I come before You today
And there’s just one thing that I want to say
Thank You, Lord
Thank You, Lord
For all You’ve given to me
For all the blessings I cannot see
Thank You, Lord
Thank You, Lord
With a grateful heart
With a song of praise
With an outstretched arm
I will bless Your name
Thank You, Lord
I just wanna thank You, Lord
Thank You, Lord
I just wanna thank You, Lord
Thank You, Lord
For all You’ve done in my life
You took my darkness and gave me Your light
Thank You, Lord
Thank You, Lord
You took my sin and my shame
You took my sickness and healed all my pain
Thank You, Lord
Thank You, Lord
Yes we thank You, Lord; thank You, Lord; thank You, Lord
Yes we thank You, oh we thank You
Don Moen
Songwriters Patrick Henderson and Louis E Brown III
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The Bible tells us to “give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good.” In the Kings James Version, this specific command is given at least six times: 1 Chronicles 16:34, Psalm 106:1, Psalm 107:1, Psalm 118:1 and 29, and Psalm 136:1. Of course, there are many other references to giving thanks to the Lord throughout His Word. Many of them give thanks to Him for something or someone. I like the focus of this verse because it is all about our Lord. In fact, these six verses speak solely of His goodness and His mercy.
As this song mentions, we have so much to thank God for:
- blessings we can’t see
- taking us out of darkness and giving us His light
- taking our sin, shame, sickness, and pain
- for all He’s done in our lives
And for all those things we give God our thanksgiving. But today, mostly I just want to come to Him and give Him thanks and praise. He is worthy. He is our God, who is good and full of mercy and grace. Over and over, “I just wanna thank You, Lord.”
Thus will I bless Thee while I live:
I will lift up my hands in Thy name.
Psalm 63:4
Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord.
Psalm 134:2
Let my prayer be set forth before Thee as incense;
and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
Psalm 141:2
In every place of worship, I want men to pray with holy hands lifted up to God, free from anger and controversy. 1 Timothy 2:8 NLT
During this season of Thanksgiving, when we are reminded to take time to be thankful for all that God has blessed us with, I don’t want to forget to simply be thankful for God, Himself. (What about you?) With a grateful heart, with a song of praise, I want to “Bless the Lord, O, my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name!” (Psalm 103:1). Please join me with outstretched arms, with hands and hearts lifted to our Lord, and give Him thanks. He is worthy.
All glory to Him who alone is God,
our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord.
All glory, majesty, power, and authority are His before all time,
and in the present, and beyond all time! Amen.
Jude 1:25
And then I heard every creature in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and in the sea.
They sang: “Blessing and honor and glory and power
belong to the One sitting on the throne
and to the Lamb forever and ever.”
Revelation 5:13
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Dear Lord, we can easily come to You with a long list of things and people that we are thankful for; You have blessed us with so much. But first and foremost, Lord, we come to give You thanks for being You. You are God above all gods, Lord above all lords. You deserve all praise and worship. There is no one like You. You are love, You are mercy, You are grace, and so much more. Thank You, Lord! In Jesus’ Precious and Holy Name we give our praise and thanksgiving. Amen, It Is So!
Thankful Heart
My open hands receive blessings You pour out on me
Your tender care restores my soul
Your faithfulness endures, as mercy covers all my sin
Your perfect love has made me whole
Beyond the words I’m searching for
I long to give You something more
Here’s my thankful heart, thankful heart
Offered up in gratitude for all You’ve done for me
Here’s my thankful heart, thankful heart
Offered up in praise to You
I’m unworthy of the gift of Your unfailing love
But You embrace me as I am
You provide my needs, and raise a harvest from the seeds I sow in vain
I bless Your Name
Beyond the words I’m searching for
I long to give You so much more
From the raising of the sun
‘Til it’s going down
The name of the Lord be praised
Written by Gary Forsythe
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We can offer up our thankful hearts to our ABBA Father at any time; while
The vital point is THAT we DO give praise to Him out of the abundance of our thankful hearts!!!
Listening to this sweet song, this is my oh-so-very-favorite part:
Beyond the words I’m searching for I long to give You so much more….
How about you…do you ever find yourself exclaiming similar thoughts to God? Oh, I do! So often I am simply without adequate words to tell God all that is in my heart! (As if He does not already know!!!) But I am encouraged that He wants us (you and me!) to come to Him with all that is in our little hearts…what a kind, compassionate, loving Father!
Hear my prayer, O Lord; let my cry come to You!
Psalm 102:1
Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out Your heart before Him;
God is a refuge for us. Selah
Psalm 62:8
…Unto You will I sing praises with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel.
My lips shall shout for joy when I sing praises to You,
And my inner being, which You have redeemed.
My tongue also shall talk of Your righteousness all the day long….
Psalms 71:22-24
A big key to heartfelt praise and thanksgiving is to recognize where we were before God saved us through His grace and love. Truly we were in a desperate situation. You could not save yourself from God’s righteous judgment. But God sent His Son, to save you—to save all mankind!—by His grace. Because now you have experienced His great love and grace, you delight in Him and His great salvation and you can’t help but sing for joy! May I encourage you, friends, to never hesitate…never hold back…never deny yourself the joy of singing praises to our Almighty God!
Sing for joy in the Lord, O you righteous ones;
Praise is becoming to the upright.
Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre;
Sing praises to Him with a harp of ten strings.
Sing to Him a new song;
Play skillfully with a shout of joy.
For the word of the Lord is upright,
And all His work is done in faithfulness.
He loves righteousness and justice;
The earth is full of the lovingkindness of the Lord.
Psalms 33:1-5
While studying through Psalm 33, I read Matthew Henry’s Commentary. Here is a portion of what he wrote, “What a pity it is that this earth, which is so full of God’s goodness <verse 5>, should be so empty of His praises, and that of the multitudes that live upon His bounty there are so few that live to His glory!”
I hope that will not be said of us. As God’s “righteous ones,” let’s be all about offering up our thankful hearts through our praise and songs of joy. Our lives are the proof that He delivers our souls from death. Our response should be to praise Him with thankful hearts.
Remember that line of this song that I shared I just love so much—Beyond the words I’m searching for I long to give You so much more—perhaps the words of the psalmist in Psalm 138 can help to express them. These are my prayer; maybe yours, too.