Thanksgiving is not just a holiday.

It is a way of life.

As we study the scriptures with Scott Pauley today,

we pray that God will help us learn how to develop grateful hearts and hopes.

Thanksgiving is not a day. It is a way of life. As a matter of fact, it is a discipline that is to be a part of every day of the believer's life.

If you reserve the giving of thanks for a special day or an occasional event,

and you've missed the very spirit of it, that's why the Bible says in Ephesians chapter 5,

verse 20, giving thanks always for all things and to God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now we've learned already by just looking at this verse that there is an action to thanks.

The first word is an action verb, giving thanks. So it's not simply something that you feel or

something that you have or something that you think. No, it is something that you give.

You give thanks to God and you give praise to the Lord who is worthy of our praise.

But then we come to an interesting principle in this same verse because the Bible says giving thanks

always. Now that's a time word. It means there's no limit. It means that this is something that is to

extend all through time and into eternity. As a matter of fact, what do you think we're going to be

doing in eternity? When we are finally with the Lord, when we are in the presence of our good God,

I'll tell you what you're going to do, what I'm going to do, we're going to give God thanks.

We're going to spend all of eternity praising the name of our God.

Don't you think it might be good if we got a little practice on that now?

And so he begins by saying giving thanks always.

If giving is the action of thanks, then always is the duration of thanks.

How long?

...