NLT)
19 . . . praise God our savior! [Because] each day he carries us in his arms.
If you have made the Lord of Heaven your Savior, then each day he is carrying you in his arms, and you can thank him for that every day.
Psalm 116:12–13 (NLT)
12 What can I offer the Lord for all he has done for me?
13 I will lift up the cup of salvation and praise the Lord’s name for saving me.
Listen, the moment you step into eternity and realize all that salvation means to you, you are going to praise the Lord’s name in thanksgiving (literally) forever.
And listen carefully to Hebrews 12:28.
Hebrews 12:28 (NLT)
28 Since (because) we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe.
Because we have been adopted into the Kingdom of God, we should be living in thanksgiving and pleasing God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe.
Okay, listen, really getting a hold of a dozen scriptures like these is the beginning of the journey to living in thanksgiving. And I just added a page on thanksgiving scriptures to the “Scripture by Topic” resource on the Calvary Chapel Nuevo and the Wordbymail websites.
Again, the final question is, how do I begin the road to living in thanksgiving? The answer is: Be consumed more by what God has done for you than what this world is doing to you.
I think sometimes we aren’t living in thanksgiving because we really don’t have a life-transforming grasp on what God has done for us and what God is doing for us today.
So, here is my challenge to all of us today. Ask God, really ask God, is there something in my life that is keeping me from living in thanksgiving? Is it that you don’t know how good God is to you? Or what he’s done for you? Or is it that you are more consumed with the short-term trials of this world than you are with the eternal promises of God? Or is it simply that you’ve never experienced the true goodness of God through a real relationship with Jesus Christ?
Ask God what is keeping you from living in thanksgiving and then set out on a determined journey of being healed from living that unthankful life and your healing will come from the power of God’s Word received in the power of God’s presence. Learn to get Alone With God and focus on being transformed in this specific area.
Get our Alone With God series on the wordbymail phone app.
Romans 12:2 says, Let God Transform you by Renewing your Mind and that is done through the living and powerful Word of God applied to your life in the living and powerful presence of God. And again, you can learn how to do that in our Alone With God series.
If you recognize that you are not living in thanksgiving, then set out on a mission to be transformed into a life of living in constant thanksgiving to God, and if you ask us, we will help you.
Remember 1 Thessalonians 5:18.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NLT)
18 Be thankful in all circumstances (be Living in Thanksgiving), for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.