Thanksgiving Devotional

Thanksgiving Fun Facts:

• Americans feast on 535 million pounds of turkey on Thanksgiving.

• Only male turkeys gobble. Females make a clicking noise. The famous gobble is actually a seasonal mating call.

• The heaviest turkey ever raised weighed in at 86 pounds – about the size of a German Shepherd! (But turkeys are normally not used as police animals.)

• The average person consumes 4,500 calories on Thanksgiving Day.

Thanksgiving Trivia:

1. There are 7 other countries that also celebrate an official thanksgiving day? Name two of them. Argentina, Brazil, Canada, japan, Korea, Liberia and Switzerland.

2. What year did the first Pilgrims celebrate Thanksgiving? 1621

3. George Washington declared November 26, 1789 as a national day of Thanksgiving and Prayer.

4. What year did the United States start observing thanksgiving day annually? 1863

5. Which US president established the fourth Thursday in November as thanksgiving day? Resolved

What comes to mind when you think about the thanksgiving holiday?

If you were to make a list of the things you are thankful for, what would they be?

Friends, Family, House, Health, Job, Car....etc (non spiritual, tangible, material things?)

Interestingly enough the bible in most case couples the word thanksgiving with praising God and with prayer. "Thanksgiving and prayer" is a common phrase used all through out the old and new testament.

Lets read a couple of scriptures about offering thanksgiving:

Psalms 69:30-31

30 I will praise God's name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving. 31 This will please the LORD more than an ox, more than a bull with its horns and hoofs.

Psalms 95:2

1 Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. 2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. 3 For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods.

Psalms 100:4

3 Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his [a] ; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. 5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Wouldn't you agree that having a thankful heart towards God would naturally lead you to praise him?

Matthew 12:34 says: For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.

So what is it about God that we should be thankful for? What qualities of God are we thankful for?

Unconditional love, Mercy, Grace, Faithfulness, Power, Sacrifices...etc

Hebrews 13:15

15Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name.

Continually is not the fourth Thursday in November...lol Our thanksgiving and praise to God should be a daily event.

Lets pray to God and offer him thanksgiving and praise.