Presented to The Salvation Army Alberni Valley Ministries, 12 October 2021 and Harvest Community, 11 October 2026 (Thanksgiving) by Captain (Major) Michael Ramsay
This is the 2026 version, to view the 2021 version, click here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2021/10/thanksgiving-secret-to-survival.html
Today is Thanksgiving Sunday. Thanksgiving in Canada is to a “day of general thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed.” [passed by parliament, 31 January 1957]. When we were on the prairies, this took on a whole new meaning to me. We came to know a little more what was meant by planting season and harvesting season and we could even tell you what kind of tractor you were driving based on the colour of the vehicle. Thanksgiving for the harvest was a real part of life.
Today, in the context of all that is going on in the world let’s spend a little bit of time chatting about the power of a spirit of thanksgiving, giving thanks in our lives. It really is something that God can use to get us through even the darkest times. This is what a spirit of thanksgiving looks like:
Philippians 4:4-7: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18: “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
Ephesians 5:19-20: Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Colossians 3:17: And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
There is a lot going on in the world: war, genocide, politics, disparity, poverty, turmoil, our own personal challenges as well.
The previous few years have been tough on a lot of people. Orange shirt day was the other week too and that is very significant – an important remembrance (We marked the truth of a very real tragedy) and Remembrance Day is around the corner: the war to end all wars was fought over 100 years and probably 1000 wars ago now.
Poverty is real in our country. The debt that our country acquired over the past decade is beyond what can be even understood in terms of trying to pay it back. We have generational debt for the first time ever in this country.
Violence is terrible right now in word and in deed. Social media hate is everywhere. There are riots in France, Belgium, and elsewhere in Europe. There is always violence in the USA.
The opioid crisis in BC is beyond comprehension. These are scary times. The question is, in these scary, difficult times, how can we get through it? How can we survive? This is the important question that we need to ask and we need to answer.
In these scary times, God, through Scriptures, offers us some encouragement; some ways we can get through this. The Apostle Paul talks about a spirit of thanksgiving and rejoicing. He lets us know that thankfulness is something God uses to get us through tough times. Paul's letters have a Thanksgiving plan to help us survive the turmoil of this world. He says:
Rejoice always,
Pray continually,
Let your gentleness be evident to all
Give thanks in all circumstances.
REJOICE ALWAYS
One key to surviving difficult times, Paul writes to both the Philippians and the Thessalonians, is to rejoice always. If we can find something to rejoice in each day and if we can focus on that rather than on all the bad things pulling us down, our spirit will be uplifted, and we can get through it. Monty Python has a catchy tune about always looking on the bright side of life. They are obviously over the top, but I think that it is really key – we might have something to celebrate. If a hurricane destroys every house in town but one – celebrate the one home standing; celebrate lone survivors; recognize the blessings in the midst of suffering. There are always good things and bad things happening in this world and we do tend to notice what we are looking for – thus some people always appear miserable (even if they seem to have an ideal life) while others are always smiling (even if we wouldn’t want to be in their shoes).
This I think is a big part of the comfort in being ‘saved’, being holy – the ability to see where God is working in the midst of suffering; and if we recognize, rejoice and celebrate the miracles in the midst of suffering, the suffering becomes much more manageable – and then when we see it, we will start to recognize the miraculous more and more everyday – and then we start to experience the miraculous more and more every day.
PRAY CONTINUALLY
Another vital key to survival is prayer. Paul mentions this in his letters to the Philippians, Thessalonians, Colossians, and Ephesians. Paul writes this to the churches in each of these communities. Prayer is extremely important. I can’t tell you the number of people I have the chance to pray with on an ongoing basis. This week, a few friends of mine have been going through some real difficult times. I have been blessed to be able to pray for them. I thank all those who have been praying for me as well lately – that means a lot. Prayer is vital to survival. As we pray together, we are joined to God with one another in a bond as strength. Let us not stop praying with and for one another.
BE GENTLE
That brings us to another very important part of living with a spirit of thanksgiving that is key to surviving our struggles in community and even in the Church: be gentle with one another! This can be difficult. We are a divided world right now. Name your issue, people are polarized. People are upset. People are angry. People are afraid. Watch the different news channels; scroll through social media. Society is divided. The church is divided. Even clergy, Officers are divided.
Even if we are upset or worried or busy or tired or hungry, we need to be gentle with one another; congregation members, we need to be gentle with one another; staff members, we need to be gentle with one another; family members, we need to be gentle with one another; friends and social media friends, we need to be gentle with one another if we hope to survive. We need to be gentle, and we need to be thankful for one another. We need to be thankful for what God is doing through each and every one of us.
BE THANKFUL
The spirit of thankfulness. This spirit of Thanksgiving is so important to our very survival. When everything around us seems to be crashing down and everyone seems to be unkind and violent in thought, word, and deed; it is imperative that we find what is right and thank God for that! If we only focus on all the trials and tribulations around us, we will be swallowed up by them. If we just look at the storms of life, we will miss the lifeboat. Mark my words, my friends, the chaos of our world is a turbulent as a storm at sea. You or I may even have been tossed overboard and maybe we are gasping for air trying to survive. If we just focus on the waves of all that is going wrong that is all we will see.
If we, however, quickly scan the horizon looking for the things God is sending us that can pull us through, we will be okay. Look around: see the miracles that are happening on a daily basis; see the people God is using for good in the world; notice how He is using you and others to help people; It is only when we look for and focus on the good things that God is providing for our salvation that we can grab a hold of them. This is what will create in us a thankful heart and a joyful spirit, this is what will make it so that we don’t need to be anxious in anything.
On this Thanksgiving Day in Canada, I would like to encourage us to look around at the things for which we can be thankful, the ways God is seeing us through the storm and thank Him for them. For as we can thank the Lord for what He is doing even while the whole world seems to be in chaos, as we thank the Lord for the daily miracles that we see, as we thank the Lord for each other and what the Lord is doing through each and every one of us then we will get through even this - whatever the 'this' is – that we are each facing today
Let us pray
BENEDICTION:
Philippians 4:4-7: Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
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