Book: In Everything Give Thanks

“Sometimes before God will give us what we want, He tests us by giving us instructions or correction instead, to see if what we need is really what we want. Then He lovingly steps back to see if we really know how to be thankful. Some of us have learned to sarcastically reply, “Well, praise the Lord anyhow.” That phrase bothers me, because it indicates that God did the best He could but it just wasn’t quite good enough. That’s blasphemy! Others of us have learned to go through the motions of giving thanks externally – outwardly thankful, but inwardly angry. Still a few others, however, seem to have learned the secret of being thankful in every situation. But, how can you praise God when you are angry or discouraged? How can you praise God when you just lost your job? Isn’t that hypocritical?”

“The problem is that many of us, if not most of us, as Christians, simply do not live a life of constant praise. We are affected by our emotions and we are affected by our circumstances. There are those of us who can only be thankful when we feel thankful. We assume we cannot give thanks unless we feel truly thankful. Some of us can only be thankful when there is something circumstantial to be thankful for. So what do we do? God has given us a clear answer in Scripture.”

“Paul says, “Rejoice evermore.” (1 Thessalonians 5:15) This means that the Christian at no time in his pilgrimage is justified in being without joy – inner confidence in God that views all of life from God’s perspective and is thus unaffected by circumstances. Paul wants to tell you how to get to that place: (1) Pray without ceasing. (2) In everything give thanks.  That’s just about enough for most of us to assume that the apostle is off in some make-believe world. Paul is not saying “for everything give thanks”. He is saying “in everything give thanks”. “To give thanks” means that you first of all have a spirit of gratitude to give away, and then secondly, you consciously, by an act of your will, choose to express that gratitude to God.”

“Instead of viewing God as an ally to meet my needs, I am to view every circumstance that comes into my life from God’s vantage point, which is not pleasure, treasure, or success in this world, but rather demonstration, transformation, and multiplication in the spiritual realm. Until our perspective becomes wholly God’s, we cannot honestly in everything give thanks”. The question of questions is: In everything give thanks for what? You are to be thankful that God is doing whatever He needs to do in order to bring about demonstration, transformation, and multiplication. But that’s not enough! God does what He does because He is Who He is. You can learn not only to thank God in every single circumstance He allows to come your way, but thank Him for that quality of His character that He is demonstrating through that circumstance.”

“God knows; He understands; He has a plan. Perhaps you cannot see it, but thank Him – by faith. Thank Him and rest. In the midst of a great trial, thank Him for His grace. He alone can enable you to be in that trial the man or woman He already is in you. You see, there will never be an incident in your life that does not illustrate at least one facet of the character of God, and there is not one facet of the character of God that does not generate immediate thanksgiving. Therefore, there is not one thing that can ever happen in your life in which you cannot honestly give thanks.”

1- How do emotions and circumstances affect the ability to be thankful?

2- What is meant by the words unruly, feebleminded and weak? How are these people to be treated?

3- Why is it especially important for Christian leaders to be patient?

4- Christians are admonished to “rejoice evermore” and to “pray without ceasing”. How is that possible?

5- What is the significance of using “in” everything give thanks, rather than “for”.

6- How does one receive the power to obey these seemingly impossible commands?

7- How does viewing life from God’s perspective differ from that of the world and one who uses God for his own ends?

8- Discuss God’s goal of demonstration, transformation and multiplication and how it applies to every situation.

9- What is the ultimate goal regarding God in giving thanks?

“We’ve been attempting to be grateful for what God has done instead of learning to be thankful for Who God is! What God has done, as miraculous as it is, is circumstantial. So later circumstances crowd out the glory of those past experiences or of that past knowledge, and we forget the miracles of the past. “What have you done for me lately, Lord?” That’s what we’re saying, in effect.”

