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By Pastor Chuck Swindoll

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Praise God Every Day of the Year

“Thanksgiving is a holiday, but praise fits every day of the year. And when you praise Him, not as you should, but as you must, it is remarkable how it changes your whole perspective. The mountains aren’t nearly as high. The obstacles aren’t nearly as intimidating. The people aren’t nearly as ornery. The tests aren’t nearly as deep and severe. And the future is amazingly bright.

Praise God for the Godly

“Think of the godly ones who have marked your life. Parents, mentors, teachers, authors, pastors, missionaries, laymen and women, neighbor, grandparent. On Thanksgiving Day, give God praise for the godly ones. He even reserves a psalm for the death of the godly ones as the Lord brackets them with the word ‘precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His godly ones.’ Give Him praise for those who have whetted your appetite for godliness. They are the ones, as Hebrews 11 writes, ‘of whom the world is not worthy.’ But they’ve moved you into the direction you would not otherwise have gone.”

Let Praise Fill Your Heart

“This Thanksgiving season, give God praise, great praise. Name Him in your praise. Name His works in your praise. Name His Word in your praise. Go through His characteristics, His attributes in your praise. Let His praise fill your mind and heart, and the Psalms will help guide you through it.”

Praise God for These Benefits

“‘He heals the brokenhearted’ (Psalm 147:3). You have one of those? ‘He binds up the wounds.’ You have one of those? He’s a God, verse 5, of abundant strength. Are you weak? Losing hope? Beginning to be filled with doubt? Knees starting to shake? The Lord supports the afflicted, verse 6 tells us.”

Praise God for His Sovereign Will

“Thank You, our Father, for preserving the words of the psalmist. Thank You for not letting us know who wrote them, so that we might be lost in the expressions of inspired writing. Forgive us, our Father, for the wasted days preoccupied with ourselves, our losses, our disappointments, what we call our tragedies, forgetting all the while that ‘our God is in the heavens; He is doing what He pleases.’ ‘And all the inhabitants of the earth are as nothing, and You do according to Your will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth and no one can stay your hand or stay unto You, ‘What are you doing?’’ (Daniel 4:35). May we learn in these years at this school to adjust our lives to Your agenda. And then may we spend our years full of adoration and praise.”

Additional Resources

First, sign up for our Chuck’s Insights on Ministry email where we bring you his best thoughts on preaching, leadership, and ministry each week. By signing up, you’ll instantly receive a one-page checklist with 20 preaching insights from Chuck. See this page’s sidebar.

Second, check out our new Preach The Word articles and video series on YouTube where we’re teaching Chuck’s best insights on this important calling.

Third, listen to Chuck’s messages to those in ministry through our Seminary Chapels page. For decades, he offered students at Dallas Theological Seminary his best thoughts on church leadership and ministry. Now, we have put them at your fingertips. Also, you can find them through this YouTube playlist we created for you.

Fourth, if you don’t own a copy of Chuck’s book on preaching, Saying It Well, we highly recommend you add it to your library. It’s his preaching memoir that is also like a practical preaching manual. You won’t be able to put it down.

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