For the good days, and for remembering them
Thanksgiving in the Bible is usually out loud and often in a group — a psalm sung at the table, a letter that opens with thanks before it gets to the problems. These are the ones families read at meals and the ones I keep for ordinary Tuesdays.
63 verses · ESV and NIV · each linked to BibleGateway
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”
Thank-you lists usually start with things. This verse starts with a person: the shepherd himself is the first gift, and everything else follows from being his.
“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”
The simplest gratitude practice in the Bible: today exists, God made it, be glad in that before anything else.
“Nun Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”
Thank God for the steps already lit — the decisions that turned out right one at a time.
“teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””
Gratitude for company you can't see and have never been without.
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
Gratitude for being made on purpose, for a purpose, by a maker.
“And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
Gratitude for needs met in ways you didn't arrange.
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
The gratitude verse — and honest about where gratitude happens: in circumstances, not after they improve.
“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
Gratitude for mercy received at a throne you were allowed to approach.
“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”
Gratitude for the wisdom that arrived when you asked — and for the "without finding fault."
“It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.””
Gratitude for the places God went before you arrived.
“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”
Gratitude for a wound that has been bound up — even if the scar remains.
“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
The gratitude verse for joy you didn't manufacture.
“Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.”
The gratitude verse: thank you is how you walk in.
“Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!”
The gratitude verse the Bible repeats most. Say it out loud.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Gratitude for the comfort that found you while you mourned.
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
Gratitude for abundance that isn't measured in things.
“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
Gratitude for fruit you didn't force.
“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”
Gratitude for prayers prayed on your behalf.
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Gratitude for thoughts that have already been renewed.
“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”
Gratitude for escapes you were given and didn't notice.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
Gratitude for a fresh start that wasn't earned.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”
Gratitude for the fruit someone else has grown toward you.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
The gratitude verse for everything: it was given.
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
Gratitude is thinking on what's lovely. This verse is its method.
“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,”
Gratitude for work that mattered to the one who saw it.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Gratitude for the witnesses who ran before you.
“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”
Gratitude for nearness that answered your nearness.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Gratitude for cleansing you didn't have to earn.
“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
Gratitude for a God who asks for justice, kindness, humility — not perfection.
“O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.”
Gratitude as the day's first act.
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
Gratitude for what was given when you asked.
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Gratitude for light in dark seasons.
“Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.”
Gratitude for the encouragers in your life.
“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”
Gratitude for steadfastness gained.
“Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”
Gratitude for being kept.
“Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!”
Gratitude for work God established that you thought nobody saw.
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
Gratitude for the people who were light to you.
“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
Gratitude for someone who counted you more significant than themselves.
“but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.”
Gratitude for what in you is imperishable.
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”
Gratitude for a heart made clean when you couldn't clean it yourself.
“For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.”
Gratitude for a good thing that wasn't withheld.
“So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.”
Gratitude for the day you have, counted.
“For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.”
The classic thanksgiving verse — good, loving, faithful, forever.
“I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.”
Gratitude for a prayer that was heard.
“give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.””
Gratitude for what ran over into your lap.
“But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The thanksgiving verse for the resurrection.
“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.”
Gratitude for a time you had just enough — and it was enough.
“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,”
Gratitude for forgiveness that cost you nothing and him everything.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”
Gratitude for a living hope on a morning that felt dead.
“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”
Gratitude for healing that cost him wounds.
“Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation.”
Gratitude for being carried today, specifically.
“For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.”
Gratitude for forgiveness that abounded.
“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.”
Gratitude for the whole list — pick one benefit you forgot.
“Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered.”
Gratitude for a time you were watered by watering someone else.
“O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure.”
Gratitude for a plan formed of old that you are only now seeing.
“Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.”
Gratitude for the 'yet' — joy in him when the figs failed.
“These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”
Gratitude for joy that was clearly not your own.
“Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”
Gratitude for something received after you finally asked.
“In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ””
Gratitude for the blessing hidden in giving.
“he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,”
Gratitude for mercy that did not wait for your works.
“I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.”
Gratitude for the way you were made — and your child too.
“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
Gratitude for ordinary work that became worship.
“A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”
Gratitude for a laugh that was medicine.
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