“Beloved, if we learn to build a life of thanksgiving, based not on what God has done, but rather on Who God is, there ought never to be a moment in time where that memory fades. The longer we know Him, the better we know Him. And the better we know Him, the more in awe we ought to be of Who He is. The key to a life of continuous thanksgiving is in learning to spend more and more of our life simply being thankful just because He is.”

“God was expressing His love at Calvary. Calvary was not simply a random act of a loving God designed to demonstrate His love; Calvary was simply the natural response of the nature of God to sinful man. But reflecting on Calvary is not in and of itself adequate to generate long-term thankfulness – even the greatest moment of our lives can be forgotten. Continuous thanksgiving will come only as a result of beholding that facet of the nature of God that made Calvary the natural result of His being – His perfect love. Learn to praise God just because He is! And be careful that you do not ever measure Who He is simply by how He has affected your life. That theology, so prevalent in today’s “gimme mine, God” philosophy, is too subjective to be eternally fruitful.”

“So what is the love of God and what does it do? (1) The love of God is unconditional. God does not love us because we deserve it, or even because we love Him in return. God loves simply because He chooses to. No one is too bad to be saved; our assurance is not predicated on anything we do; never can we do anything that can cause us to lose His love; as His love is allowed to flow through us unhindered, there is no one we cannot love. (2) The love of God is eternal. It had no beginning; it can have no end. (3) God’s love is holy. It is not given by caprice, or passion, or sentiment, but by principle. It is not the result of compromise, pity, or weakness. God’s love never conflicts with His holiness. (4) God’s love demands a response of obedience. Our ability to receive that love, to rest in that love, and to reflect that love, will always be proportionate to our obedience to that which we know to be His will. (5) God’s love dispels fear.  Fear and love are contradictory. If you are living in fear, you are not living in the security of God’s eternal love.”

“Just as God’s eternal love means that He cannot ever, by nature of His being, cease giving Himself away, so His eternal faithfulness means that never at any time will God ever not do what He has promised. Never at any time will His plan be altered nor His principles changed. He promised that Messiah would come. He was faithful. He has promised that Messiah will come again – He is faithful. He promised to always meet our needs – He always has. He promises never to leave us or forsake us – and He never will.”

1- What do you remember about your conversion?

2- What is the key to a life of continuous thanksgiving?

3- What happens when we measure the love of God by our own experience?

4- What are the benefits of God’s unconditional love to you personally?

5- Man says, “I don’t love you any more,” or “I made a mistake – I never really loved you.”  How long does God’s love last?

6- How does our obedience fit into the love of God?

7- If we understand God’s love, is there ever a time when we should be afraid?  Are you ever afraid?

8- Reflect on the trials God allowed Satan to inflict on Job.  How did Job come to the point of praising God?

9- How will you use the Scriptures on the character of God to make every day Praise Day?

“When last did you visit the Hill? How long has it been since you have stood at the foot of those three barbaric crosses and looked into the eyes of the man on the center cross? How long since you’ve stood in absolute grief at the awareness that God was dying – and that you were the cause? Are you still wondering, my friend, what you have to be thankful for? Are you still struggling to find meaning to life, over His right to do with your life as He pleases, over His ownership of your life? Still angry and filled with self‑pity, wondering what you have to be grateful for? Beloved, it’s Thanksgiving! Gethsemane is Thanksgiving!”

“The purpose of this message is to paint once and for all, indelibly upon our consciences, the need to regularly visit the Hill. Our goal is to take our ungrateful spirits back to that garden and then to that Cross, where ingratitude melts into grief and self-centeredness dissolves in an ocean of praise. The reason for this study is to remind us that regular visits to Calvary are the Master Physician’s prescription to help us develop a thankful heart.”

“The Cross makes no sense to the natural mind. It is foolishness. It is a stone of stumbling. Why the Eternal God, who created heaven and Earth would sacrifice His own Son on the altar at the hands of a group of jealous Jewish antagonists cannot be answered in any manner to satisfy the natural mind.”

