Your thankful memory verse for the week:

“As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.” (Colossians 2:6-7)

We need to be thankful all the time, but around this time of year it is on everyone's minds.  This week in my FaceBook status, I have been focusing on spiritual blessings.  Let's share here.  What is your #1 favorite spiritual blessing?  Please comment!  Share scriptures as well!

A challenge to be thankful!  Grab a notebook and pen!  For the entire month of November, write down something you are thankful for each day!  And while you're at it, put this verse in your heart.  Once a week, we'll be talking about thankfulness on this blog as well!

"And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body;
and be ye thankful." (Colossians 3:15)

“Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” (James 4:14)

Over 12 years ago my husband and I had a car wreck. It was a head on collision with us going 55 mph on a highway and the other woman who was going approx. 25 mph. Everyone escaped with minor broken bones or bruises, but the emotional damage continued for years. It didn't take long for flashbacks to start. Even as I write this my heart is racing again. It is things like these that remind us that life is fragile and we are to handle with prayer.

I often think about being thankful. When I say a prayer of thanks am I truly thankful? Often times we simply say “thank you” because it has been ingrained in us. My 14 month old has been taught to say thank you.

But do we really have a heart of thanksgiving? When we look at all of our blessings – children, church family, possessions, love – and when we think about how quickly our life or the lives of our loved ones could be gone in a moment, how can we help but to truly have a heart of thanksgiving?

“Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.” (Colossians 2:7)

"I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,"  (Philippians 1:3)


This verse has amazed me ever since I learned about how the Philippian church began.  Acts 16 gives us the beginning of this congregation in Philippi.  Paul was pestered by a slave girl who was possessed.  He cast the demon out of her and she could no longer bring money to her masters.  The masters brought Paul before the magistrates.  These magistrates had Paul and Silas beaten and thrown into prison.  After all of that, do you know what these two men of God were doing?  They were praying and singing praises to God!  They were thankful for the persecution they received because they knew they were doing God's work.

In verse 26, an earthquake shook the jail.  The jailer, who had fallen asleep, supposed that everyone had escaped.  He was about to kill himself for at that time a Roman soldier who fell asleep and whose charges escaped would be killed.  But, Paul cried out and told the jailer they were all there and to not harm himself.  The jailer fell down before Paul and Silas and asked how to be saved.  They told him to believe in Jesus, but how could he believe if he had not heard, so they taught him about Jesus.  It was that very hour that the jailer was baptized!

The jailer took Paul and Silas and washed their wounds.  The next day, the magistrates commanded that the jailer let them go.

This is what would come to my mind when I thought of the Philippians if I were Paul and Silas.  Maybe it did, but they were thankful for the people at Philippi anyway.

Can we say we are thankful for the church?  Many times we didn't bring them in with blood, sweat and tears as Paul and Silas did.  But one thing I do know, Christ died for all of them the same as he died for you and me.  Let's be thankful for the church that Jesus bought!

"But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain."  (1 Corinthians 15:57-58)


Today, post a comment and let us know what you are thankful for!