THANKSGIVING DAY: I’M THANKFUL TODAY

Nov 24, 2022
2 min read

“Now therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday the twenty-sixth day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these states, to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be” George Washington, Oct. 3, 1789

In his first year of office, not even six months since his inauguration, George Washington proclaimed a day of thanksgiving for the United States of America. It was a day to remember to give thanks to God, our Creator.

Abraham Lincoln proclaimed it a national holiday, declaring it to be a day of “Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.” He made this proclamation in 1863, in the middle of the Civil War.

Thanksgiving therefore is not just a holiday. Thanksgiving is a process by which we return thanks to our Father.

1 Thessalonians 1:2-6

We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.

When I give thanks for others, I can learn some things from the Apostle Paul. When I tell someone, I always thank God for all of them and continually mention them in my prayers, it’s not just a line that I’m making up. I desire to prove this level of commitment by showing them their names in my prayer journal or on my prayer app.

The amount of encouragement that Paul gives through this message is overwhelming. This is the kind of message I desire to be poured into my life, and when I receive it, I feel like taking it and pouring it into the lives of others.

Lord, help me to truly give thanks in a powerful way.

Allow me to encourage those whose faith is weak,

whose hope is faint and whose joy is empty.

I pray that You would fill me up today,

so, I can shower this encouragement onto others in my life.

May you be blessed,

Chaplain Wayne Ruckman