While the Thanksgiving holiday may be (for most people... including most of us) an occasion for traveling, gathering, and eating, for God's people, this season is also a great opportunity for worship, and to serve as a reminder of the grateful posture we should have all year long. Here are ten helpful verses to inspire thanksgiving in those who now know the Giver through Jesus...

1 Chronicles 16:34--Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever! This is the most common expression of thanks in Scripture, found in sixteen different verses throughout the Old Testament (1 Chronicles 16:41; 2 Chronicles 7:3, 6; 20:21; Ezra 3:11; Psalm 106:1; 107:1; 118:1, 29; 136:1, 2, 3, 26; 138:2; Jeremiah 33:11).

Psalm 7:17--I will give to the LORD the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the LORD, the Most High. Before thanking God for what he's done, we should first thank God for who he is.

Psalm 9:1--I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. As you consider your “whole” life and God's “wonderful deeds” for you, ask God to help you bring your “whole” heart to an attitude of gratitude.

Psalm 50:23--”The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me...” Our ultimate aim and comfort in giving thanks as a regular act of worship is to glorify the God to whom we are grateful.

Psalm 57:9--I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations. Our giving thanks to God should be both private and public, that God might be glorified in all things.

Isaiah 12:1--You will say in that day: “I will give thanks to you, O LORD, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me.” The prophet's words powerfully point us forward to Jesus, who drank the cup of God's anger (Matthew 26:39) that we might experience God's incomparable comfort forever.

Romans 1:21--For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him... If Paul is describing here the essential impulses of sin, then giving thanks to God is foundational to the ideal for which we were created (and from which all of us have strayed).

Philippians 4:6--...do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Giving thanks to God is one of the ways we experience God's peace in anxious times, as we rehearse in our gratitude God's commitment to care for all our needs.

1 Corinthians 15:57--But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. There is no greater reason to give thanks than the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, since through his “victory” our greatest need has been met and we are eternally reconciled to our great God, the Giver of “every good gift and every perfect gift” (James 1:17).

1 Thessalonians 5:18--...give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Because nothing can change the victory of Jesus, or separate us from his love (Romans 8:38-39), no matter the hardships we face, there is never not a reason to be grateful before the One who has redeemed us for a life of sincere thanksgiving.