This is a four-day devotional to help you develop an attitude of gratitude over Thanksgiving break.
Set aside time each day to go to God’s Word!
Start with the intro, then each day just scroll to the next day’s content (Day 1, Day 2, etc…)
Suggested days:
Intro and Day 1: Wednesday, November 26
Day 2: Thursday, November 27 (Thanksgiving Day)
Day 3: Friday, November 28
Day 4: Saturday, November 29
Introduction to the Study:
Read this quote:
“In the Bible, thankfulness to God is central to our human life, which we see reflected in how Paul describes humanity's turning away:
‘They did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him’ (Rom. 1:21).
Ingratitude is actually part of the foundation of all sin. Failing to honor God—removing him from his throne and rightful place in our lives-happens alongside and because of our lack of giving thanks to him. Not to give thanks is to forget the goodness of God. It is to neglect the truth that he is, at heart, a God overflowing in kindness and generosity—every good gift comes from him—and that we are fundamentally recipients of his kindness (even with all the complications of life). That Paul couples honoring God with being thankful toward him shows us that unless we see God as fundamentally good, we will find little reason to follow and worship him. Thanksgiving is that foundational.”
-What God Has to Say About Our Bodies, Sam Allberry
Over the next few days, we will be looking at thanksgiving and gratitude through Psalm 100. Our prayer for you as you study Psalm 100 and grow in Thanksgiving this week is that you adore God more, that you know Him more, understand Him more, and worship Him more, which will lead you to obedience. We also pray that you do it all with a heart overflowing with thanksgiving. We hope that you gain a deeper understanding of what that means and how it looks this week.
This is not meant to be kept to yourself, but to be passed on! If you know someone who would benefit from going through this with you, or if you think of someone to send it to, please do so. Pass on what you learn to another, share the Gospel, and tell of God’s faithfulness to others!
Here is a breakdown of the next few days and what you can expect:
Each day will have some information to learn, Scripture to study, questions to ponder, and a practical response. Day 1 will be the basics of thanksgiving and gratitude. What is it? Why do we need to practice it? Day 2 is all about how God uses thanksgiving and gratitude as a means to form us and grow us. Day 3 will dive into how God uses Thanksgiving and gratitude to reveal Himself to us. The final day will focus on the practical skill of Thanksgiving and give you practical tips to be obedient in thankfulness.
Philippians 1:3-6; 1:9-11
“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus…And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.”
day 1: What Is Thanksgiving?
Begin with prayer. Take time to praise God for who He is (God you are…) and then take time to thank Him (God I thank you that…).
What is Thanksgiving? → Thanksgiving is recognizing the goodness of God through the act of deep and heartfelt appreciation for how He has revealed His goodness to you. In other words, we can be thankful because God reveals His nature through His actions.
Take a moment and journal. How has He revealed His goodness to you this semester?
Recognition AND appreciation mean more than a “hey, thanks… ‘preciate it!” We can use the same word “thankfulness” to describe someone letting you into their lane in traffic as God granting you salvation. English can be very restrictive in this way. Let's look at the Hebrew used in Psalm 100:
Todah (תּוֹדָה)
Root: yadah (יָדָה), meaning “to confess,” “to acknowledge,” or “to praise.” Todah can mean:
-“A confession of thanks” → recognizing God’s gifts.
-“A song or offering of praise” → publicly declaring God’s goodness.
-“A sacrifice of thanksgiving” → gratitude expressed through worship and obedience.
With this in mind, Psalm 100, “Enter his gates with thanksgiving,” isn’t just “come in happy”. It means to “come acknowledging who He is, confessing His goodness, and offering your life in response.” All because He, in His mercy and grace, revealed Himself to you.
These next few days will be centered around Psalm 100. Let’s take a look at it:
1 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
3 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.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
We will be focusing on verses 1 and 2 today. Take some time to answer these questions in your notes app or in a journal:
-What is thanksgiving? What are some characteristics of thanksgiving listed in the passage?
-What are the benefits of coming to God with joy and gladness in our hearts?
