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Thanksgiving Starts with Prayer

by Jerry Ousley  
11/19/2010 / Holidays


Here we are, once more on the brink of the holiday season. This week starts it off with one of the biggies for me: Thanksgiving. As you know I'm always talking about food. What better holiday for a guy who loves food as much as I do than one that is centered on eating? I'll never forget that first bite of turkey that I remember anyway. My family was celebrating the feast at my Dad's mother's house. We sat down to eat and one bite of that bird had me hook line and sinker! I've loved it ever since and I for one never seem to tire of turkey leftovers.

A few years ago at a thanksgiving celebration at my Mom and Dad's found a large crew gathered for the feast. One of my uncle's was there who was noted for having a fair sense of humor and he was asked to lead the prayer over the meal. Personally I've learned to keep my prayers over meals as short as possible yet covering all the important issues. I have to confess that I've heard some prayers that just seemed to go on and on. Here you are sitting or standing with all those aromas drifting around in the air. Turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, dressing and homemade yeast rolls and all the while this person is going on and on those smells are tempting your mind away from the prayer and on to how good those culinary works of art are going to taste. You nearly find yourself saying "I wish this guy would hurry up! Doesn't he know that the food is getting cold?" Anyway, my uncle spoke this prayer: "Lord bless us and bind us, tie our shirttails behind us and poke us through a crack where the dogs can't find us. Amen." It drew a lot of laughter but maybe it wasn't quite appropriate for the occasion. It could have been a little longer, don't you think?

However, we need to realize that "thanksgiving" turned the other way around is "giving thanks" and that is prayer. Thanksgiving should always begin with prayer.

In the book of Nehemiah we read the account of the people of Israel returning from seventy years of captivity that began with the Babylonians. They had sinned greatly against God and as He had predicted a few hundred years before, their punishment was captivity. The years had been fulfilled and now they were being allowed to return to their land. One of the things they did was to re-establish the Passover and in Nehemiah 11 and 12 we read of a great thanksgiving celebration. 11:17 tells us that a guy by the name of Mattaniah had been put over the ceremony and with all the great things that had been planned it says that "Mattaniah the son of Micha, the son of Zabdi, the son of Asaph, the leader who began the thanksgiving with prayer" How important that was.

You see we have made a great holiday from that first thanksgiving feast celebrated by the Pilgrims. They were thankful to God for the bountiful harvest they had been granted and they didn't forget their Native American friends who had showed them how to plant corn and yield such a plentiful crop. I believe that it is a wonderful thing to put aside a day for all to be thankful to God. Of course we should be thankful to our Lord each and every day of our lives. Each new morning should be the start of a day of thanksgiving. But at least one day a year despite our problems with prayer in school, prayer in public and protests against God, our nation is at least influenced by a time of thanksgiving.

Our Thanksgiving should begin with prayer. Each day of our lives should begin with prayer. How can we give thanks to God without talking to Him? How can we talk to Him aside from prayer? So I'm going to begin this week of Thanksgiving with prayer. Pray with me now. "Father God, we are thankful for all of Your bountiful blessings. How could we live even one day without You at our side ever leading the way through our day? As we begin this week of Thanksgiving we thank you for work. We thank you that if some of us have not had jobs that somehow You have provided for us to be here this day. We know that despite our health, our physical condition, our financial status or lack of these things that You are in control. And we want to take this moment to let You know that we are thankful. Father I ask you to bless each one who hears my voice this day. Let us all be thankful without murmur or complaint and acknowledge that You, Almighty God, are indeed in control. We give all glory to You. Amen."

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

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