Bible Lesson: Thanksgiving Abraham Lincoln
Every fourth Thursday, in November, America celebrates Thanksgiving day.
This celebration dates back to 1621 at Plymouth, Massachusetts. After their first year in America, the Puritan Pilgrims who had sailed from England, gave thanks for their crops and homes.
Canada, celebrates Thanksgiving day, the second Monday, of October.
Abraham Lincoln, America's 16th president (1861-1865), was killed by an assassins bullet. In 1863 Abraham Lincoln wrote the following
Proclamations of Thanksgiving
It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord.
We know that by His divine law, nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world. May we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people?
We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown.
But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced, by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.
Abraham Lincoln, March 1863
It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my Fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.
Abraham Lincoln, October 1863
The Word of the Lord:
I Chronicles 16:8-12 KJV
8 Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon His name, make known His deeds among the people.
9 Sing unto Him, sing psalms unto Him, talk ye of all His wondrous works.
10 Glory ye in His holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD.
11 Seek the LORD and His strength, seek His face continually.
12 Remember His marvelous works that He hath done, His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth;
Psalm 50:14 KJV
Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the Most High:
Psalm 92:1 KJV
It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, o Most High.
Psalm 100:4 KJV
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name.
Psalm 107:22 KJV
And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare His works with rejoicing.
Ephesians 5:20 KJV
Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
Philippians 4:6 NLT
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done.
Colossians 1:11,12 KJV
11... May you be filled with joy,
12 always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to His people, who live in the light.
Colossians 3:15;17 KJV
15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.
I Thessalonians 5:18 KJV
In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
Giving Thanks to the Lord, before eating:
I Timothy 4:4 NLT
4 Since everything God created is good, we should not reject any of it but receive it with thanks.
5 For we know it is made acceptable by the word of God and prayer.
Giving Thanks to the Lord, After having eaten:
Deuteronomy 8:10 NLT
When you have eaten your fill, be sure to praise the Lord your God for the good land He has given you.
Do you have a national day of Thanksgiving in your country, if not, would you start one?
Colossians 3:23,24 KJV
23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;
24 Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.
