Happy Thanksgiving

[00:00:07] Speaker A: Welcome to the weekday podcast of Sugar Hill Church, where we desire to help you know God and discover your purpose, whether you're exercising, driving, meditating, or just hanging out while you tune in with us today. Thanks. We hope these next five minutes help you feel encouraged and inspired for your day. [00:00:22] Speaker B: Well, hey, friends, welcome to another edition of the weekday podcast. If you're listening to this as I record it, Happy Thanksgiving. Pastor Chuck and I talk so often about how grateful we are for this community as part of the weekday podcast, and I hope you have a wonderful, wonderful Thanksgiving. As you think about Thanksgiving, you obviously think about gratitude. And one of the things is, what is gratitude? When should we show it? What does God say about it? And so it's interesting that Paul wrote to the Thessalonians in 1st Thessalonians 5, 18, and he said, give thanks in all circumstances. Give thanks in all circumstances. Now get it. To read a verse like that, a lot of times we're like, man, that's great. And we keep moving, yes, of course I should give thanks. But in all honesty, a lot of folks really struggle with giving thanks. We really struggle with being thankful for the things in our life. And so I want to make a distinction today. The Bible doesn't command us to feel thankful, right? It doesn't say you have to feel the sense of gratitude in all circumstances. Instead, it commands us, regardless of how we feel, to give thanks in those circumstances. So to praise God in the middle of difficulty, to praise God when we don't feel like it. And what often happens is it leads to a shift in our perspective, right? A lot of times our perspective is clouded by circumstance. A lot of times our perspective is clouded by some sense of jadedness in our life. But. But when we praise God because we know God is there, something begins to change. It's almost like changing lenses and glasses that when you do that, your perspective shifts. Think about it this way. Thanksgiving can change our perspective. Even when there's broken dreams, even when there's broken relationships, even when the circumstances are up and down or there's unfulfilled things in your life, that when you praise God for who he is and when you thank him for what he's done, your perspective of God grows bigger and your problems grow smaller. And the result of that is you get this deeper sense of intimacy with God as the gap between you and him begins to shrink. And so today, I want to encourage you, no matter what your circumstances are, no matter what you feel today, to give thanks and maybe pray this prayer to say Dear Jesus, I thank you for who you are. I lift up your name today and even though I may not understand what's going on in my life, I trust that you are good and your plans are good. I give thanks in Jesus name. Amen. Have a great day and Happy Thanksgiving. [00:02:56] Speaker A: Thanks so much for joining us today for the weekday podcast. Our prayer is that the encouragement you just heard would help you live more like Jesus today. We would love to see you at Sugar Hill Church for one of our gatherings each Sunday at 9, 15 and 11, and we're always streaming live at live.sugarhill church. Thanks again for joining us today. As always, if today's message encouraged you, share it with friends and family by tapping the share button. Have an awesome day.