1 Thessalonians 5:18
(In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you)
“In” in this scripture is very instructive and important. In all things we give thanks.
We don’t thank God for evil but we thank God in that situation. Thanking God in whatever situation you are in keeps you in the will of God. There is no situation that is bigger than God and when you have that understanding you walk in his will. As long as you are aligned in the will of God, God knows what to do to turn around that situation for his glory. As believers, that’s why we give thanks to God in every situation. The situation may not be palatable, the scripture is instructing us to give thanks in everything.
Thanksgiving is beyond you, it’s beyond your emotion. Thanksgiving is beyond your understanding. It becomes an instruction. It becomes a way of establishing the will of God in your life. At some point it becomes a display of the wisdom of God. By human understanding and some situations, one may not give thanks.
The scripture said “in everything” meaning regardless of whatever you are going through good or bad, you give thanks for that situation because at the end of the day, it will cause you to walk in the will of God. Giving thanks is beyond your feelings.
Situations, has made us realize that there is more to them than whatever they are currently doing. Circumstances have made people discover their potential and the will of God for their life.
If you are a child of God, the Bible says that giving thanks to God is the will of God. It keeps you in the will of God. Thanksgiving is beyond our feelings, circumstances, emotions or your pocket.
Thanksgiving is giving God your best with your whole heart. Because that thing that is your best today, can be your least in future.
Joy should be constant because understanding is also constant. It is not a situation that changes our attitude on Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving is to keep us in the plan of God. Even when it does not look like the will and plan.
Psalms 50:14
1) Thanksgiving most times is a sacrifice.
It’s something you give out of your heart with a consciousness of the person that is receiving it.
2) It’s a decision
3) It’s a declaration in the midst of uncertainty.
Jesus was faced with different situations but one of the thing that was constant was that, he gave thanks.
Jesus practiced thanksgiving. Sometimes giving thanks means praising God while you are still waiting for your expectations. Thanksgiving will sometimes mean trusting before the breakthrough.
It also means believing when you don’t see the answer yet. For this to happen, one must have a different understanding. Thanksgiving is beyond a feeling. Jesus did not wait for the miracle to thank the Father.
This can be inferred from the thanksgiving that Jesus gave when Lazarus died.
John 11:1-44
Who would give thanks in that kind of situation?
Jesus was declaring ahead of what he expected ahead by his thanksgiving, the breakthrough and testimonies. Thanksgiving is beyond you. Jesus wept when he learned of Lazarus’s death but his emotions could not stop him from thanking God. The fact that the circumstances were not favorable, it did not hinder him from giving thanks to God.
Whatever the circumstances are, you can make a decision, but you won’t make that decision if you don’t have an understanding. It is the understanding that precedes the decision. Jesus rarely cried. For him to cry at the tomb of Lazarus it showed the closeness and bond they shared. We need to come to a point where our situation cannot stop us from thanking God.
Why do we thank God? Because in thanking God is our safety, our preservation.
Why do we thank God? In thanking God is our safety. In thanking God we align ourselves to the will and plan of God.
As we choose to thank God in the midst of the circumstances, we are actually bringing Him to the embrace of the Father. He knows what to do. Thanking God becomes a decision, instruction and declaration.
What we are doing is that we are keeping ourselves in the embrace of the Father. Thanking God for us becomes a decision and declaration. Jesus did not wait for the miracle. He did not wait for Lazarus to come out.
Luke 22:19 And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. The account was that bread was multiplied upon thanking God for the bread.
Even when things are small and they do not look enough
Our emotions must not place a fast one over you. Thanksgiving is a decision and it is a sacrifice.
If that bread was meant for himself and his disciples alone, that bread is not enough. We are not denying the things and realities around us. There are enough reasons to defer to giving thanks.
The Bible says that He took the bread and gave thanks. It is not a situation that stopped us from thanking God. Thanksgiving is a decision and a declaration.
Jesus took the bread and gave thanks. Jesus took his best and gave thanks.
The best available at that time is not enough. He took the bread and gave thanks. We must understand and make a decision that thanksgiving will be our declaration as it is not enough.
The one that came that needed to be blessed was orchestrated by the will of God. We would always find ourselves in that situation where the money will not be enough and where the connections will not be enough.
We will need to make that decision. We must have that understanding that it is a bold decision. It is a decision and a declaration. He did not give thanks because there was leftover or more. Thanksgiving was not done because there was plenty. If the thanksgiving was because His disciples were rejoicing because there was multiplicity then it would not be a thanksgiving.
However, there is a decision that we must embrace in such a way that it is such a decision. We must dance around our five loaves of bread. Where there is enough we thank God.
Luke 9:10-17
When there is limited supply we should thank God. Beyond any testimony we must rejoice and be thankful. We must dance around our five loaves of bread.
Before the bread multiplied, before Lazarus rose up and before the cross becomes empty grave He gave thanks. His giving is beyond feelings.
It is the understanding that gives birth to the decision. One thing that the devil will want to stop is to prevent you from bringing your five loaves of bread.
It is a decision and a declaration. Beyond the blessing it is primarily an understanding. The understanding gave birth to a decision that led to a declaration.
Before the bread multiplied Jesus gave thanks. Before Lazarus rose from the dead Jesus gave thanks. Before the tomb became empty he gave thanks.
We see the consistency. Jesus showed us the pattern for thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is beyond your circumstance. It is beyond your emotions. It is essentially about an understanding.
It is beyond the need, it is beyond the circumstance and the resources available. It is essentially about an understanding that gives birth to a decision. One thing you won’t allow the devil to do is let him show you what you don’t have.
The five loaves of bread Jesus multiplied was from God. He provided it. Show gratitude for the five loaves of bread. As he broke it and gave it to the disciples it multiplied.
For the disciples to receive those small sized bread it requires some height of faith to distribute it to the people.
But we saw that when the people had eaten, the left overs amounted to 12 baskets.
We should learn to make the most of our five loaves. Thank God and dance around your five loaves that’s where your gratitude is most sincere. It’s a decision to be thankful with barely enough.