It seems as if this topic should be saved for Thanksgiving, but I felt like this was an issue God wanted me to write about now. For one thing, we should be thankful 12 months of the year, not just in November.
When doing a search on Bible Gateway (using the KJV), the word "thankful" was only listed 4 times, but the word "thanks" was listed 100 times. As I looked through all 104 verses, I realized there was a lot more to be said on the subject than I had initially assumed. Obviously, there are way too many verses to list, but I will be listing quite a few because it was too difficult to narrow down. I will try to put these verses into categories.
Let's first look simply, but most importantly, turning a thankful heart into praising God for Who He is. Thanking God for His beautifully imaginative creation, for His love and mercy, for choosing us, for always giving us a chance to repent when we make mistakes, for preparing heaven for us, and the list is endless. I know it is not always easy to be thankful when times are trying, but this takes our minds off of our circumstances and helps us to focus on the love of God. We praise Him for being God the Father, God the Son, and God The Holy Spirit. He is our creator, our advocate, our savior, our helper, burden-bearer, and I could go on and on...
Because there is still a lot to say on being thankful, I will move forward. But, if you are interested in reading more about praising God, here is a blog I wrote titled, "When it is Difficult to Praise the Lord" https://thankful-julie.blogspot.com/2024/06/when-it-is-difficult-to-praise-lord.html
(Psalm 100:4) Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto Him and bless His name.
(Psalm 30:4 & 12) Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness. To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.
In addition to celebrating God for being our Almighty Creator, another way to be thankful is to make it more personal. Thank Him for His saving grace and His mercy that forgave your sins. This goes beyond a general thank you for Jesus dying for the sins of the world, but for dying for your sins. And for His continual mercy and patience to forgive "minor" sins as well as to take you back when you have gone beyond the causal mistake and have you backslidden (See 1 John 1:9).
(1 Chronicles 16:8 & 34) Give thanks unto the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people. O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.
(Ezra 3:11) And they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord; because he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever.
(Colossians 1:2 & 3:17) Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
I hate to be negative when discussing a positive subject of being thankful, but I want to address it because it is mentioned in the Bible. The verses after Romans 1:21 (listed below) go on to explain that the people became evil. Verses 29-32 said they became, "filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death..."
They knew the Truths of God but backslid away from them. Why did they fall backward from salvation to sin? I think we can see in verse 21 that they quit glorifying God for who He was and quit being thankful for all He had done to save their souls. Everyone who quits acknowledging the power, love, and grace of God is in danger of backsliding away from their faith. When we cease to acknowledge the goodness of God, we quit caring whether or not we please Him (Romans 2:4 - Despisest thou the riches of His goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?). When we lose awe and respect for the King of Kings, we put Him on equal ground with us, and that is beyond foolish and dangerous. Losing a heart full of thankfulness for His true grace means one will take do their very best to advantage of it and, therefore, risk their very soul by way of arrogance and disrespect of the Holy of Holies.
Once again, I want to move on to more verses on being thankful. If you are interested, here is a link that mentions more of Romans 1: "Follow the Light of Jesus" https://thankful-julie.blogspot.com/2025/10/follow-light-of-jesus-part-2.html
(Romans 1:21) Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
As well as thanking God for His infinite mercies, we can thank His Holy Spirit for helping us get victory over our sins. We know we are not capable of conquering sin on our own. Our flesh wars against our spiritual nature, but when we pray for the help of the Holy Spirit. He can help shatter what seems like unbreakable chains of sinful bondages. It does not matter what your stronghold is: pornography, witchcraft, alcohol/drugs, sexual immorality, false religion, stealing, lying, etc. IF you are truly willing to let the Holy Spirit take control of your life, He will absolutely give you to power to walk away from whatever God hates.
Please remember that 1 Corinthians 10:13 (AMP) says, "No temptation [regardless of its source] has overtaken or enticed you that is not common to human experience [nor is any temptation unusual or beyond human resistance]; but God is faithful [to His word—He is compassionate and trustworthy], and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability [to resist], but along with the temptation He [has in the past and is now and] will [always] provide the way out as well, so that you will be able to endure it [without yielding, and will overcome temptation with joy]."(1 Corinthians 15:57) But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
(2 Corinthians 2:14) Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.
Another area where we can find thankfulness is other people. It is a true blessing to have Godly friends, and if you have them, please remember to thank God for this rare treasure. I am well aware that true friends are an extreme rarity, but people do not have to live up to our expectations for us to love them and be thankful for them. We are not to be unequally yoked with those who will drag us down spiritually (see 2 Corinthians 6:14-18), but we can still be thankful for whatever positive qualities they possess, and we should continually pray for them.
(Ephesians 1:16) Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
(Colossians 1:3 & 1 Thessalonians 1:2) We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you. & We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers;
There is still so much more I could say, after all, remember the above-mentioned 104 verses? But I will end where I started. The most important thing we have to be thankful for in our lives is the Holy Trinity. When all else around us is falling apart, when we are lonely, sick, abandoned, grieving, or confused, we can still say God is by our side. Focus on the eternal and not the temporal. Spending time being thankful to God for His beauty, majesty, holiness, power, omnipotence, (the list is endless) is enough to get through each and every day! I can't wait until we get to Heaven and we can join the others around His throne to give Him praise forever!
(Revelation 4:8-11) And the four beasts... rest not day and night, saying, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come." And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created."
(Revelation 7:9-12) After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; And cried with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb." And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, Saying, "Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen."
(Revelation 11:15-17) And there were great voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever." And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, Saying, "We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned."
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