10 Bible Verses of Encouragement about Thanksgiving

We all need encouragement and the best place to go is to the Bible.

In this blog Post I have tried to gather some Bible passages or Bible verses which will encourage about Thanksgiving

I do believe that we should not just grab a verse and read it on its own but we should always lift our bibles and read a passage of scripture to make sure that we know the real meaning and context of each of the verses we are putting our trust in. 

I pray that you will do the same and only use this list to guide you as to where you may find help.

So here are 10 Bible verses or short passages for us to read and consider about Thanksgiving

1.   Colossians 3 v 16 - 17    

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

And whatever you do in word or deed do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God the Father through Him”

Such a great 2 verses that cover thankfulness within us and then that thankfulness flowing out to God. 

2.   1 Thessalonians 5 v 16 - 18

 

“Rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, 

in everything give thanks; 

for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

This passage is brief and to the point with 3 exhortations to us about things we should do and look it has always been God's will for us to be thankful in everything!

3.   Ephesians 5 v 20 

 “giving thanks always and for everything to God”

 

Just in case we didn't get the full message in the previous verse this one points out the always as well as in everything - no excuses!

4.   Colossians 2 v 6 - 7

“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.”

 

When we are following Jesus thanksgiving is very important because it part of the process of walking with Him and in faith.

5.   Jonah 2 v 9   

“But I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving;

  I will pay what I have vowed.   

Salvation is of the Lord.”

Sacrifice may be hard for us but we are still instructed to remain thankful in this act of obedience.

6.   1 Chronicles 16 v 34

“Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; 

for His steadfast love endures forever!”

His goodness to us and His love for us should always be on our minds and we must be forever thankful to God for these great attributes.

7.   Philippians 1 v 3 - 4

“I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,  always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy.”

We don't just have to thank God for all His attributes but we must remember to thank Him for the others we have along side us in our Christian Walk?

8.   Philippians 4 v 6 - 7

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." 

 

So often we can get caught up with the needs of ourselves, family, friends, church and others that we forget to thank God in our prayers but they must not centre around petitions all the time but rather on God and how He is faithful to answer our prayers.

9.   Colossians 3 v 15

"Let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful." 

 

Allowing God to give us His peace and rest should bring thankful expressions from us.

10.   2 Corinthians 9 v 15

"Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!"

We have so many things to be thankful to God for but we must never forget that the greatest of these is the Gift of His Son the Lord Jesus Christ to die in our place.

The 5 Best Quotes about Thankfulness & Free Printable - Coffee & Conversation

Here is my choice for the 

5 Best Quotes on the subject of Thankfulness

I am not a fan of QUOTES

In fact sometimes I get very annoyed at how people almost treat a quote

 as more important than the 

Word of God

I actually wrote a blog post about Do We Really Need This Quote?

However I do see that there are certain topics that there are some great quotes on from some very reliable people. This month I have been thinking about Thankfulness and Gratitude and decided to encourage you with some quotes around this.

There are many quotes from so many people on Thankfulness but I prefer to only refer to or recommend ones from people who I trust as standing firm on the Word of God.

So in the list below I will quote

Not  Joyce Meyer    but   Warren Wiersbe

 Not  Beth Moore   but   Andrew Murray  

Not  Andy Stanley  but   A.W. Tozer

1.  Warren Wiersbe

"The Christian who walks with the Lord and keeps constant communion with Him will see many reasons for rejoicing and thanksgiving all day long."

2.  A.W. Tozer

"Gratitude is an offering precious in the sight of God, and it is one that the poorest of us can make and be not poorer but richer for having made it."

 

3.  Andrew Murray

"Let us thank God heartily as often as we pray that we have His Spirit in us to teach us to pray. Thanksgiving will draw our hearts out to God and keep us engaged with Him; it will take our attention from ourselves and give the Spirit room in our hearts."

Have you read the 5 Best Quotes on Thankfulness?

4.  Charles Spurgeon

"Be thankful for the providence which has made you poor, or sick, or sad; for by all this Jesus works the life of your spirit and turns you to Himself."

5.  Jerry Bridges

   "Thankfulness to God is a recognition that God in His goodness and faithfulness has provided for us and cared for us, both physically and spiritually. It is a recognition that we are totally dependent upon Him; that all that we are and have comes from God."   

 

Don't forget to download our

                      Thankfulness Quotes Free Printable 

Plus why not have a look at the other Free resources in our

Blog Resource Library

 

How to Keep & Share A Thankful Heart - A Dose of Encouragement

Who or what are you thankful for & happy about today?

So many times we are drawn to think on the more unpleasant things in life which lead to unhappiness and they can keep us from being thankful for anything when we are in that frame of mind.  


What can we do to keep the right frame of mind and not get into that attitude that can get worse and worse as we dwell on the hurts and unpleasantness caused by others?

We can remember that we are blessed.

There is a little song that we used to sing years ago in church and maybe we should revive it to remind us that we are blessed.

I am blessed, I am blessed,

Every day I walk with Jesus I am blessed.

When I wake up in the morning,

When I lay my head to rest,

I am blessed, I am blessed.

If we are God's child, saved by the grace of Jesus and living by the power of the Holy Spirit then we are blessed more than be could be in any other way.

