Celebrating 20 years next month, 8 babies (1 in Heaven) and more ups and downs than we thought we could handle. Grateful for this life, as imperfect as it can be, and we anchor our happiness on being thankful to God for being with us every step of the way…
Feeling distant from God lately? Looking for a ticket straight to His throne?
Far too many Christians feel that being God’s presence is elusive and an even unattainable goal, but nothing could be further from the truth. It’s easier than you may think.
“Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.” — Psalm 100:4
It’s that simple and it’s a choice…
Most of us think of gratitude as something that happens to us. A good day comes along, the kids cooperate, the bills get paid, and thankfulness shows up on its own.
But that’s not how the Bible talks about it. In Scripture, gratitude is something we choose and offer to God, even on the days when nothing goes the way we planned.
With Thanksgiving almost here, we want to encourage you to start priming up your gratitude muscles now. Because being thankful should not be reserved for one day out of the year.
Being grateful should be a daily expression of how Christians love and worship Almighty God, our good Father.
So, let’s take a closer look at what many of us have believed about being thankful, and hold it up to what God’s Word says.
“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” — 1 Thessalonians 5:18
The Bible says gratitude is something we choose to offer God in every circumstance, even the hard ones, rather than a feeling we wait for. Thanksgiving is an act of worship that God invites us to practice every ordinary day, not only on one holiday in November.
Here are six lies about thankfulness that many Christians believe, and the truth from Scripture that replaces each one…
1. “Gratitude Is a Feeling”
Feelings are real, and God cares about them.
But Paul didn’t write “feel thankful in all circumstances.” He wrote “give thanks,” which is something you can do whether the feeling has arrived yet or not.
That’s good news, because it means gratitude is always within reach. You don’t have to wait for your emotions to cooperate before you obey, and very often, the feelings follow the obedience.
David wrote one of his best-loved songs of praise right after a humiliating escape, when he had to pretend to be insane in front of a Philistine king to save his own life (1 Samuel 21:12-15).
“I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” — Psalm 34:1
“I will” is the language of a decision. David chose to bless God before his feelings had caught up, and the rest of the psalm shows where that choice led him.
The truth: gratitude is a choice we make before God, and He honors it.
Joy doesn’t have to wait for your feelings either. If the heaviness shows up before you’re even out of bed, start here…
2. “I’ll Be Thankful When Things Get Better”
“Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.” — Habakkuk 3:17-18
Habakkuk wrote that while he was waiting for hard times to fall on his nation. He chose to rejoice in the God of the harvest before the harvest ever came back.
If we wait for life to get better before we give thanks, we’ll always be waiting. Paul said he had learned contentment in every situation (Philippians 4:11-12), which means contentment is something God grows in us as we practice it.
The truth: we can rejoice in God before our circumstances change, because He doesn’t.
If the waiting you’re thanking God through is about money and the math that keeps you up at night, pray this one with us…
3. “Being Thankful Means Pretending Everything Is Fine”
Some of us were taught that a grateful Christian never admits anything hurts. But the Psalms are full of honest prayers from people who were struggling.
Psalm 13 starts with “How long, O LORD?” and ends somewhere very different:
“I will sing to the LORD, because He has dealt bountifully with me.” — Psalm 13:6
David brought the hard part straight to God instead of skipping past it, and gratitude was where the conversation landed.
The truth: you can be honest about what hurts and still thank God for who He is.
If this season is carrying grief you haven’t told anyone about, this prayer was written for you…
“I’m grateful to be here, receiving encouragement, recipes, and whole-body transformation. Even after trying times, I trust you and Mama Z. The spiritual aspect completes the system: body, soul, and spirit.”
— Ellen D.
4. “Gratitude Is Just Good Manners”
We teach our kids to say thank you because it’s polite, and it is. But in Scripture, thanksgiving goes much deeper than good manners, because it is an act of worship.
“The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies Me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!” — Psalm 50:23
When you thank God, you’re declaring that every good thing in your life came from Him (James 1:17). That turns an ordinary dinner table into a place of worship.
“Through Him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge His name.” — Hebrews 13:15
Under the new covenant, the sacrifice God asks for comes out of our mouths. It is offered every time we name His goodness out loud, at the table or anywhere else.
The truth: thanksgiving is a sacrifice of praise that glorifies God.
5. “Thankfulness Doesn’t Affect My Body”
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” — Philippians 4:6-7
Notice the order. Prayer with thanksgiving comes first, and peace guarding your heart and mind follows.
God designed you as a whole person, so what happens in your heart doesn’t stay there. In one well-known set of experiments, people who wrote down what they were grateful for each week felt better about their lives and reported fewer physical complaints than people who listed their daily hassles.
The researchers were careful to note that the benefits showed up on several measures but not all of them, and the clearest effect was a brighter mood. Still, it lines up with what Paul wrote two thousand years ago, when he tied thanksgiving to God’s peace guarding our hearts and minds.
The truth: gratitude is part of how God designed you to live well, body, soul and spirit.
Gratitude is one of the best antidotes to holiday stress. Here’s how to reclaim the joy of the season…
“Thank you so much for everything you all do, and especially today for the Scriptures. I really needed those today.”
— Mary G.
6. “Gratitude Is for Thanksgiving Day”
“Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” — Ephesians 5:20
Thanksgiving Day is a wonderful tradition, but one day a year was never the Biblical plan. Even when it was dangerous, Daniel got down on his knees three times a day and gave thanks before his God, “as he had done previously” (Daniel 6:10).
Gratitude grows the way any habit grows, a little every day, until it becomes part of who you are.
The psalmist even put a time stamp on it, morning and night:
“It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; to declare Your steadfast love in the morning, and Your faithfulness by night.” — Psalm 92:1-2
Thanking God for His love when you wake up and for His faithfulness when you lie down turns two ordinary moments into bookends of worship, every day of the year.
The truth: God invites us to give thanks always, not just on the fourth Thursday of November.
A daily habit of thanks grows the same way self-control does, one ordinary day at a time. This prayer is for the gap between what you meant to do and what you did…
Gratitude Is a Choice We Get to Make
Every one of these six lies makes gratitude depend on something outside of us, whether it’s our feelings, our circumstances, our manners or the calendar. Scripture moves it back to where it belongs, which is a choice we make before God because of who He is.
Most of us have believed at least one of these, and some of them sound so reasonable that we never think to test them against Scripture. That’s how a lie usually works, because it rarely shows up looking like a lie.
That’s good news, because it means no hard week, empty chair or burned dish can take thankfulness away from you. You can give thanks with a full heart or a heavy one, and God receives both.
“Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever!” — Psalm 107:1
So this Thanksgiving, set the table, call the family and enjoy the feast. But don’t wait for a feeling to tell you when to start giving thanks.
Thank Him out loud at the table, in the car and at bedtime, and let the people you love hear you do it, because a grateful heart is caught as much as it is taught.
A Prayer for You. 🙏
Father, thank You for every good and perfect gift, and for being the Giver behind all of them.
Forgive us for waiting on our feelings before we thank You, and for noticing what’s missing before we notice what You’ve given.
Teach us to give thanks in all circumstances, at our tables, in our homes and in our hardest days.
Let our gratitude become worship, and let Your peace guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Help our children hear us thank You out loud, so they learn that every good gift in our home comes from Your hand.
Amen.
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~ Dr. Z & Mama Z