Philippians 4:4-6,Colossians 4:2,If you examine the prayers of the Apostle Paul, it's very easy to see that thanksgiving was a big part of his praying. I think of the 13 epistles and 9 of the 13 begin with thanksgiving. Just let me point out four simple things about Paul's prayer with regard to thanksgiving.

The first thing I think we can observe, the clearest thing in terms of Pauline perspective and thanksgiving, it was God-ward, not man-ward. It's not wrong to give thanks to men, but Paul never mentions men in the sense that God is the ultimate purpose there in terms of the recipient of our praise and thanksgiving. “I thank my God always,” he writes, “I do not cease to give thanks to my God.” Another letter, “We give thanks to God.” Another letter, “We give thanks to God always.” So that's the great starting point for the Apostle Paul. God is the great recipient. Christian thanksgiving always turns first to God. It begins with God.

Second thing I think we can easily see and observe in thanksgiving in general, but also, I think you could argue from the whole of Scripture, Christian thanksgiving is comprehensive. It's God-ward first in addressing God, but it's comprehensive, and that's easily gleaned from James chapter 1, “Every good gift comes from above.” He's not talking simply about spiritual gifts, but every good gift comes from God. So every good thing you receive in this present life comes from God. That refers to the material, temporal realm, but also the spiritual and the eternal realm. We give thanks for bread, daily bread, we give thanks for health, family, marriage, children, etc.

But Christian thanksgiving, especially Paul's thanksgiving, rarely focuses upon the material. It rarely focuses upon the material, but it focuses upon the spiritual, what we have in Christ, the blessings in Jesus Christ. He focuses on growth in grace; he thanks the Thessalonians; he thanks God for the Thessalonians' growth in grace, their growth in faith, their growth in love. He also thanks God for the ability to serve, to spread the gospel far and wide. He prays to God for the protection of the saints from the evil one. So there's the first two perspectives, as far as Pauline thanksgiving, or Christian thanksgiving. God is the great giver of all gifts and blessings, that's where we begin. Second, Christian thanksgiving is comprehensive.

Third thing we can say about Christian thanksgiving is that it is constant and regular. This coming Sunday night, we will have a special thanksgiving time, and that's a good thing. There's good times to have, special times marked out for thanksgiving, but thanksgiving should be continual and regular. Ephesians 5, “Giving thanks to God always.” Thomas Watts and the Puritans said, “A gracious heart sees mercy in every condition, therefore is always thankful; always thankful.”

One more thing that we need to remember when we think of giving thanks to God, why do we give thanks to God? Well, there might be a number of reasons. One is, it's good for your soul. Believe it or not, it's almost a kind of therapy. When we're depressed, when we're discouraged, it can really help us to get our eyes off ourselves, focus upon God and help relieve some of that discouragement, depression, fear, whatever. But the ultimate reason is God's glory. 1 Corinthians 11, “Whether we eat or drink, we do for the glory of God.” So if we can glorify God in the lesser of things, in eating and drinking, the mundane, how much more when it comes to prayer and thanksgiving and praise. Psalm 50:23, “Whoever offers praise glorifies Me,” that's what God says. And then you could also use 2 Corinthians 4:15, “For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people, it may increase thanksgiving to the glory of God.” To the glory of God. And so when we come to prayer, we should always think of God first, and also think of God in terms of His glory.