Sometimes it can be hard showing Gratitude when you feel like you do not have anything to be thankful or grateful for.
There have been so many times in my life when I felt God was silent on me or that he had forgotten me and to be honest we all go through those seasons at various points in time.
I remember when I got laid off suddenly at work during maternity leave of our twins. I had no idea how we would make it through financially on one income with two new babies and a toddler. When I finally got over the shock, I surrendered to God and praised him for who he is. Although I had not seen the solution or known what he had planned for our future or how it will work out, but I chose to thank him for them. His plans for us are always perfect even when they do not work out exactly how we planned.
So, in this post, we are going to take a look at some bible verses about thanksgiving and gratitude, being thankful in hard times or even for the little things we have.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
This verse prompts us that no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in, we should continue to give God thanks. There are times in our lives where we go through difficulties and do not even think there is anything to be thankful for, but the bible tells us that even in those times, we should rejoice always, pray constantly and give God thanks. Personally, I have noticed that at times like these, when I am able to focus on God and surrender to him, I allow myself to decrease so God can increase and be glorified in my life. I am therefore able to take my eyes off my situation and focus on him.
Isaiah 12: 4-5
In that day you will say: “Give praise to the LORD, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing to the LORD, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world.
We are to praise God and make his name known throughout the world. When we praise God, he is the benefit and so we are acknowledging who he is in our lives.
Colossians 3:17
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
In everything we do or say, we are to do it all in his name, we are to give God thanks. Often times, we have our lives in sections where there is the church life and the out of church life. But that is not how it should be, as Christians, we are to apply all we learn in church and as Christians into our daily lives at school, work and everywhere.
Jeremiah 33:11
The sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, and the voices of those who bring thank offerings to the house of the Lord, saying, Give thanks to the Lord Almighty, for the Lord is good; his love endures forever.” For I will restore the fortunes of the land as they were before,’ says the Lord.
Matthew 15:36
Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, and when he had given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and they in turn to the people.
In this verse, Jesus took the loaves and fish and gave thanks. Even though the food was so small and could in human eyes not feed the entire crowd, he still gave thanks. This shows me that in all things, even when we do not have enough or do not have what we desire, we ought to still give thanks for what we have. We should always be grateful to God for all things.
2 Chronicles 10:21
“Give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures forever.
The love of God endures forever no matter what is going on around us.
2 Corinthians 9:15
Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
The gift of God is indescribable, the gift of a relationship with him cannot be compared with anything else! God has given us the greatest Gift of all times, the gift of His Son, who died on the cross and rose again for us so that we can know Him and spend eternity with Him in heaven.
What are the psalms of praise and thanksgiving?
I love the book of Psalms, its so full of wisdom on so many topics especially thanksgiving, praise and gratitude. It teaches us to give thanks and praise God in various ways and circumstances. So if you ever find yourself needing encouragement or feeling down, check out some of these psalms.
Like I said earlier, giving thanks and praises helps take the focus from ourselves and our situation and put the focus on who really matters, God.
Psalm 100:4
Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name
Psalm 69:30
I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving.
Psalm 116:17
I will sacrifice a thank offering to you and call on the name of the Lord.
Psalm 7:17
I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness; I will sing the praises of the name of the Lord Most High.
Psalm 9:1
I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.
Psalm 86:12
I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever.
Psalm 118:19
Open for me the gates of the righteous; I will enter and give thanks to the Lord.
Psalm 34:1-3
I will extol the Lord at all times; His praise will always be on my lips. I will glory in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together.
Psalm 138:1-2
I thank you, Lord, with all my heart; I sing praise to you before the gods. I face your holy Temple, bow down, and praise your name because of your constant love and faithfulness, because you have shown that your name and your commands are supreme.
Psalm 7:17
I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness; I will sing the name of the Lord Most High.
Psalm 105:1-3
Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
Psalm 103:1-4
Praise the LORD, my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name. Praise the LORD, my soul, and forget not all His benefits — who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion.
Psalm 107:8-9
Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.
Psalm 95:1-5
Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.
For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods.In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.
What are some benefits of giving God thanks and praising him?
He deserves it all
God is so awesome, like seriously he deserves all our praises and thanksgiving even when things do not go as planned. I have come to learn that his ways are not my ways and my timing is not his timing. But at the end of it all, his plans are perfect for me. Romans 8:28 says “And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose”.
It brings God glory
When we praise and worship God, we glorify God, we come to realize that all that we are and have come from him and not from us.
It gives us peace
It helps us see God working in our situation, thus removing ourselves from our circumstances and focusing on God. He gives us supernatural peace that surpasses all understanding.
It draws us closer to him and strengthens our faith
Praising and thanking God brings us closer to God and increases our faith in him. I remember when I was pregnant with my twins and one of the babies was having a growth issue, I was sent to a high-risk doctor. Initially I was panicking and very scared, but after speaking with my mom and praying I decided to surrender to God and just praise him for everything so far.
Anyone that knows me well knows I always desired twins from however long I can remember and so this was such a testimony and surprise. In the end, God took care of all our concerns even though I had to deliver a little earlier to ensure the affected baby was healthy.
