March 29, 2024

Thank You, Lord

psalmshymnsspiritualsongskjv

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!

Shackles (Praise You)

psalmshymnsspiritualsongskjv

Whoo!
It sure is hot out here, Ya know
I don’t mind though
Just glad to be free
Know what I’m saying, uh!

Take the shackles off my feet so I can dance
I just wanna praise You
(What’cha wanna do?)
I just wanna praise You
(Yeah, yeah)

You broke the chains now I can lift my hands
(Uh feel me?)
And I’m gonna praise You
(What’cha gon do?)
I’m gonna praise You

In the corners of mind
I just can’t seem to find a reason to believe
That I can break free
‘Cause You see I have been down for so long
Feel like the hope is gone
But as I lift my hands, I understand
That I should praise You through my circumstance

Take the shackles off my feet so I can dance
I just wanna praise You
I just wanna praise You
You broke the chains now I can lift my hands
And I’m gonna praise You
I’m gonna praise You

Everything that could go wrong
All went wrong at one time
So much pressure fell on me
I thought I was gon lose my mind
But I know You wanna see If I will hold on through these trials
But I need You to lift this load
‘Cause I can’t take it anymore

Take the shackles off my feet so I can dance
I just wanna praise You
I just wanna praise You
You broke the chains now I can lift my hands
And I’m gonna praise You
I’m gonna praise You

Been through the fire and the rain
Bound in every kind of way
But God has broken every chain
So let me go right now

~  Sing this song with me as our prayer and worship today.  ~

Be joyful always;
pray continually;
give thanks in all circumstances,
for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Be joyful always?  Give thanks in all circumstances?  Seems like a tough one, doesn’t it?  When things are going really well for us, I hear folks saying “God is good!”, but are we saying that when things AREN’T going our way??  We should! God is good, friends, ALL THE TIME!

I have a playlist on my computer simply called “Praise.”  This song (Shackles) leads the group.  Whenever things seem to be a bit overwhelming or I’m having a particularly rough day, I crank that playlist and sing with all I’ve got.

Psalm 100 tells us:

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.  Worship the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations.

You see, it’s not about MY circumstance, it’s about HIM.  I know who I belong to, and the One who made me is good, He loves me and will be faithful to me!  So I praise him through ALL circumstances.  I don’t have to like the circumstance, but I do love God, and I trust that when He tells me that He works all things for my good (Romans 8:28), that He is able to turn anything around!  As an added bonus, when I focus on praising God, I take my attention off myself which then allows God to lift my spirits!

Why not try it today?  Crank up this song and sing and dance unto the Lord!

  • Praise Him for His greatness and love for you!
  • Praise Him for having all things under control!
  • Praise Him for loving you unconditionally and caring about the circumstance in which you find yourself – no matter how challenging!

Then feel how those waves of praise come back to you in the peace and love of Jesus.  Praise the Lord!!  😀  Have a wonderful day filled with the love of God!

Thanksgiving

At this time of year we come upon a day we call “Thanksgiving.”    We will play games, watch football, and watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

We will get together with our families and eat (turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, pumpkin or pecan pie) and much more…yumm…I’m getting hungry already.

Sometimes before we begin our meal, everyone in the family will tell one thing they are thankful for.   And then after we are all through eating, playing, talking, checking out ads for Black Friday shopping, everyone proceeds to go home—with Thanksgiving now being just a memory in our minds until next year.

Something we all must ingrain on our hearts and minds is that Thanksgiving is not just a one-day-a-year event.

Thanksgiving is a daily opportunity to speak out and express to God how grateful we are.

The Bible tells us we are to “Always be joyful. Keep on praying. No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

When we make thanksgiving a daily part of our life we will find that our life is much richer and fuller.  When we take time to stop and thank God we will find we have a much softer heart, that our relationship with Him will grow, and our desire to spend more time with Him will increase.

One of the all-time best things we can say thanks for is to God for giving us His Son to die for our sins and allowing us an opportunity to receive salvation and live with Him forever!

Can I stop here and say “WOW”, and “THANKS!

You can track throughout God’s Word the many times Jesus gave thanks to His Father; here are some: (Matthew11:25;  John 11:41;  Matthew 15:36; John 6:11; Luke 22:17-20;  1 Corinthians 11:23 and 24).   How many times do we give thanks to our Father, Jesus Christ?

 Thanksgiving is not the only day we can say thanks to Him.  I encourage each of you before your feet hit the floor each morning to sit in your bed…and…

Speak out to God your daily thanksgivings!

 

Let’s Pray: 

Dear God,

I pray that each of us will let “Thanksgiving” be a daily prayer not a yearly event.  In your name I pray, Amen!