sharing our testimonies of thanksgiving

November 24th, 2022

Scripture: Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and prayed,
“Who am I, O Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? 19 And now, Sovereign Lord, in addition to everything else, you speak of giving your servant a lasting dynasty! Do you deal with everyone this way, O Sovereign Lord?[c]
20 “What more can I say to you? You know what your servant is really like, Sovereign Lord. 21 Because of your promise and according to your will, you have done all these great things and have made them known to your servant.
22 “How great you are, O Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you. We have never even heard of another God like you! 23 What other nation on earth is like your people Israel? What other nation, O God, have you redeemed from slavery to be your own people? You made a great name for yourself when you redeemed your people from Egypt. You performed awesome miracles and drove out the nations and gods that stood in their way.[d] 24 You made Israel your very own people forever, and you, O Lord, became their God.
25 “And now, O Lord God, I am your servant; do as you have promised concerning me and my family. Confirm it as a promise that will last forever. 26 And may your name be honored forever so that everyone will say, ‘The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is God over Israel!’ And may the house of your servant David continue before you forever.
27 “O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, God of Israel, I have been bold enough to pray this prayer to you because you have revealed all this to your servant, saying, ‘I will build a house for you—a dynasty of kings!’ 28 For you are God, O Sovereign Lord. Your words are truth, and you have promised these good things to your servant. 29 And now, may it please you to bless the house of your servant, so that it may continue forever before you. For you have spoken, and when you grant a blessing to your servant, O Sovereign Lord, it is an eternal blessing!” 2 Samuel 7:18-29

When you give thanksgiving publicly, what you’re doing is telling and sharing with one another, GOD’s personal experience in your life. That GOD is very personal to each one of you. And in doing so, Psalm 107 says that if you have been one of the redeemed ones, speak it, tell it! If you have been one of the redeemed ones then you have a story to tell and you have to tell it. You cannot hold it back. So, what is the advantage of us sharing our testimonies of thanksgiving?

1. When you share your thanksgiving, it motivates our love for Him. When you tell the story, it only pulls your heart to love Him even more. David’s testimony is that the more he talks about GOD, what you see happening is this testimony is pulling him to love GOD even more. It motivates our love for Him.

2. When you share your thanksgiving, it motivates our humility before Him. That was in David’s testimony-this great GOD, this sovereign LORD and yet You do stuff for me? You’re a sovereign LORD and yet, You are mindful of me? You know me and you know me better than anyone else and You even know me better than I know myself. Yet in spite of that knowledge, You would involve Yourself in my personal life. When we give thanksgiving, we are sharing with people our own personal experience of how the sovereign GOD has worked in our lives.

3. When you share your thanksgiving praise, it assures our heart in faith to trust Him even more. Why does He do things for us? Why? He does things for us so that we can recall them and be encouraged in our own heart. How many times did He remind Moses, “Remember the Red Sea. Remember the Red Sea” GOD never forgot the Red Sea, but the Israelites may have forgotten the Red Sea. But what GOD’s reminder did do was encourage them to trust Him more.

4. When you share your praise of thanksgiving to God, it provokes our intimacy with Him. You can’t be intimate with GOD and not give thanks to him. There is no way you can draw near to Him and be cognizant of a relationship with Him and be mindful of what He has done for you and not be intimate. It draws you into a closeness. It draws you into a sharing with God in the only way that you can.

5. When you share your praise of thanksgiving to God, it exalts His name and gives glory to GOD. How can I ever give glory to GOD? I can’t add anything to GOD’s glory-God’s glory is complete. Yet, the Bible tells us that it is this whole dynamic of Him revealing Himself. David said, You have revealed these things. You have shared these things with your servant and because You have done that You have provoked me to offer thanks back to You. You showed me You and that makes me praise the LORD!

Prayer: Father in heaven, we thank You so very much for the privilege you have bestowed upon us, another day of mercy, another day of grace. It’s all about You and what You’ve done for us. So, what can we do for You? What can we say to You? Our words can never fully ascend to encompass the greatness of who You are and how good You have been to us despite, as David says, “You know how we really are.” So today, we pray that You would put it in our hearts to give thanks back to You. That You would miraculously impose Your perspective. That You would give unto us the revelation of Yourself so that our hearts would be provoked to give praise back to You and thanks for what You have done for us. Bless these people in a special way. We give honor and praise to You in Jesus Name, Amen.
By Pastor Wayne Cockrell