The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

I Chronicles 16:34-36, “O give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;

For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

35 Then say, ‘Save us, O God of our salvation,

And gather us and deliver us from the nations,

To give thanks to Thy holy name, And glory in Thy praise.’

36 Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel,

From everlasting even to everlasting.

Then all the people said, ‘Amen,’ and praised the LORD.”

“O give thanks to the LORD…”

I awoke this morning with that phrase on my mind. There are nine

other verses (all in the Psalms) that say virtually the same thing.

The words “Thank you” are slowly slipping out of our culture.

Selfishness causes us to believe we are “owed” what someone

gives us; hence, “Thank you” is an unnecessary reply. But that

is fundamentally wrong. What does it cost to say “Thank you”?

We thank God first because of who He is: “He is good.” Who He

is has no dependency upon whether He gives us anything. He is

simply good because He is. And we are to love and thank Him

for that. “His lovingkindness” speaks of what He does. It never

runs out; therefore, we are to continually thank Him for that.

When we have sufficiently and genuinely thanked Him, we can

then say, “Save us, O God of our salvation…and deliver us

from the nations…(that we might further) give thanks to Thy

holy name, and glory in Thy praise.”

Years ago, I noticed a comparison of Daniel’s prayers with the

Model Prayer. I put the two in a graph that I am attaching, and

hope it will benefit you and increase your prayer life. Notice

that everything emphasizes the LORD’s greatness and power;

nothing points to us. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

We love and give thanks for you every, single day,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”