“No one took Jesus’ life; He gave it away. He so loved. Remember what love is? Love is God giving Himself away. God, by essence of His being, so gives Himself away that He, by nature of Who He is, was compelled to give His only begotten Son so that the decision of whether to live or to die, to face heaven or hell, would now rest solely with man. Now because of God’s unfailing love, whosoever believes on Him will not perish, but have everlasting life.”

“He became nothing that we might have everything. He tasted death that we might be guaranteed life. He tasted sin that we might be freed from the clutches of that sin and the penalty of that sin, for all eternity. And you ask, What do I have to be thankful for?” If ever you ask that question again, I must answer it with another question: “When last did you visit the Hill?””

1- Do you consider giving thanks an option or a command? How does your answer affect your life?

2- What is the one thing you can always be thankful for, regardless of circumstances?

3- The human heart wonders why Jesus, Who was sinless, had to die. What is Jesus’ answer?

4- What question did Jesus ask Peter, James and John when He found them asleep? What do you think He was feeling? How do you think the apostles felt?

5- Are you able to pray, “Father, what’s the best thing for you to do in order to glorify Your name,” and accept His answer? Sometimes? Always?

6- What would have happened if Jesus had not prayed, “…not as I will, but as you will.”?

7- When last did you visit the Hill? Why do you need to?

“If we are to “in everything give thanks”, then we must look at what *everything* is. And I believe that there is no use in looking at how to cope with life today through the eyes of praise if we have not ever come to grips with the sovereignty of God and learned to praise Him for everything that has ever happened to us in the past. Our goal is not to dredge up the past by looking at individual incidents or experiences; our goal is rather to look at basic principles and apply those principles to everything in our past. God is Spirit: At any time He deems it beneficial, He will trade that which is physical on the trading block of life for that which is spiritual.”

“We must learn to praise not only the Planner, but the His plan as well. To do that, we must begin to be grateful for everything that has ever happened in our lives. You may be asking – everything? God answers – everything! Remember, God did not engineer [hurts, griefs, diseases, etc.] – they are the result of sin. Also remember, His goals are eternal and spiritual.”

“When you understand God’s three goals, you will always be able to praise Him: [Goal 1] To conform us to His image: God’s first objective is always that we might become in character, more and more and more like Him; therefore, nothing that has ever happened to you is without spiritual importance. Nothing. [Goal 2] To give us a testimony: God has taken you over some bumpy roads in bringing you to where you are, so that those who are watching you can see Jesus Christ in action when the heat of the battle goes beyond man’s ability to bear it. [Goal 3] To give us a ministry: Our ministry is basically the result of taking the comfort God has given us as we passed through past hurts and sharing that comfort with others who are passing through the same troubled waters.”

“The secret is learning to turn the past into praise. It is going one step beyond accepting the past as part of God’s will; it is coming to get excited about the past as part of God’s perfect plan for your life.  Set aside a day to praise God for making you just the way you are.”

1- Why is learning to praise for past experiences a difficult subject?

2- What does Scripture teach about the sovereignty of God? What is the significance of that in your life?

3- What is the difference in the perfect will of God and the permissive will of God? What is Satan’s role in life experiences? How is he limited?

4- When does one acknowledge that “we are God’s and we are His to do with as He chooses”?

5- How does God use physical things to accomplish spiritual purposes?

6- Russell states that everything that God has ever allowed to happen to you has been a part of His plan for your life. Is that difficult for you to believe? Why?

7- Can you see how your life experiences are accomplishing God’s goal of conforming you to His image, giving you a testimony, and giving you a ministry?

8- How will this lesson encourage you to praise the planner and the plan?

“There are those who know so much about Christianity that their very knowledge about it has clouded their thinking, and they have completely overlooked the fact that they’re not really making it work in their own life. Doctrinal knowledge, even an understanding of practical principles that are not applied, do not change us into the image of Christ. We can talk the talk, but if we never learn to walk the walk, it means nothing. What has been difficult has been giving thanks in the all things of life.”

