It is a pleasant duty and easy to give thanks: the oldest Christian can do it and the youngest. You have had the devil try to draw you away from prayer and make it seem heavy, but then you thank God and the heart is warmed again.
Thanksgiving gives us tremendous assurance. It reminds you of your blessings, how much you have received. When I praise and thank God, all my complaints vanish, all the self-pity which overwhelms me with feelings that this should not happen, is displaced.
Giving thanks spurs me to holiness. How can I go on in sin when God has done all this for me? Good resolutions rise up within me.
We must thank in detail, not just generally. Sometimes we need to interrupt our own prayer, to stop and think.
To thank God gives new commitment, new energy; it is such a beneficial activity. You thank him specifically for one or two things, and other things come in.
Offering thanks to God helps develop patience towards others. It brings a sense of unworthiness and so we are more patient with others. And it humbles us and pride is diminished. Without it, we grow heady, proud, vulnerable to worldly things.
Thanksgiving is like self-examination. You do not know your sin unless you practice self-examination. So also with thanksgiving. We need to ask, what wonderful blessings have I received today. Who has God sent into my life? What pitfalls has he delivered me from? What truths has he taught me?
Other believers will be helped by examples of thankfulness. What do they see? Those who buckle complaining, or those who give credit to God in all things?
We can give thanks in various situations. When I am happy I must do it. Happiness has been given to me; I must give it back to the Lord again. When I am in trouble, fear, or grief, I give thanks. At such times thanksgiving will rest on the past. We remember his providence, always bringing us through. In sorrow, when weeping, thank God for what you know you do not deserve. Paul and Silas prayed from the prison in chains and God brought fresh opportunities out of it. Job when he had lost all, was thrown into poverty. He thanked God because he believed God knew what he was doing.
It is a heavenly duty. How can we appreciate heaven? Some young people say, I find heaven far off. There is so much to do in the world, and in heaven we will spend our time in praise and thanks to God, and some think it is not very interesting. But it will be easier if we thank God now and learn to appreciate him.
Thanksgiving grows in scope provided we do it regularly. If we could do a questionnaire – for what have I got to thank God? The more you thank him, the longer the list gets. Your faculty for thanksgiving grows. We do not learn to offer private thanks from public prayers, which are brief and must be general in nature.