Give Thanks

In light of Thanksgiving being just around the corner, I felt this was appropriate. When we think about giving thanks, or counting our blessing... we think about all the good in our life. We think about the people who love us, the fortunes we have stumbled upon, the great opportunities we've been given... Blessing are only given from God.  I was curious so I searched for how many times the word "blessing" was used in the Bible... here's what I found.


In the King James version 

the word - bless - appears 127 times 
the word - blessed - appears 302 times 
the word - blessedness - appears 3 times 
the word - blessest - appears 3 times 
the word - blesseth - appears 8 times 
the word - blessing - appears 67 times 
the word - blessings - appears 12 times


That's A LOT. All over the Bible, repeatedly God talks about "blessing". We have a good and loving God who takes joy in giving us blessings and wants to bless us. I think that when we think of Thanksgiving God and what HE has blessed us with can be overlooked. We focus more on what have been given to us, and often we feel entitled to those things. 


For Thanksgiving this year I want to count my blessings and the praise Jesus for saving me from death and a life of sin and emptiness. I want to give glory to God for any of the "good" things in my life that I am thankful for. I want to thank God for my life, and for the abundant grace I have been given. Despite this day of thankfulness, and reflecting on all the good in my life I also want to thank God for all the trials, hardships, rough times, hopelessness that I have gone through. It has been through those times that I have been able to see Christ more clearly. It is through the hardships and trials that I can acknowledge Jesus as my Savior and see just how much I NEED Him.

Challenge: This year lets keep our eyes fixed on Christ and all His blessings. Lets acknowledge that we deserve NONE of the blessings we have graciously been given. Lets rid ourselves of our feelings on entitlement to these blessings and good things. Lets praise our creator for His work and His blessings.