Grace Produces Thanksgiving

Psalm 100

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Know that the Lord, He is God! It is He who made us, and we are His, we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise! Give thanks to Him; bless His name! For the Lord is good; His steadfast love endures forever, and His faithfulness to all generations.



Grace gives us the reason to thank God.

Grace gives us the empowering to thank God.

Grace gives us the way to thank God.



John 1:16-17

For from His fullness we have all received grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.



Does that mean that there was no grace or truth in the Old Testament? No! It means that the fullest reality of grace and truth are revealed in Jesus.



God’s unmerited and unearned love for us is grace. That grace is the number one reason we should thank God. According to James 1:17 all the good and perfect gifts we receive come from God. There are uncountable numbers of reasons to thank God, but the greatest is God’s grace.



Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is acknowledging all the gifts that we receive come from God and thanking Him for them.



Job 1:21

And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord.”



Job is in the middle of terrible situations. He has lost all of his material wealth and all his children. He could be angry and cursing God but instead he acknowledges that everything comes from God and God has a right to give and take way. Job, later on in chapter two, after he has lost his health, blesses God.



What gave Job the power to do that? God’s grace empowered Job then and empowers us now to thank God in the middle of every bad circumstances.



Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is being empowered to give thanks to God in the midst of painful and fearful circumstances.



In 1 Corinthians 12 Paul talks about spiritual gifts. In verse 11 Paul says, “All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as He wills.”



The Holy Spirit by grace gives us spiritual gifts and, by using them, we thank God.   



Other ways we can thank God through His grace:

Prayer

Praise

Obedience

Proclaiming the Gospel

Building God’s Kingdom

Loving our Enemies and Praying for those Who Persecute Us

Giving Back a Portion of What God Has Given Us

Giving God Glory Through Everything We Do



God tells us all through His Word the means by which we can thank Him.



Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is using all we are and all we have to give thanks to God.



God grace gives us the reason, the power, and the ways to give thanks to God. All we have to do is to believe this truth and then give thanks to God.



May you experience the grace of God and spend time this Thanksgiving week giving Him thanks.

In God’s Grace and with Thanksgiving

Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

Joe