How can we have a great weekend and return to work rested and ready for a wonderful week? I suggest that we turn the usual TGIF into Thank God in Faith. When each day and situation is met with Thanking God in faith, your attitude, outlook, and outcome will be changed. When your weekend is spent in thanking God in faith with other worshippers of the Lord you receive a vitality, vision, and victory from God to take you through the week with joy and anticipation. A week without God makes one weak and weary.

Each day and situation that you face, thank God in faith. The Apostle Paul discovered that this was a key to continual joy and in turning setbacks into victories. “Always be joyful. Keep on praying. No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus” (I Thessalonians 5:16-22 NLT). Giving thanks to God will strengthen your soul.

I read about a well-known theology professor in Scotland who during the last few years of his life lost all memory of his past. While remaining cordial to former university colleagues who came to visit, he had no idea that they had taught together and had been friends. But despite his memory loss, he never forgot to give thanks to God.

One friend recalled that whenever a member of the nursing home staff brought a snack, the professor would exclaim, “This calls for a prayer!” Then, bowing his head, he would say with deep feeling, “Praise God forever and ever. Amen.”

Is thankfulness ingrained that deeply in our hearts? While our minds are intact, are we developing the habit of giving thanks to God? One way you can begin is to read Psalm 100 aloud. Do it every morning and every evening for one week. “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him and bless His name” (Psalm 100:4). With meaningful repetition the practice of saying thanks will become a habit of the heart.

Thank God in faith. Faith is the key to God’s abundant life of joy and peace. Paul was concerned that his friends in Thessalonica would remain strong in their faith. He writes to them, "We have been greatly comforted, dear brothers and sisters, in all our crushing troubles and suffering because you have remained strong in your faith"”(I Thessalonians 3:5-9 NLT). Faith in God enables us to thank Him even when troubles come our way.

When the writers of the New Testament spoke about faith, they usually pointed to Abraham as an example. God met with Abraham and invited him to leave his homeland and go to a place that God would show him. (See Genesis 12:1-7.) “It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going.”

I’ve noticed that when God wants to do something in my life, He many times tells me to leave something behind. It could involve leaving an attitude, a comfort zone, or perhaps some sin. Abraham believed God’s promises and obeyed. Are there some things God is telling you to lay down, to leave behind?

Before Abraham saw the things that God had promised him, he built an altar by thanking God in faith. (See I Thessalonians 5:18.) Worship will release God’s presence, peace, and power to flow into your life. (See Genesis 12:8.)

The Apostle Paul, a great man of God, often referred to himself as “the chiefest of sinners” (I Timothy 1:15). He constantly expressed his gratefulness that Jesus came into the world to save a sinner such as he. He was so happy that he exclaimed, “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” (I Corinthians 9:15 NASB).

Have you received the gift of salvation through Christ with thanks and faith? You can do so today:

A - Admit you have sinned. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)

B - Believe in Jesus. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

C - Confess and leave your sin. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)