For every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. – 1 Thessalonians 5:18

That scripture there from 1 Thessalonians 5 – that’s how many people read it: For every thing give thanks. However, that’s not what the scripture says. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says:  In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

The Bible doesn’t tell us to give thanks for everything, yet many people do. People thank God for the sickness and disease that is effecting their body, because it’s taught them something. But sickness and disease does not come from God. John 10:10 says, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” Sickness doesn’t bring life. It brings death. It destroys. And the Bible says clearly that anything that destroys comes from the devil. You may learn something from it, but then again, you can learn from anything. Don’t thank God for something the devil is throwing on you.

Other people give thanks to God for other things – like the death of family members, their terrible circumstances of poverty, or the bad things that come up in their lives.

But the Bible doesn’t say to give thanks to God for all things. It says to give thanks to God in all things. We are to give thanks to God, no matter the circumstance or situation – because He is still God and He is still on our side. It’s not because of the circumstance, but in spite of the circumstance.

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. – John 16:33

We give thanks in all things because Jesus has overcome and through Him, we have overcome. We give thanks because we have authority in the name of Jesus Christ and no matter what comes our way – we can overcome it.

On this Thanksgiving Day, praise God and give Him thanks for everything He has done for you and because of Him, we overcome in all things.