The Christian life requires discipline and commitment, and thanksgiving is a key discipline. Although a new year offers the chance to look ahead, it is also the perfect time to look back and give thanks.
God is doing great things in Madagascar. Melias, a Malagasy missionary is now based in the village of Befotaka. The village is full of spirit-possessed people, and they know it is a power that controls them. They did not know that there is a more powerful name that can deliver them from this oppression. The gospel was made known to a very small circle of people and they were delivered from the oppression. They are now studying the Bible, two or three times a week. God has accompanied this ministry with miracles. People knock on Melias’ door at night, asking him to come and to pray for their sick, and they are seeing healing happen!
Bible study – Give thanks
Many of us are reading this at the start of a new year. Traditionally a time of looking forward and making resolutions for the year ahead, why not also take the opportunity to look back at 2022?
- How good are you at giving thanks? Would you describe yourself more as a grumbler or grateful? Why?
- What does thanksgiving look like in your life? Is it a regular or rare practice?
Read Psalm 103.
- How do you feel reading v1-5? Does it describe your life, or is it hard to relate to?
- It can be easy to overlook God’s goodness if we are not in the habit of giving thanks. Consider God’s forgiveness and grace in your life, read v6-12. In many churches the significance of sin and God’s holiness is hardly mentioned, how might this take away from what God has done in forgiving us?
- Take a moment to give thanks to God for his forgiveness “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” Psalm 103:11-12
- How do stories like these help you to remember who God is and what he is doing?
- As we read verses 13-22, we see a stark contrast between our seemingly momentary lives and the Lord who is everlasting. How does this contrast highlight God’s goodness to us even further?
Download the full Bible study, which includes a second story and the ‘fire in his heart’ Bible study.
