Real Thankfulness
1 Sam 1:19-28 & 2 Sam 18-21
I. Thanksgiving should be personal. 1:22
A Sunday School teacher asked her class what they were thankful for. A little girl said "I’m thankful for my bedroom. My younger brothers have to share a room. But I get to have a room all for myself! I thank God for my bedroom!"
Next, a little boy said, "I’m thankful for my puppy. I got him as a present for my birthday, and I play with him every day. I thank God for my puppy."
Another boy thought for a moment and said “I’m thankful for my glasses." My glasses.” The teacher was surprised. She said "Why are you thankful for your glasses?" He said, “Because they keep the boys from hitting me and they keep the girls from kissing me!”
1Thess 5:18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God
in Christ Jesus concerning you.
Ps 50:14 Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto
the most High:
II. Secondly, it should be perpetual. 1:28
Heb 13:15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to
God continually, that is, the fruit of [our] lips giving
thanks to his name.
Ps 7:17 I will praise the LORD according to his righteousness:
and will sing praise to the name of the LORD most high.
according to his righteousness: His righteous knows no end
Psalm 136:1 O give thanks unto the LORD; for [he is] good:
for his mercy [endureth] for ever. 2 O give thanks unto the
God of gods: for his mercy [endureth] for ever. 3 O give
thanks to the Lord of lords: for his mercy [endureth] for ever.
III. Finally, it should be purposeful.
1Sam 2:19 Moreover his mother made him a little coat, and
brought [it] to him from year to year, when she
came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.
Phil 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be
made known unto God.
It is something we are going to have to do on purpose.
I have never met a back slidden thankful person.
The story is told of a man who found a barn where Satan kept his
seeds ready to be sown in the human heart. He found that the
seeds of discouragement were more numerous than the others
and he learned those seeds could be made to grow almost
anywhere. But when Satan was questioned, he reluctantly
admitted that there was one place in which he could never get
them to thrive. “And where is that?” asked the man. Satan
replied, “In the heart of a thankful person.”
