Give Thanks!

Venite

Come let us sing to the Lord; *
let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation.

Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving *
and raise a loud shout to him with psalms.

For the Lord is a great God, *
and a great King above all gods.

In his hand are the caverns of the earth, *
and the heights of the hills are his also.

The sea is his, for he made it, *
and his hands have molded the dry land.

Come, let us bow down, and bend the knee, *
and kneel before the Lord our Maker.

For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. *
Oh, that today you would hearken to his voice!

This is perhaps one of the standard prayers of thanksgiving within the Church and tires to highlight the majesty of God, his power and grace, and our role in relationship to him. It is very appropriate that today our thanks reflect not only things we are thankful to God for, but that we are thankful to God for being God in all his Godliness. Wow, too much repetition but you get my point. Take a look at this Psalm;

Psalm 105:1-22

1 Give thanks to the LORD and call upon his Name; *
make known his deeds among the peoples.
2 Sing to him, sing praises to him, *
and speak of all his marvelous works.
3 Glory in his holy Name; *
let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.

I know this also is generic, but look at the correlation here between giving thanks to God and then sharing the deeds that God has done for us with people. On the one hand, it is to help us praise Him and give joy not only to our hearts but the “hearts of those who seek the LORD”. Sharing our good tidings with others is supposed to make us make us all rejoice as a community of believers. And sharing the work of God in our lives with unbelievers is supposed to make them marvel at God’s glory, and if not God’s, the manifestation of that in your life.
Have you ever had an experience in your life when a friend asked you about why your life was different? Or that they admired some quality in you that came from God? Or they marveled at some blessing that you definitely prayed for? Sorry to sound all cliché-like but almost all of these has happened to me within the past two or three months and if you do not take time to think about it, and praise and credit God for it (to them) then you quickly forget about it and thus it loses its relevance. I have had some very painful experiences in the past in which people had a positive perception about me due to my character or faith that I then changed due to my unthinking action. I am not saying that we should feel guilty about being perfect all the time but in those circumstances, I definitely was not geared toward serving God, pursuing His interests, or even being an unselfish person. If this still sounds vague I’ll go ahead and give a mini-example:

Back in my sophomore year I was chatting online with a girl that at the time I was very very interested in. We had a lot of common interests so we talked a lot during the summer before sophomore year and the early months during it. One night, while I was either ranting or bragging about something, I dropped a few profanities which resulted in shock on the part of the girl. She pretty much said to me “Obinna, I thought you were a completely different person than to say that. I thought you would never use those words.”
I was like “OOOOFFF.” But granted, my motivation of getting with this girl was far removed being a faithful witness of God’s grace. Needless to say, there were a lot of things that I wish I could take back, but I cannot truly regret that scenario because my spirit was not seeking to be in constant thanksgiving to God.
It is not like we will never ever sin again when we have a spirit of thanksgiving, but such a Spirit will impact our lives that we would seek even more ways to thank Him, and thus live for and serve Him, thus decreasing our tendency to serve ourselves. I just think that this matter of perspective is vital to the Christian faith, look at Mary (mother of Jesus) and her prayer which is now referred to as the "Magnificat" - she starts out by saying that her soul "magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in Him." God blessed her by the good news that she would bear the Christ and she in turn praises and blesses Him. Of course in our situation, who wouldn't do some praise and worship after they had just been visited by an Angel?
Yet, why was Mary chosen in the first place? Because her life was already focused on God and living in thanksgiving with Him. God recognized her righteousness and humility, blessed that, and she blessed him back. Its almost cyclical, but we have to remember that it is God who never changes, whereas we have free will. We have to make that decision to live in thanksgiving to begin and maintain that cycle.
Thanksgiving affords humility, it requires remembrance, and it prompts praise. Thanksgiving is almost like fasting for the soul, it detoxifies it from your own desires, needs, and wants and makes you thankful for all that you were given and centers you on the true source of Life and deserved recipient of all thanks. Remember, all good deeds were created by God for us to perform, so really a blessing that someone else gives to you through either opening a door or taking time to listen, ultimately came through and was ordained by His Majesty (thanks be to God!)
Okay I thought of a bunch of other stuff but I need to keep this short ant semi-logical. Happy thanksgiving guys and God bless you!

Nick - For constantly challenging me to be more faithful and more honest
Andrew - for reminding me how a true servant comports himself and being a humble and open “son of encouragement”
Brianne - for showing me peace and quiet resolve. For a resilience that is there and honoring to God although you may not see it within yourself at times
Kailey - for putting up with Me and Nick’s crap, but most especially for displaying a courageous and passionate faith for those that are around you that reminds me of Paul. Prayer warrior.
Travis - Inasmuch as I feel like I barely knew ye, I am thankful that you were always a tireless laborer for the Harvest of God. Your efforts were not in vain as you strove to bring along sketchy kids like me. Thank you for sowing a great seed and being willing to follow God.

**This was mainly for the people that I know read this blog, I still love and give thansk for you even if you don't see yourself mentioned here!**