“[In Philippi] Paul and Silas had been literally dragged to the city square, ruled to be guilty without a trial, beaten beyond measure, and thrown into a Roman dungeon. (Acts 16) It says they prayed and sang praises unto God … And the prisoners heard them.” God was listening and God was pleased. And God acted: “And suddenly there was a great earthquake …” Paul and Silas stand totally still and wait. God somehow calmed their spirits and let them know that He had a much greater purpose in mind than just setting them free; He was after the heart of [their jailer] who had caused so much of their pain (He often is.) A Philippian jailer and his entire family walked together into the sunlight of eternity and became a part of the family of God. That was worth beatings; that was worth chains; that was worth dungeons. And that was what happened when two men learned how to praise in a prison.”

“I think that each of us, in varying degrees, has been thrown into the prisons of life by Satan with the sole intent of causing us to become angry at God and discouraged with life. God, on the other hand, allowed it, because He wanted to see if, in the midst of it all, we had learned the secret of how to be filled with praise in the midst of life’s prisons. We can see how Paul made it work, and we marvel. But trapped behind the prison bars of life, we tend to find the “in everything give thanks” message a bit too impractical and theological for us. From this point on in this study, we want to put a stop to that.”

“Some of life’s prisons: Incurable illnesses; a seemingly endless bad marriage; financial bondage; a physical affliction; a “terminal loneliness”, year after year without a mate, without a friend, without someone to lean on, someone to trust in, someone to share with. God has a request to make of you. He wants you to learn how to praise from that prison. He has others in life’s cells around you who are listening at midnight to hear what you are saying, to see what you are doing. You are in that prison so God can have a teaching tool to demonstrate to them what real freedom really is.”

“You ask why? Simply because God told you to. You say, that makes no sense to the natural mind. Good. That simply reinforces the truth. The natural mind can never understand the things of the Spirit, for they are spiritually discerned. You ask, but how? The moment you realize you are being cast into life’s prisons, you begin to sing the Word, or songs about the Word, or you meditate on Scripture, or you pray Scripture back to God. This is vital. Praise Him with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, giving thanks always for all things. You will be praising Him “just because He is!” Your praise will be for His character, for Calvary, and for those expressions of His character that have demonstrated His life to you.”

“The key is that the very moment you sense the circumstances of life beginning to surround you – immediately break forth into praise. Lift your heart in adoration and thanksgiving, not for the circumstances, but just for Who He is. The object of your praise isn’t your release. The object of your praise is God’s glory. When He has been glorified to the maximum, the changing of your circumstances will be no problem to Him. That may not come in this life – but it may.”

1- Why did Paul go to Macedonia? How do the facts about Philippi set the stage for what happens?

2- What got Paul into trouble? What was the result for the slave woman? For Paul?

3- Who heard Paul and Silas singing praises?

4- When does God choose to deliver someone from “prison experiences”?

5- How did Paul’s Roman citizenship play a role in this drama?

6- Prison is a place of confinement. What are some long-term prison experiences? Short-term?

7- In life’s prison experiences, when should you begin to praise? Why?

8- How is the Word used to be able to praise God “in everything”?

“I want you to never again be able to say, “I have nothing to be thankful for.” The gifts of sight, and hearing, and walking, and speaking are not something we have earned by being born on planet Earth. Nor is the right to breathe, the right to have money, the right to have a certain job, the right to have a certain kind of mate, the right to a certain position in life. Such assumptions are the product of a non-Scriptural kind of religious program that gives man the role of the creator and lets him decide what he, as the creature, deserves or needs. This concept is blasphemy!”

