Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
(Phil. 4:6 KJV)

The first thing you need to do before you do anything this holiday season is make your petitions to God and give Him thanks. Many times when I get involved in thanking God, I don’t even think about my request. Thanking God reminds me that He has already handled it.

One day, before I began praying, I started thanking God. I said,

Father, I want to thank you for my life. I am alive. I can stand up and walk. I thank you that I can hear and speak.

Thank you for this holiday to remember your blessings upon this country. Thank you for my wife and children, and a house for us to live in. Thank you for giving me a job that I love.

You gave me a congregation to pastor. Thank you for people to work and serve with me in the ministry.

I went on and on….

Thankful And Content
By the time I finished, I forgot what my petition was. God has been good to me, and He has been good to you and you are to give Him thanks in whatever state you are. There are people who would love to have what you have.

Thanksgiving is the key to peace. People lose peace because they are looking at what other people have. “They have this, so I have to have it.” But when you are thankful for what you have, you and your house will live in the peace of God.

In Acts 16 we find Paul and Silas singing praises to God in jail at the midnight hour. You may be in the midnight hour in your life. If so, then you ought to give God thanks. Even in the midnight hour there is a light from heaven that shines like the noonday sun.

Thank God For Victory
Even in the midnight hour, the power of God is manifested. Regardless to how dark the problem is, God is bigger, stronger, and wiser. You ought to give Him thanks that even in the midnight hour, victory is yours.

Give God thanks because you have the victory. A lot may be going on in the world today, but let’s be sure to thank God regardless of what we know or don’t know.

It may not look like it, but give Him thanks anyway. It may not sound like it, but give Him thanks anyway. Everybody may be saying that you are losing, but give Him thanks anyway.

God gives you victory everywhere you go. Victory is your middle name. He is with you even to the end of the world. Thank God for victory.