What to thank God for in 2021

Modern psychological studies have discovered the truthfulness of God’s word when it comes to giving thanks regularly. 

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
– Philippians 4:6

Taking time to thank God stays anxiety and depression, renews our perspective, revives our faith, and gives God the praise He is due. 

What can we thank God for, while we also mourn our current state and seek a spiritual change? 

1. Thank God for His manifold mercies.

Every good thing that God has done for each person individually and for humanity as a whole is an expression of His mercy. That’s how Paul sums up God’s redemption in Christ in Romans 12:1, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice.” 

Thank God for creation, for all His acts in the Old Testament, for sending His Son, for Jesus’ perfect life, death, and resurrection, for the Holy Spirit’s coming, for saving you, for working in your life, for keeping His promising, and for coming back again.

2. Thank God for His amazing work in our nation’s past.

America has one of the greatest histories of Christian awakenings and revivals. No nation is a perfect Christian nation, but the US has been profoundly shaped by God’s work in the First and Second Great Awakenings and the Businessmen’s Revival, not to mention hundreds of local and regional works of God. America has helped to evangelize the entire world, thanks to missionaries who began to span the globe in the 1800s. Although we now export more godless messages than godly ones today, we can still praise God for the faithful Christian leaders He raised up in our country’s past and for shedding His grace so liberally on us.

3. Thank God for His present patience. 

America has not received the judgment that is due us. God has been long-suffering with us and continues to hold back the full measure of our sins. Thank Him for how He continues to work in our lives, our churches, and our society despite such pervasive wickedness. 

Father, we continue to ask, seek, and knock for a mighty outpouring of Your grace in our lives, our churches, and every sphere of our society. While we do so, we also remember to thank You for Your incredible kindnesses. Your grace abounds more than we will ever realize, and so we will give thanks to You today and every day for all of eternity. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.