“Before you can be give thanks from your heart, you must first learn to be thankful in your heart. You must learn how to go from an attitude of resentment to an attitude of contentment. Resentment: A conscious acknowledgement that you deserve more in life than you have received. Its normal fruits are bitterness, anger, jealousy, hostility and retaliation, aimed either at God or man. Contentment: A conscious acknowledgment that you have received more in life than you deserve. Its normal fruits are a life of praise, thanksgiving, humility, gratitude and joy.”

“God never guaranteed you anything but Himself. And He guaranteed you that He is all you will ever need. He never promised that while you are on this earth, He would change this earth into the likeness of Heaven. He rather agreed that while on this earth He would place enough of Heaven in your heart that this earth itself would have no real appeal to you. Whatever you have is a blessing. Given what we deserve, we would all be instantly thrown into the fires of hell, there to be toasted for all eternity. Anything short of that sentence, Beloved, is a demonstration of grace and a reason to break forth into a chorus of praise.”

“Most of us determine our level of thankfulness based on a comparative curve. And for some strange unknown reason, we almost always base our comparison on those who have more than we do. One classic cure for an ungrateful spirit is to consciously spend some time with those who have less than you do. And as you do, look for the character qualities in those people that have come from having to learn to be content.”

“Under no conditions is a Christian justified in worrying. The very things you would normally worry about are God’s gentle reminders to lead you to prayer; they are His loving reminders to be thankful. Instead of being anxious, each time you are tempted to worry, begin to worship God, then intercede with God, all the while praising God.”

“There is never at any time a valid reason for the Christian not to be thankful. If our objectives are spiritual and all the treasures of Heaven are ours, then we would be fools at any moment in this life, no matter the circumstances, not to be filled with anthems of praise. We can develop into saints who live to pour out our hearts to God in thanksgiving; men and women who see our lot in life as far more than we deserve, and who see the physical limitations of this life as spiritual benefits, and who see the spiritual benefits as the only things that will ever last.”

“Principles of praise: (1) Learn to begin your times alone with God by praising Him. (2) Remember that one of the most important things you have to praise God for is people. (3) Learn to praise God for what you have, even when and especially when, it does not appear to be adequate. (4) Learn to thank God for victories you have not yet experienced. (5) Generate praise by giving. (6) Praise God for the simplicity of the Gospel. (7) Praise God that in spite of your past, He has placed you in ministry.”

1- Why should there never be a time when we say, “I have nothing to be thankful for”? Name some of the things we usually take for granted.

2- Discuss the definition of resentment and contentment. What does I Timothy say about contentment?

3- What has God promised us on this earth? What do we deserve?

4- Does comparing ourselves with others lead to contentment or discontentment? Why?

5- Is it customary to be content with a lower standard of living than you have always enjoyed? How does that sometimes affect newly married couples?

6- How do you change your mindset to develop a life of thanksgiving? How long does it take?

7- Review the practical steps to developing thanksgiving of the heart.

“The reason we are not more thankful is often because we have a “this-life philosophy” that sees heaven as a vague possibility or even a spiritual probability, but not as a here-and-now reality. It sees the world we live in and the world we live for as one and the same thing, in direct opposition to how Jesus saw it in John 17. He saw this world as a place we live in, but heaven as the place we live for.“

“If we actually learn to live in this world with our eyes on the next, our praise will be multiplied as we envision what awaits us in the endless eternity just beyond that momentous experience of death – an experience the world calls “tragic” but that God calls “victory”. Some golden daybreak, our restoration will be complete. We will be given all we have been promised, and we will be relieved of all that hinders us from being pure.”

“The Word of God describes the life that is really yours: (1) There will be no more hunger and no more thirst. (Revelation 7:16,17) (2) A mansion awaits you designed by the King. (John 14:1-3) (3) We’re going to get a brand new body. (Philippians 3:20,21) (4) Our restoration will be complete. (Revelation 21:1-5) Beloved, these are not myths; these are not fables; these are not empty promises dangled in front of God’s children to tease them and lure them into a false sense of hope. Nor are these allegories, symbolic pictures painted by God that say one thing and mean another. This is truth!”

