Being Faithful...Thursday...Thanksgiving Day

11/28/13

Of course this week is celebrated in our nation as the annual day of thanking God for His provision, providence, and goodness toward all of humanity.  We, as Spirit filled believers, know that this isn't just a one day event – more like every moment of our life we praise and thank our Father for His awesomeness!  We can join with the angels and elders standing around the throne and worship God:

Revelation 7:12 - saying: 

“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, 

Thanksgiving and honor 

and power and might, 

Be to our God forever and ever.  Amen.”

As a ‘fun’ way of calling to mind what we are thankful for, try making an acrostic poem using the word THANKSGIVING.  This is where you use each letter of the word to begin a word or phrase that expresses thanksgiving to Father.  As an example:

T – Time spent with loved ones

H – Homes filled with warmth and love.

A – Abundance of blessings to be a blessing to others.

N – Needs fulfilled

K – Kindness shown in tangible ways.

S – Savior, Son, Salvation, Sanctification

G – Gifts of power

 I – Indescribable beauty of God’s creation.

V – Victory over permanent death.

 I – Inspiration of the Holy Ghost to bless others.

N – Neighbors who come to our aid.

G – God, our Father

I leave you with an excerpt from “Wikipedia” that describes the first National Proclamation of Thanksgiving given by the Continental Congress in 1777:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving_(United_States)

During the American Revolutionary War the Continental Congress appointed one or more thanksgiving days each year, each time recommending to the executives of the various states the observance of these days in their states.

The First National Proclamation of Thanksgiving was given by the Continental Congress in 1777 from its temporary location in York, Pennsylvania, while the British occupied the national capital at Philadelphia. Delegate Samuel Adams created the first draft. Congress then adapted the final version:

For as much as it is the indispensable Duty of all Men to adore the superintending Providence of Almighty God; to acknowledge with Gratitude their Obligation to him for Benefits received, and to implore such farther Blessings as they stand in Need of: And it having pleased him in his abundant Mercy, not only to continue to us the innumerable Bounties of his common Providence; but also to smile upon us in the Prosecution of a just and necessary War, for the Defense and Establishment of our unalienable Rights and Liberties; particularly in that he hath been pleased, in so great a Measure, to prosper the Means used for the Support of our Troops, and to crown our Arms with most signal success:

It is therefore recommended to the legislative or executive Powers of these United States to set apart Thursday, the eighteenth Day of December next, for Solemn Thanksgiving and Praise: That at one Time and with one Voice, the good People may express the grateful Feelings of their Hearts, and consecrate themselves to the Service of their Divine Benefactor; and that, together with their sincere Acknowledgments and Offerings, they may join the penitent Confession of their manifold Sins, whereby they had forfeited every Favor; and their humble and earnest Supplication that it may please God through the Merits of Jesus Christ, mercifully to forgive and blot them out of Remembrance; That it may please him graciously to afford his Blessing on the Governments of these States respectively, and prosper the public Council of the whole: To inspire our Commanders, both by Land and Sea, and all under them, with that Wisdom and Fortitude which may render them fit Instruments, under the Providence of Almighty God, to secure for these United States, the greatest of all human Blessings, Independence and Peace: That it may please him, to prosper the Trade and Manufactures of the People, and the Labor of the Husbandman, that our Land may yield its Increase: To take Schools and Seminaries of Education, so necessary for cultivating the Principles of true Liberty, Virtue and Piety, under his nurturing Hand; and to prosper the Means of Religion, for the promotion and enlargement of that Kingdom, which consistent "in Righteousness, Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost.

And it is further recommended, That servile Labor, and such Recreation, as, though at other Times innocent, may be unbecoming the Purpose of this Appointment, be omitted on so solemn an Occasion.

Devotional written by

K. Hirsch., Dean of Students

Charis Bible College, 

San Jose, CA

Blessings,
Shared by  

Kathryn Hanson 

HERE IS A THANKSGIVING SONG...... "YOU'VE BEEN BLESSED"