It destroys the plans of the enemy
The devil wants us to wallow in sadness and despair and focus on that. He wants to keep us down and deep in our situations. When we choose instead to praise and thank god, we shame the enemy. The enemy tries to tell us that God has forgotten about us and so we should too, but that is so not true.
It helps decrease envy
Sometimes others get what we are praying so hard for and we get envious, but when we praise and worship God and even celebrate others and are thankful for their blessings, we decrease envy and see our lives and situations as blessings.
It shows contentment
It shows us how much we have because as humans, its easy to focus so much on what we do not have. When we give thanks to God we are reminded of how much we have, we are able to focus on our blessings rather than on our lack. It changes our perspective and helps us see things we would usually take for granted as blessings.
When can we be thankful and praise God?
When we praise God and are thankful in difficult times
We can choose to praise God and be thankful when we go through difficult situations. These are perfect times to surrender to God and let him take control.
I read somewhere that God’s will is like a tapestry which is a woven decorative fabric. The top side is very beautiful, the side of the art, but underneath it looks a hot mess and confusing. With our lives, things may look like they are in knots and messy when you look from your own view, but from God’s view he sees the beauty on top, the beauty that will come out of your messy story.
Sometimes we go through situations in life and feel there is no way out and no reason to thank God. Infact some may think you are silly for giving thanks when you are in a storm. Being thankful does not mean you are denying the reality of your situation, but rather it means you have chosen to rejoice in God in the midst of your trials and tribulations.
When you are thankful, it opens up your heart to his presence and your mind to his thoughts. Yes, you may still be in the same situation and circumstances, however thanking God helps you see things from his perspective and this takes the focus from your problems. You can never give too much thanks to God. A thankful attitude opens up the windows of heaven unto us and allows the blessings of God to pour freely unto us.
When you fill your mind with thanksgiving, you eliminate room for worrying about your situation, and force negative thoughts to grow weaker. You are able to walk through your situation with joy knowing that God is still God and that he is right there in the storm with you.
An example I have is when we were pregnant in 2018 and at the first appointment the doctor said there was no heartbeat, scheduled us for follow up appts. We chose to stay thankful and were actually still praying that a miracle will happen and so we chose not to do a D/C. We kept praying and staying thankful while hoping for a miracle, however after about a month, we decided to go ahead with the procedure since we had done like 4 tests to confirm there was still no heartbeat. But my point with this is, sometimes you will stay thankful and the situation doesn’t change for the better but that does not mean God is not in control or that the devil has won or that you are in denial, No, it simply means you have chosen to live with joy in everything.
Here are some thanking God in difficult times bible verses.
1 Corinthians 15:57
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Philippians 4:6
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God
Romans 4:19-21
And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about a hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform
Habakkuk 3:17-18
Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation
You should read Acts 16:16-40, the chapter talked about Paul and Silas and how they praised God and sang powerful hymns while in prison. Suddenly around midnight, an earthquake shook the prison and broke their chains! Despite being stripped, beaten and locked up in prison, they were still praising God.
When we are grateful to God for the little things
As humans, we are hardly ever satisfied with what we have no matter how rich we are. But when we realize that all we have is from God, it changes everything. Here are some bible verses about being thankful for the little things:
Philippians 4:12
know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want
In this verse, Paul was saying he had learned to be content and thankful for all he had been given by God no matter how little or how much he had.
Matthew 15:36
Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, and when he had given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and they in turn to the people.
I talked about this verse earlier, but just being thankful no matter how little we have or how low we may feel.
How can I be thankful to God?
There are so many ways to show our thanks and give praises to God. Sometimes we think thanking God or praising him needs to be complicated but it can be as simple as just saying thank you Lord. Its our heart that really matters.
We can be thankful through our service
We can thank and praise God through service to God and to others. For instance, maybe in church you choose to use your gifts of children to serve in the children’s ministry while the parents are in the sanctuary, or maybe keeping God’s house clean etc. You could also choose to serve others with your time by volunteering to help out or maybe giving money.
We can be thankful through prayer
We can praise God and also thank him by praying. When we pray we are communicating with God. Its an avenue for us to talk to God and have a conversation with him. He can speak to us through prayers. Spend a few minutes praying and acknowledging who God is in your life.
We can be thankful by showing love to others
We can show gratitude to God by showing love to others. This can be as simple as being there when they need help, being available to pray for others when they are going through things. It could be anything, all we need is to show the love of Christ to others.
We can be by praising God
We can thank God by giving him praises with our words. That can be through singing songs to him for his faithfulness or just saying words and appreciating him. It’s that simple, we do not have to make it complicated. If you are like me and can’t sing, you can breathe a sigh of relief because God does not need us to be great singers to praise him lol.
The bible really does contain so many praise and thanksgiving scriptures. No matter where you find yourself, its important to give God the glory by offering thanksgiving and praises to him. When life is hard, you are facing a trial, praying for something or things are not moving how you planned, take your eyes off your problem and focus them on Christ. He can give you peace for the journey and sustain you.
I would love to hear your thoughts, feel free to drop a comment on some ways you give God praise and stay thankful! Also share this post if you found it helpful to you.