-Why does God command us to come with thanksgiving? Why can you have joy and gladness?
-How can you come to God in thanksgiving, joy, and gladness today?
Application:
Choose 2-3 songs that will help remind you to give thanks to God today. Listen to them and come before Him with joyful songs!
Some ideas for you:
“Goodness of God” by Bethel Music
“Notice” by Nick Schrader
“Thank You Jesus For the Blood” by Charity Gayle
“All Sufficient Merit” by The Worship Initiative
“I Thank God” by Maverick City Music
“Thanks and Praise” by Songs From The Soil
Additionally, we will be focusing on a different part of the psalm each day. The entire psalm is only 5 verses; it would be a great one to memorize! Memorize verses 1 and 2 today.
Day 2: God Uses Thanksgiving to Form Our Hearts
Begin with prayer. Ask God to teach you something new through His Scripture. Ask Him to form your heart to align with His. Express praise and thanksgiving to Him.
There are two performance-enhancing drugs in the Christian life: Thankfulness and Evangelism.
God promises to grow us as Christians and make us more like Christ. We should be undeniably and incredibly thankful to God that He would choose to grow us and to make us more like His Son. That’s just who God is… loving, present, faithful, unchanging, and patient. He can and does use difficult situations in order to grow us, reveal sin in our lives, and form our hearts towards Him.
Practicing thanksgiving regularly allows us to learn how to be thankful going forward (It’s sort of like working out a muscle in the gym). When we are faced with difficult situations, having a heart inclined towards thanksgiving and praise allows us to see the good in which God is working for those who love Him. (Romans 8:28)
A common question that people have: What is our purpose? Why are we here? The Westminster Shorter Catechism raises the same question: “What is the chief end of man?” It is to “Glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” Thanksgiving and gratitude are very practical ways to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. The goodness that God provides for us is so undeserved that we must be thankful as a response; praise must be our reaction.
Additionally, our obedience is one of the ways in which we show our love to God. He says, “If you love me, you will keep my commands” (John 14:15). He tells us to enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. When thanksgiving is overflowing from our hearts, we are being obedient to Him, and He uses that obedience to draw us closer and guide us.
How does God use thanksgiving to form our hearts? Let’s look at Psalm 100:
1 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
3 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.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
We will be focusing on verse 3 today. Take some time to answer these questions in your notes app or in a journal:
-What does it mean that “we are His”? What does it mean to belong to Him?
-How does knowing that we are made by Him (even with the limitations of our bodies and minds) help us to be thankful to Him?
-Why do you think the author of this psalm reiterates that “we are His” and “we are His people”?
-How does God use thanksgiving and gratefulness to shape our hearts towards Him?
-Read Psalm 23. What reasons do we have to be thankful for the sheep/Shepherd relationship that we have with God?
Response:
Take some time to memorize verse 3! Also revisit verses 1-2 so you don’t forget it.
Who is someone that you can share the gospel with today? Remember the performance-enhancing drugs? Find a family member, a friend, a stranger, and share the Good News of Jesus with them.
Day 3: God Uses Thanksgiving to Reveal Himself to Us
Begin with prayer. Ask God to reveal Himself more to you. Ask Him to reveal unrepentant sin in your life.
If thanksgiving points us to the goodness of God, let's take a look at what goodness is.
-God withholds no good thing from those who walk uprightly in Him. (Psalm 84:11)
-God is a good Father who gives good gifts to His children (Matthew 7:7-12)
What constitutes a good gift? What makes it fundamentally good?
Why does God give good gifts? How does he give them to us?
God alone is good. So how do the things He gives us become good? Why are they good for us? Because they point us to him! If this is true, then even suffering can be a good gift if it points us to God.
His goodness is what we are thanking Him for; it is His nature that we are praising Him for. Some suggested Scripture to look at regarding someone receiving a good gift:
-John 11:1-37
-Genesis 16:1-16
-Mark 14:26-31; Mark 14:66-72; John 21:1-19
Remember what a good gift is… something that God uses to draw us closer to Him. Were these situations easy or pleasant? No, but did they present a deeper revelation of who God is? Yes! So was it something to rejoice over and be thankful? YES!
