Today many of us will sit down to a festive turkey dinner with family and friends as we give thanks for all we have. We will thank God for our home, our family, our job, our health and our physical blessings, but these are only the effects that we get from the greatest gift of all.

God has given us salvation through the shed blood of His Son, Jesus, on the cross. He gave His life so that we could live. He took on all of our sins so that He could drop them off in hell where they will stay forever. Jesus made us righteous so that we can be part of the family of God. For this we must always be truly grateful.

If Jesus hadn’t come down from Heaven in the first place and lived among us for thirty-three years, we wouldn’t know some of the wonderful things that He shared with us about our Heavenly Father. Jesus told us in 1 John 4:7, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” We need to know this because many of us have read the Old Testament and think that God is hard and merciless, when in fact, He loves us so much that He sent His own Son to die in our place.

We have the promise of being in Heaven with Him forever and we know this because Jesus said in John 14:2, “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” What a blessed promise this is!

Jesus has given us the ability to be healed from all sickness and disease when we give them to Him, believe His Word and trust Him. Isaiah 53:5 says, “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.”

He has promised to give us everything that we need to live in this world so we can be productive Christians. We can trust Him to prosper our lives in material wealth, BUT that does not mean we become greedy and follow prosperity teaching. It means that God knows we have needs and desires and when we’re faithful to Him He will bless us. Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

Jesus promised that He would be with us through all the tribulations that this world will put us through. We live amongst a sinful and ungodly people and we are very susceptible to negative influence and trials that will be set against us. Jesus knew what this world was like because He lived in it and experienced first-hand the satanic oppression that comes against believers. And He has not left us to go through them alone, but rather God promised in Psalm 23:4, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”

Jesus warned us that life as a Christian would not be easy, but He also told us that with Him we can be over-comers.  John 16:33 says, “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” What a wonderful promise!

We can talk to God anytime, anyplace and as often as we want because we have His precious Holy Spirit in us. It’s like a free live telecommunication that links us directly to God. There is nothing too big or too trivial for us to talk to God about. His Spirit in us keeps the airwaves open so that we are never alone.  John the Baptist spoke of this promise in Matthew 3:11 “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

This precious gift of the Holy Spirit is one that we are so thankful for because He teaches us the truth of the gospel and the big picture of God when we read the Bible. Without God’s Spirit in us to teach us, the Bible is just another book; one that’s filled with good instruction for a better life, as well as an awesome history book. And without the Holy Spirit teaching us, we will NEVER know God.  John 14:26 says, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”

Jesus is deserving of all of our praise today and throughout eternity because He gave up His home in Heaven to live a transient life on earth, and then gave Himself as a sacrifice for us so that we wouldn’t be punished for our sins.  And because of Him, we can have good health, a wonderful home, a loving family and the hope of eternity with Him. There is nothing any Christian can be more thankful for than the greatest gift of – Jesus.

Let’s take time today and every day to praise the Lord and thank Him for what He has done for us!

“I will praise You with my whole heart;
Before the gods I will sing praises to You.
² I will worship toward Your holy temple,
And praise Your name
For Your loving-kindness and Your truth;
For You have magnified Your word above all Your name.
³ In the day when I cried out, You answered me,
And made me bold with strength in my soul.”

…. Psalm 138:1-3

Thank you, Jesus!