“You will be able to sit down beside each of your loved ones who died in Christ. There is going to be a reunion the likes of which we never could imagine. Those who have labored in the energy of the Spirit for the things of the Spirit will be rewarded. But one thing will cause all other things to pale into relative insignificance. At last, we will be with Jesus. And we will become like Jesus for all eternity. if we had nothing else in life to praise Him for, would not that which He has prepared for us in the matchless eternity still to unfold be all we would ever need, to fall on our faces and shout until our voices could speak no more, “Alleluia! Praise God!””

“We must learn not only to praise God in spite of the trials, but going one step further, let God use the trials as a hymn book to teach us which of God’s promises we are to praise Him for. So every time pain rears its ugly head, why not use that pain as a reminder from God that some golden daybreak, you won’t have any more pain? Every time tribulation comes into your life, begin to praise God because some golden daybreak, tribulation will cease; sickness will cease; sorrow will cease; crying will cease. Facing hunger, disease, even death? These cannot harm you. They can only hasten the day when you are able to celebrate thanksgiving! Praise Him because some golden daybreak, all that you have been praising Him for will become reality – and all of the crying and all of the sighing, and all of the tests, and all of the rest will have been worth it all.”

1- How did Richard Ferguson’s thanksgiving list differ from members of the Erickson family?

2- How was he able to be thankful for things he didn’t actually possess?

3- What is the difference in the world we live in and the world we live for?

4- Which of the promises that Heaven holds appeals to you the most — no hunger or thirst, a mansion, a new body, no crying…? Would your answer differ from those living in other parts of the world?

5- Who are the people you are most looking forward to seeing in Heaven? Do you have a list?

6- Are you anticipating the crown laid up for you? What are the words you are hoping to hear from Jesus?

7- How can the trials of this life be turned into praise?

“Are you praising Him morning, noon, and night? Has the essence of praise worked its way into the fiber of your heart to such a degree that you cannot stop praising Him? Are you different, decidedly different, in how and when and where and why you praise Him? The subject of thanksgiving and the issue of praise has its roots so deep in the heart of God’s plan that to relegate it to equality, even with other practical areas of application, may not do it justice, because thanksgiving is at the root of obedience to the will of God. In every area of the Christian’s experience, this much of the will of God has been clearly revealed: We are to rejoice evermore. We are to pray without ceasing. We are to in everything give thanks. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)”

“Create a framework for the Holy Spirit to use in your life that will free Him to make you a saint of praise: (A) From the rising of the sun. The principle is to start the day, even at the rising of the sun, by praising Him. Remember, the first thoughts you think set the tone for the day. (B) Turn mealtime to praise time. Partaking of physical food was given to us as a reminder that “man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” (Deuteronomy 8:3) (C) Learn to develop parables of praise. Jesus did! When you look at someone you love, praise Him for His unfailing love. When you look in the mirror, praise Him for His amazing grace. (D) Write letters to the Lord, praising Him for Who He is. As you do, it will change you, honor God, and leave for those who follow a portrait of praise to use as a basis for their own living letters. (E) Learn to make melody in your heart to the Lord. Make the most of music, particularly music that is Scripture set to melody. Use it as background to quietly inscribe the message of the Word into the subconscious. (F) Make a personal praise notebook. You can record those special times when God has comforted you and encouraged you and delivered you.”

1- What is the difference in gaining knowledge and wisdom?

2- What is the danger in gaining knowledge and understanding and not gaining wisdom?

3- What is the will of God as revealed in I Thessalonians 5?

4- As the lessons in this series were reviewed, did you find that you had forgotten them or put them into practice?

5- Discuss the suggestions for turning knowledge into wisdom regarding praise.  Which ones appeal to you?  Which ones will you commit to do?

6- Now that you know the will of God concerning praise,  what is your response?