Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the FRUIT of lips that openly profess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such SACRIFICES God is pleased.

For some of us, we have just had one of the most satisfying feasts of the year — The Thanksgiving Feast. For others (where family time can be painful), while the food was good, it may be time to recover a bit. We think of those who we miss, those who we are with, and those who are in challenging spots. Some focus on giving during Thanksgiving, and rightly so. Our community group was able to help a single mom and her children this year by providing the dinner.

And then we have today … known as Black Friday. The day that was originally marked in the U.S.A. by a stock market crash, a run on the banks, and many stockbrokers committing suicide on Wall Street. Many people had their whole life savings wiped out. And so while it is historically a sad day, we pacify ourselves with incredible shopping deals.

But today can be different! We can reclaim and reenergize today, far beyond great shopping. It is the next days in a life of endless days where we get to live out the above verses. We praise God and are thankful on Thanksgiving, rightly so. What if we offered God a continual sacrifice of praise? What if we believed him that each and every day he creates has something we can be thankful for and praise him in it? What if our Thanksgiving Feast lasted the WHOLE YEAR long? (The table would have to be pretty long to hold all that food:))!

Lord, I am starting today to intentionally offer you praise every day to start the day. And then to be continually thankful throughout the day. Instead of complaining, or looking for what isn’t fair or is not right, I will sacrifice those thoughts on the altar of your love, and instead offer you a CONTINUOUS FEAST OF PRAISE and thankfulness! You deserve it!