AUDIO

[November 22]
Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:20
AS FOR the days of national thanksgiving, we, as citizens of the heavenly kingdom, have no special need of them; for every day should be with us a day of thanksgiving for all things—for the prosperity of our "holy nation" under the righteous authority of Christ our King, for its peace and joy and its glorious hope, for its privileges of spiritual enlightenment and blessing, for the perfection of its laws and the shaping of its course and destiny, and for the needed discipline as well, which is to prepare it for its future exaltation and glory. Let the people of the world and less enlightened Christians give thanks, as doubtless many of them do, out of a sincere heart, for the common blessings of this present life—for the air and sunshine and rain, for bountiful harvests and for seasons of comparative peace with the nations abroad. Yes, blessed be God, out of his abundant mercy these rich blessings are common to all—to the just and to the unjust—and it is well that the attention of all men should be called to mark and consider them....And while the world thus marks and rejoices in, and in some cases returns thanks to God for the truly glorious common blessings which our loving and benevolent Father showers alike upon the evil and the just, let our hearts not only rejoice in these things, but also in the higher spiritual favors bestowed upon the sons of God, giving thanks always and for all things unto God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Z'93-12 R1490:1 (Hymn 324)