Word for the Day January 11
By: Evang. Cascille Hammack
"Give
thanks to the Lord, call on His Name; make known among nations what He has done." 1 Chron. 16:8
David celebrated the Lord's mighty acts and mercy through many
prayers of thanksgiving. 1 Chron. 16:7-36 is a great Psalm of thanksgiving written by David. This is one way he
gave glory to the Lord. Under the new covenant, all believers are priests of God (1 Peter 2:5,9; Rev. 20:6) and as such
should offer the spiritual ministry of praise and thanksgiving to Him. Hebrews 13:15 says, "Through Jesus, therefore,
let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise - the fruit of lips that confess His Name."
1 Chron. 16:29 says, "ascribe to the Lord the glory due His Name. Bring an offering and
come before Him; worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness." God accepts our worship accompanied by inward
purity and reverence for Him, an earnest desire to be near Him, and a commitment to resist all that offends His holy nature.
Our praise and thanksgiving to God should be in word and deed as we commit to His Word and do not conform to the pattern
of this world.
Romans 12:1,2 teaches, "Therefore, I urge you, brothers,
in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God- this is your spiritual act of
worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is- His good, pleasing and perfect will." We must have
our plans and ambitions determined by Him and His eternal truth, not by this evil, temporal and transient age. We
must refuse worldliness, selfishness, humanistic thinking and all forms of impurity and immorality. Then we
must present our lives to Him and give Him praise and honor both in thanksgiving to Him in word and in deed.
When you wake up each morning, look to Him and say, "Thank you!"
Thank Him throughout the day and as you retire at night. 1 Thes. 5:18 teaches us to "give thanks in all circumstances;
for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."