Being Blessed is not having all the money you want, having great possessions or having a great life which never sees sadness.

Being Blessed is described in Numbers 6 v 24-26 which I learnt as a song in the Presbyterian Church I grew up in as we sang it each time a baby was christened.

We are blessed as Christians because we know:

We are kept in the hand of God 

We are favoured by God 

We are in the Grace of God

We know we have the peace of God

So every day we know we are blessed and we should remember to thank God for His blessings to us.

As we thank God repeatedly we will build up a thankful heart.

As we become more thankful we will also love God more.

As we love God more we will build up a loving heart.

As we love God more we will also become more loving towards others.

As we love others more we will build up a more caring and giving heart.

I'm sure we know people who are very generous and do think often of helping and giving to others but we as Christians have the greatest thing to offer others and that is the Love of God, through the Gospel.

We can't go around saying - Oh I'm better at showing God's Love to others by giving to people rather than telling them about God's Love.

Because of God's love to us we should have a thankful and loving and giving heart which should mean give people out of the abundance of love in our hearts but that should always include the best thing we have and that is telling them about God's Salvation.

Amy Carmichael put it very simply and clearly in this quote below

because 

she knew that we cannot truly love God without giving this gift to others.

 John Wesley entreated us as believers to speak as we truly believe 

because 

he wanted us to act as the bible has also told us.

How to Keep a Thankful Heart?

Recognised how God loves & blesses us each day and remember to thank God each day.

How to Share a Thankful Heart?

React out of the Thankfulness we have which makes us more loving towards others and then we will share the Love of God. 

10 Little Things I am Thankful for at Home - Coffee & Conversation

The weather may be something we tend to talk about a lot in Northern Ireland because it can be so changeable but we shouldn't let that have any sway on our feelings.

We should be happy and contented inside or outside, fair weather or wet weather.  

Those types of things may have some bearing on our actions but should not have any control of our feelings.  

We can be determined to find things to enjoy no matter where we are or how much we can manage to do.

So today I'm thinking about some of the small things indoors that make me happy, that put a smile on my face.

10 little Things that I am thankful for  -  not big things  -  but little things that should not always go unnoticed or unappreciated.

Maybe these will remind you to be thankful for the little things too.

1.  These coasters sit on my desk and always bring a smile to my face no matter what I'm working at.

You see I practically always have a mug of coffee with me as I work at the computer and because my desk is white wood I need to be careful not to stain it hence the need for a coaster.

2.  I love to hear Fred enjoying himself on the keyboard or guitar making up some tunes or playing some songs we know, it is very relaxing for both of us.

Pity you don't get the sounds as well.

Fred playing another of his musical "toys" a Cajon.

Thankful for his musical abilities and the joy they bring him.

Thankful for the input these abilities have been in our worship life both at home and in church

3.  These negatives are just an example of the many we have of old photos which may not be in great condition these days.

But we can still enjoy and be thankful for the memories they bring back.

Having old photos and especially the negatives of them today mean that we can get them transferred to digital and store with the more recent ones too.

Now I just have to get enough time to actually do that!

4. This little plaque that is very old ( from sometime before we got married ) still makes me smile. 

Still thanking God for giving him to me.

5.  This picture reminds me of the ordinary everyday laugh out loud fun I can have with family.

Thankful for all the silly, giggling moments with Fred, our kids, grandkids and friends.

6.  If I didn't include my coffee break with one of my various mugs many people would be surprised.

Nowadays most of my coffee breaks are enjoyed along with Fred as he is home more often since he took early retirement. Only thing is he's a tea drinker!

Oh the happiness of anticipating a lovely coffee in this mug I got on our first trip to South Korea and sometimes I even get to enjoy some Korean Coffee when my daughter can bring it over for me from her friend's Cafe.

Oh you thought I was going to forget the mug!

and maybe

A little treat too

7.  Every month I get a notification about this pic I have on Pinterest from a previous post on this blog.  They say it is one of my best performing pins.

  

Really?  

It was such a simple pic to make and is rather a personal pic so why would it be of any interest to others?

But it does make me happy to have this little reminder of the good marriage I am blessed with.

8.  This little gif from last Christmas is always a little reminder for me to be thankful for my family and the happiness and faith we all share.

Thankful for a loving marriage (not taking it for granted)
Thankful for our grown-up children (and spouses) and their love for us and each other
Thankful for our grandchildren and the love shared between them and all of the rest of us.

So I am thankful to be a wife, mother, mother-in-law and grandmother.

9.  A lot of things I do or think about seem to feature my husband in some way. Of course with us living on our own and him having taken early retirement then I suppose a lot of the things that make me happy will involve him.

There are little things like:

 He is not normally one for going to the shop just because I want something but he is the one that mostly goes to the shop because I hate supermarkets and prefer to do online grocery shopping.

 He is wide awake once he gets up but he knows that I am the opposite and like to enjoy my coffee quietly before I'm ready for the decisions of the day.

etc. etc. etc.

So 

It is great that we can be happy together after all these years even in the little things and we are thankful that we have a 43 year marriage. 

10.  How lovely to look out from our home to this view of the sunset over our town.

Here is something to remind me of the assurance we have that the sun will rise and set each new day.


Thankful that we know our God is in control of everything.