Giving Thanks Always 

Text: Colossians 1:9-13

‍⁹ ‍For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;‍ ¹⁰ ‍That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;‍^[1]Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;‍

¹² ‍Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:‍ ¹³ ‍Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his‍^a‍ dear Son:

This passage contains  an incredible vault of wealth.  It is obvious that we simply won’t get to everything in this passage in one message.

We are exhorted to “give thanks unto the Father.”

There is no question about the great need for thankfulness in our day.  I firmly believe that much of society’s ills today are the result of a lack of gratitude.  I am not just talking about lip service, but I am talking about an attitude of the heart from within.

What should we be grateful for?  First of all, we should be grateful for the wonderful cross and His work for us there.

We are compelled to depend upon the Holy Ghost  every day and be led by him.   We ought to be grateful for His willingness to lead us each and every day.

We give thanks because He abides with us as a present and personal Comforter and Counselor.

We give thanks because He has made our heart His temple.

We give thanks because He works in us all that is gracious, virtuous, and well-pleasing in the sight of God.

**God wants us to first be thankful for His Present and Future Blessings

 

It is vital that we realize that not all His blessings for us are strictly future, but that we have been given blessings that we can now enjoy.  Sometimes when we don’t know something is available, we then won’t use it.

There are blessings in our hand right now!  The mercies in the covenant of which we now have the earnest,  while we wait for the full possession,  right now they are just as rich as any good thing from God that we have ever received in the past.  Thank God for the past blessings, but what about right now?  Is not the power of God that brought us through everything to where we are right now just as real at this very moment?  It is in fact!

The mercy we have in store, and in hand is after all, the main source of our present comfort.

That alone is a blessing worth celebrating!  The true believer is prepared for Heaven, and to be a partaker of the inheritance, and that inheritance has its very beginning right here in our hearts and lives, and it will be fully realized when time shall be no more.

Does our current purpose for giving thanks mean that we are currently perfect?  No!  We all have many faults and we are sadly mistaken if we ever get the idea that we must wait for personal perfection to be thankful.

Giving thanks in our imperfection will in turn help us to want to be more like Christ anyway!

If only perfect people could be thankful believers, than what would those people believe in?  We are believing in a Savior who died for sinners.

⁹ ‍And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him.‍ ¹⁰ ‍And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples.‍ ¹¹ ‍And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?‍ ¹² ‍But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.‍ ¹³ ‍But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.‍ ^[2]

There is nobody here who has a right to eternal life as the result of their own works.   We are saved by grace through faith in Him.  Once we get saved, then the necessary changes begin as the direct result of the work of grace in our lives.  That is something to be thankful for always!  It is something to shout about.

When a young lady becomes engaged to be married she conditions herself to be married and to enter into the honorable state and condition of holy matrimony, but until the wedding, she does not yet have on her bridal gown, she is not yet the bride adorned for her husband.  You do not yet see her robed in her elegant attire, yet you know that she is destined and engaged to be married to a certain man, and even the family begin to welcome her at family functions, looking into the future.

So also Jesus Christ has chosen us to be married to Him, even though we are still in sinful human flesh.  We don’t yet have on our wedding garment of our glorified body that we will have when we stand before our Father’s Throne and here Him say, “Well Done!”

The Bride does many things to prepare herself for her wedding day:  she has her hair and nails done.  She spends hours working on her dress.  She must arrange for photography, church usage, food, music, décor, making sure all the wedding party has their attire and that everybody knows their part.  She is looking forward to her day when she shall unite with her groom!

That is not to mention all that the groom has to do as well…..J

AS God’s people, we can give thanks always  because we look forward to our wedding day with Jesus Christ.

⁶ ‍And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.‍ ⁷ ‍Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.‍ ⁸ ‍And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white‍^a‍: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. ‍ ⁹ ‍And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.^[3]

When we consider the young bride of Christ,  we see such a fitness in her character.  God’s church is not a weak church.  We may sometimes appear to be weak on the outside, but inside our faith is thriving!  We know who our  groom is and we know there is a wedding day planned!  We may not be able to put that day on our calendar, but we certainly know that even  common sense tells us that  it is getting very close!

Everything we do here on earth as the bride of Christ is  preparation for that soon coming day!

God is looking for a people who are making plans for their wedding day!

We are busy  about our Fathers business and we do it all giving thanks always!

When a child is born, he or she is at once endowed with all of the faculties of humanity.  The child has eyes, hands, feet, and all of the organs.  All of these things are present even in the embryo.

Even though everything is there at first in perfection as far as D.N.A.  is concerned, all of the senses and abilities must be gradually developed over time.  The understanding must be gradually matured.  The baby can see a little, but cannot discern distances.  The baby can hear, but cannot discern which direction the noise comes from.

At the same time, you never find a new arm, leg, or eye developing.  Everything that needs to be there for maturity to occur it already there!

In like manner, the moment a person is born again, there is every faculty in the new creation within the soul because of the power of the Holy Ghost living within!  The fruit of the Spirit is there and the gifts of the Sprit are there, and all that new believer needs is time to grow and mature in the Lord, with those things developed and brought out.  The new believer will not have a new power sometime down the road when we start witnessing he or she being used in the gifts of the Spirit or we hear of great patience during  and intense trial, its just that very positive attributes of the Spirit  that were already resident have been developed and brought out!

One of the greatest ways that we can bring out the best in each of us is to make it a constant and consistent habit to Give Thanks Always !