Thanksgiving Thoughts, Part 2

 

Definitions

Thankful – 1) conscious of benefit received 
2) expressive of thanks 
3) well pleased
-  Mirriam Webster (modern)

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THANKSGIV'ING, ppr. Rendering thanks for good received.

THANKSGIV'ING, n. The act of rendering thanks or expressing gratitude for favors or mercies.
- Webster’s American Dictionary… 1828

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Thanksgiving…Celebration of mercy.
- Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary of the English Language

Thanksgiving-day, I fear,
If one the solemn truth must touch,
Is celebrated, not so much
To thank the Lord for blessing o'er,
As for the sake of getting more!
- Will Carelton

Who does not thank for little will not thank for much.
- Estonian Proverb

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.  
- A.W. Tozer

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Thanksgiving 

Lord, I am glad for the great gift of living,
Glad for Thy days of sun and of rain;
Grateful for joy, with an endless thanksgiving,
Grateful for laughter -- and grateful for pain.

Lord, I am glad for the young April's wonder,
Glad for the fulness of long summer days;
And now when the spring and my heart are asunder,
Lord, I give thanks for the dark autumn ways.

Sun, bloom, and blossom, O Lord, I remember,
The dream of the spring and its joy I recall;
But now in the silence and pain of November,
Lord, I give thanks to Thee, Giver of all!

Charles Hanson Towne

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Where to give thanks.

1 Chronicles 16:8  Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people.

Psalms 18:49  Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name.

Why to give thanks.

Psalms 30:4-5  Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.  For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

Psalms 106:1-2  Praise ye the LORD. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.  Who can utter the mighty acts of the LORD? who can shew forth all his praise?

2 Thessalonians 2:13-14  But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The future thanks.

Revelation 11:17  Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.