The Sacrifice of Thanksgiving
"I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD." - Psalm 116:17

We thank God for our lives, family, friends, jobs, and probably a thousand other things. But what if you've lost your job, have no more friends, and are in the midst of a family crisis? That's when thanksgiving becomes a sacrifice. We tend to associate thanksgiving with the things which we've received, but we must face the things that have been lost. The most difficult time to give thanks is when your life has become characterized by pain and hardships, but that's the deepest and sweetest thanksgiving a person can ever offer to God! "No man stood with me, but all men forsook me...Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me" (2 Timothy 4:6,7). In your hardships you can look around and complain, look within and fear, or look up to God and offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving and be strengthened by His presence! Remember that a sacrifice is something that carries a high price. If God has allowed a hardship into your life He's waiting for you to offer up to Him the thanksgiving for it, no matter what it may cost you, no matter how hard it may be to surrender to His perfect knowledge. He expects this of you and you can be sure that your life will only become more clouded by confusion and pain until you do so.

            There is much that we will not see,
            Until we look up and give Him all the Glory!

"In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." (1 Thessalonians 5:18 Thanksgiving is the opposite of complaining. When we complain we cannot hear from God for He does not sit at a complain desk, but on a sovereign, righteous throne. Our complaints only serve as an obstacle between us and Him. Our complaints are only proof that we don't believe that God is holding our lives, even if by the very edge. Burn the complaints on the altar of thanksgiving and give Jesus Christ your sacrifice today, He gave His for you at the cross of Calvary, with no complaints!