The Joy of Thanksgiving

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! ... Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;

This may not be true of everyone, but for me, I think my happiest times have been the times that Thankfulness welled up inside my heart. Sometimes I think about just how good God has been to me and I cannot help but be glad.

Paul writes to the Philippians, we think, while imprisoned in Rome. He is perhaps awaiting his fate that would decree his death (Philippians 2.20) for he would one day die for his faith in Christ. Therefore, one might expect this letter to be full of doom and gloom, self pity and sadness, but no, it’s tone and tenor is happier, more excited and more upbeat than any other letter he wrote and probably moreso than any other book of the bible. Instead of anxiety we find peace. Instead of aimlessness we find purpose. Instead of sadness we find joy!

He writes: “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!” (Philippians 4.6) This small letter is so joyful that he uses the words “joy” or “rejoice” eighteen times.

Do you find yourself without joy? Ever wonder what happened to your happiness? One of the keys to finding joy is seen a couple of verses down where he writes: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”

God will bring joy to us when we pray but praying anxiously will not do. We must pray with thanksgiving. Doing so focuses our attention onto the blessings that are ours from God rather than the troubles we face. Paul could have easily given in to grief but did not. He chooses instead to be happy about the good things that God has granted.

We can choose to concentrate on God’s blessings too and then simply tell him, “Thanks.” There is something about having a thankful heart and thankful lips that changes the direction of our thinking. This will bring joy and happiness into our lives when we practice it.

The greater the degree of difficulty you’re going through may require more thanksgiving on your part. Maybe this is why Paul is so concentrated on giving thanks here.

There becomes a progression. First we start giving thanks. Then we begin to praise. This becomes rejoicing. After that we find our hearts full of joy.

Just recently I was feeling kind of down and remembered some of the things God had said about giving thanks. So, I started singing a song of praise to God. Suddenly, the blues became bright yellow sunshine in my soul. He really does take our thanks and turn it into joy!

How good God is! Give him thanks!