The Heart of Thankfulness

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"Give thanks to the LORD Almighty,

for the LORD is good;

his love endures forever." Jeremiah 33:11

What are you thankful for?
All the normal things come to mind: family friends, home, job…

But Jeremiah’s words draw us back to the heart of thankfulness.

Give thanks for the Lord’s goodness. 

His goodness doesn’t lie in the blessings He showers on us.

His goodness lies totally in His Son.
His grace was and is lived out through Jesus as He walked among men.
His goodness is expressed in the tenderness of His presence.

He is a good Father.

Give thanks for His enduring love. 

His love endured the pain of the cross. 
His enduring love causes Him to smile and reach down to pick us up, even when we stumble over and over again.
Most of all, His enduring love stretches into eternity, His heart’s desire is to be with us forever.

He is a loving Father.


Set aside the other blessings aside for a moment and thank Him for who He is.
Thank Him that you are His.

Are You Satisfied?

 They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house, And You give them drink from the river of Your pleasures. Psalm 36:8 (New King James Version)

It’s Thanksgiving, a time when we look around and see the blessings God has poured out on us. 

But what about 2 months ago? Or 2 months from now?

Will we still be thankful or will our minds fill with the things we want – the things others have?

The Psalmist says that those who belong to God will be abundantly satisfied with the fullness of His house. Not just content…not even satisfied, but abundantly satisfied.

What a beautiful phrase; I love the certainly of it. We are satisfied – not we will be satisfied or we could be satisfied. We are satisfied.

The question is: Do we recognize it?

Do our hearts sing about the fullness in His house? The fullness that saturates our lives.

For some reason, it’s easier to count our needs (needs is loosely defined, of course) rather than our blessings. Even when we do acknowledge them, we only see the big things: family, friends, God’s provision.

God’s fullness often comes in soft whispers; we’ll miss them if we don’t look for them. A child’s smile in line at the grocery store. A mockingbird on a telephone line. Something on TV that makes us laugh.

Do something new today. Begin to look for abundance in the small things. Make a note when you see one.

On a difficult day, remember those things.

It’s a choice to dwell in the fullness of His house, to wade in His river. But beware, once you begin to do it, it becomes addictive.

Take a sip from His river of pleasures and rejoice.

How does God’s abundance fill your life?