When you think of November you think of Thanksgiving day. Thanksgiving means Giving Thanks! This is a time of reflection on "Giving Thanks" to God for the bountiful blessings that we have.

The first "Thanksgiving Day" originated with the festival held by Plymouth Colony in December 1621, in gratitude for a successful harvest. The Pilgrims from England had landed at Plymouth Rock in December 1620 and had endured a very hard year.

On that first "Thanksgiving Day" they thanked God that they were still alive and had food to eat. They held that first "Thanksgiving Day" in gratitude and praise to God.

How many Americans have forgotten this? Many probably don't even think of God on "Thanksgiving Day" much less actually pray to Him or to give thanks to Him.

On October 3, 1863, President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday of November as Thanksgiving Day, a day to give thanks to God for the multitudinous blessings He had bestowed upon our nation.

Today, Thanksgiving Day is observed on the fourth Thursday of November as set by Congress in December 1941.

When you eat your Thanksgiving meal this year, will you give thanks to God?

Let's look at THREE POINTS in giving thanks to God.

James recorded: "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning" (James 1:17).

Every good gift comes from God!

We can be thankful for:

God is good. - All good gifts comes from God.

God is love and He loves the world, He loves you and me so much that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Jesus loved us so much that He was willing to die for us.

The Bible is God's truth and it’s free.

God's holy spirit with it attributes of love, joy, peace, gentleness, kindness, goodness, faith, patience, self control and it guides us into all truth.

God forgives us and He does not hold grudges. God forgives and forgets as far as the East is from the West. God’s mercy never fails,

God answers our prayers.

We can be thankful for:

Our family, our mates, our children and our grandchildren.

Our friends.

Our health. - Without good health, we have serious problems in our lives.

Our eyes with sight. - To see the beauty of God's creation.

Our ears to hear with. - To listen to music or hear a child's first word.

Our housing and our clothing.

Our talents and our Hobbies.

Our employment. - Our country is an Industrial giant.

Our educational system. - It is one of the best in the world.

Our welfare system for those who really need it.

We can be thankful for: The GOOD LIFE in the United States of America. Our living standards are the highest of any nation on the earth. 6% of the world's population enjoying 50% of the world's wealth.

Our freedoms which include:

freedom of religion

freedom of assembly

freedom of speech

freedom of press

The modern conveniences that we possess in the U.S.A.:

Electricity which runs our hair dryers and our computers to our Industrial machinery.

Running water. - We waste more water than some third world nations have.

Natural Gas. This helps to heat our homes and businesses.

T.V., radio, movies, DVDs, the internet our computers, Iphones and Ipads for our entertainment.

Micro wave ovens for those quicky meals.

And let’s not forget our automobiles, motorcycles, boats, football, basketball, baseball, golf and apple pie. We have it GOOD!!!

How many people will give Thanks to GOD on Thanksgiving Day? 50%, 40%, 30%, 20%?

Let's read Luke 17:12-19: "Then as Jesus entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" So when He saw them, He said to them, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. Now one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. So Jesus answered and said, "Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?" And He said to him, "Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.""

Let's notice a few things about this passage: We need to be thankful. We have been blessed abundantly by God.

We need to be humble. We are not totally independent. No man is an island.

It takes time to be thankful. It takes time to tell someone thanks. It takes time to pray to God and say thanks.

It takes a right attitude to be thank-ful. Gratitude is an attitude.

Everything we have comes from God: Our health, our job, the good life. How quick something could happen to take it all away. Remember the story of Job.

Job had many children and many possessions. In a very brief period of time, it was all taken away. (Read the first chapter of Job.)

Don't let your attitude get so bad that you are not thankful. Sometimes we may think that we don't have any thing to be thankful for.

Remember a principle: If you have little, there is someone else who has less. You say you have a hole in your sock, someone else may not have a sock. You say you don't have a sock, someone else may not have a shoe. You say you don't have a shoe, someone else may not have a foot.

There are many scriptures in the Bible on giving thanks to God. Let's look at a few: "Offer to God thanksgiving, And pay your vows to the Most High." {15} Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me" Psalms 50:14-15.

"Praise the LORD! Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever" Psalms 106:1.

The apostle Paul said: "Pray without ceasing, {18} in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you" (1 Thessalonians 5:17-18).

"Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. {2} And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. {3} But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; {4} neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks" (Ephesians 5:1-4).

Continuing in Ephesians 5:19-20: "speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, {20} giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ".

"Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name" Hebrews 13:15.

Remember what President Bush said: "READ MY LIPS." God expects us to use our lips to give thanks to Him.

Jesus set us an example in giving thanks. One example was before a meal where He fed 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish: " And His disciples said to Him, "We have here only five loaves and two fish." {18} He said, "Bring them here to Me." {19} Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes. {20} So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained" (Matthew 14:17-20).

Jesus blessed the fish and the bread. To "bless" is "to speak well of, i.e. (religiously) to bless (thank or invoke a benediction upon, prosper):--bless, praise".

In Conclusion: We need to count our blessings instead of sheep.

We need to be humble, knowing that God has blessed us abundantly.

We may be commanded to give thanks to God but we should delight in doing so.

We may only have one Thanksgiving Day a year, but as Christians we need to be Giving Thanks to God every day.

Let God READ YOUR LIPS -

Give Thanks to God continuously.