Thank God

Good morning and welcome to Our Daily Walk.

Audio format at http://tinyurl.com/2tmgej

An act of giving a gift is treasured much more by the giver when the recipient says, “thank you.” Just that small reply is a sign of appreciation, an acknowledgment of the one who gave. We do an excellent job most days in showing our appreciation to others for what they provide, and this should also include thanking God for all that He has done.

One area that always needs our attention is expressing our thanks to those around us. We often take for granted the good that people do on a regular basis. Instead of praising a son or daughter for always putting away their dishes, for example, we may focus on correcting them for not doing something properly or in a timely fashion. Even though their good efforts far outweigh their mistakes, our messages to them can be seen as overly negative and without appreciation for the good that is being done.

Studies have shown that when positive feedback and reaffirmation are given freely to employees, children and others, the result is less stress, more productivity and fewer mistakes.

I don’t think that people purposely want to stress the negative. I just think that sometimes we may forget to say “thank you” for the positive things.

Many of Paul’s letters begin with a thanksgiving to God for the people, their faith and their good works. While reading these words one is drawn to the fact that Paul’s act of thanking God was a continuous one, not just a single occurrence. Here are some of Paul’s thoughts.

In Romans 1:8-9, Paul says, “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers.”

In 1 Corinthians 1:4-5 we read, “I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge.”

Philippians 1:3-6 says, “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”

Colossians 1:3-4 states, “We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints.”

Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3, “We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father.”

To his younger preacher friend, Paul writes in 2 Timothy 1:3, “I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience, as my forefathers did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day.”

Finally in Philemon 4-6 Paul says, “I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers, hearing of your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints, that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.”

What joy these people must have felt to read and hear that Paul was praying for them in such a way! Friends, I encourage each of us to not only thank God for our blessings (which certainly includes one another), but also that we may follow Paul’s example and also tell one another that we are praying for them, thanking God for the blessing that they have become in our lives. I thank God for each and every one of you. Thank you for being a blessing!

On Our Daily Walk today, may we take the time to purposely thank someone for doing something good, especially if it is something that they are doing on a regular basis. May we make it our habit to tell others when we are praying for them. May we learn to always say “thank you” especially to God.

Our thought for the day: “A thankful heart enjoys blessings twice—when they’re received and when they are remembered.”

May God bless you on your daily walk.

© Our Daily Walk, Mike Baker, 2007. Permission is granted to copy these articles provided they are not sold and the author's name and copyright are included.