Two theological words for you today: Ontology and Economy.
Ontology simply means nature. “The Ontology of God is…” can also be rephrased as, “The nature of God is…”. Economy refers to His actions and how He displays His ontology.
For example, God’s Ontology/Nature is Love. God’s Economy/Actions are that Jesus died on the cross and rose again to reconcile us to the Father. His economy reveals His ontology. Jesus’ death shows us that He is a God who is loving in nature.
Here is a helpful quote from “You Are A Theologian” by J.T. English and Jen Wilkin:
“We are humble theologians because we cannot know God unless He makes Himself known to us. All knowledge of God is given by God. It is an act of grace for God to make Himself known to us. To know God is to know grace. Therefore, to know God is to grow in humility. There is no room for pride in theology.”
What better way is there to crush pride than to be thankful to God for revealing Himself to us? It is by His grace and mercy that He reveals Himself to us. What does Psalm 100 have to say about God’s Ontology and Economy?
1 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
3 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.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
-Verse 4 tells us to “enter with thanksgiving” and to “praise His name”. There is a difference between thanksgiving and praise. Praise is the act of giving Him glory for His Ontology. Thanksgiving is recognizing His ontology as a result of His economy in appreciation. Take some time to praise Him. Take some time to thank Him.
-What are some characteristics of God in this passage? Who is He?
-How can we have thanksgiving and praise in all things, even in hard situations?
-Verse 5 says God is faithful and that His love endures forever. Why is it important that God never changes? Why are you thankful that God is unchanging?
Response:
Take some time to find some Scripture that discusses the Ontology of God. Write it out, hang it on your wall or your bathroom mirror so that you can remind yourself daily of who God is and how He has revealed Himself to you.
Take some time to memorize verses 4-5! Don’t forget to revisit verses 1-3 so you do not forget it.
Day 4: Thankful Theological Challenge
Begin with prayer. Praise God and thank Him. Pray for the lost people in your life, that God would save them. Ask God to allow your heart to be overflowing with thankfulness.
Let’s start with a recap! Revisit these questions briefly:
-Why does God command us to come with thanksgiving? Why can you have joy and gladness?
-How does knowing that we are made by Him (even with the limitations of our bodies and minds) help us to be thankful to Him?
-Verse 5 says God is faithful and that His love endures forever. Why is it important that God never changes? Why are you thankful that God is unchanging?
For the final day, we will be taking time to actually practice thanksgiving. We have talked about what thanksgiving is, how God uses it to shape us, and how He uses thanksgiving to reveal Himself to us. Why do you think you should be thankful (beyond the fact that God says so, of course)? Here is a good quote:
“In the Bible, thankfulness to God is central to our human life, which we see reflected in how Paul describes humanity's turning away:
‘They did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him’ (Rom. 1:21).
Ingratitude is actually part of the foundation of all sin. Failing to honor God-removing him from his throne and rightful place in our lives-happens alongside and because of our lack of giving thanks to him. Not to give thanks is to forget the goodness of God. It is to neglect the truth that he is, at heart, a God overflowing in kindness and generosity-every good gift comes from him—and that we are fundamentally recipients of his kindness (even with all the complications of life). That Paul couples honoring God with being thankful toward him shows us that unless we see God as fundamentally good, we will find little reason to follow and worship him. Thanksgiving is that foundational.”
-“What God Has to Say About Our Bodies”, Sam Allberry
Thankful Theologian Challenge:
Find one person to share a testimony of how God has been faithful.
Write a list of 10 things you are grateful for.
Text a friend (or a few) and tell them why you are thankful for their friendship.
Pray to God and praise Him, then thank Him.
Listen to those songs from day 1 again.
Finish memorizing Psalm 100. (recite it to someone today!)
Spend time with your family or friends.
Read this Article:
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/7-ways-to-kill-the-thanksgiving-impulse-in-your-life/
