Why thank the Lord? If there was no other reason but to glorify and please the Lord, that would be enough. God deserves to be praised, thanked, glorified and appreciated by all of the angels and people that He has created. Even the animals and inanimate objects that God has created are seen as praising the Lord. See Psalm 148 (cp. Isaiah 55:12); 150; 107:8,15,21,31; Revelation 4:11. Those who have been saved by grace have even more reason to be thankful (Psalm 30; 92; 107:1-2; I Corinthians 1:26-31; Ephesians 1:12; I Peter 2:9).

It is the purpose of this study to make us think of some very practical reasons or goals for worship…That's right…Giving thanks is an act of worship and it accomplishes more things that will further glorify God. So, thankfulness is done with purpose. It does not happen by accident. Being thankful is not just being nice and polite. It is a way of worshipping and serving God. To neglect this is to be disobedient and it might render us unuseful for God's work.

Consider these three things that thankfulness and worship can promote:

• Thankfulness helps us fight personal sin.
  Sin comes when we allow ourselves to focus on negative things (fearful, hateful, selfish things) which are in the world. Dark thoughts lead to dark actions. We must check ourselves (i.e. our passions), not feeding the negative thoughts. Then we should take a positive inventory of God and His goodness. With thankfulness and rejoicing, consider Ephesians 5:1-8; Philippians 4:4-13; Colossians 3:12-17; Romans 12:9-21; also Psalm 29:1-2; 32:11 - 33:1; 50:14 cp. 116:16-18; 97:10-12.
• Thankfulness helps us to be filled with God's Spirit.
  Our fight against sin would be vain without the Spirit of Christ working within us (Romans 8:8-13; Galatians 2:20; 3:1-3; 5:22-25). However, we can grieve and quench the Spirit of Christ, so that He does not release His grace and power in our lives to the extent that we could experience if we were submissive to Him (Ephesians 4:30-32; I Thessalonians 5:16-20). So, thankfulness is part of the formula for us to invoke or invite the Spirit of Christ to have full control of us (Ephesians 5:15-21 …note 4:30-31…the opposite of thankfulness is what grieves Him!) Drive away temptation, coldness, hardness, gloominess, and unproductivity through worship with thanksgiving! See Psalm 95 (vs. 1-7a = thankful cp. Vs. 7b-11 = unthankful, grieving God's Spirit). See also Psalm 100.
• Thankfulness helps us reach the lost and encourage other believers.
  Thankfulness must be expressed. Thankfulness becomes a thoughtful message that will penetrate the minds and hearts of other people who hear our testimony. Thankfulness is the light that pierces the darkness; the salt that must not lose its savor (Matthew 5:11-16). Make it your goal to do public and private worship with thanksgiving and also to have a spirit of thankfulness in your personal interactions with people. This will be a means of evangelism and a ministry of encouragement (Psalm 18:49; 26:6-7; 34:1-3; 69:30-32; 96:1-10; 105:1; 107:21-22; 145; Isaiah 12).