For this Thanksgiving month I would like to share a study I came across many years ago. I am sorry that I do not remember the author’s name, but the study helped me produce this lesson which I taught to our congregation in Lafayette.

When you begin to search in the Old Testament for examples of Thanksgiving, you find that God so wanted people to be thankful that Nehemiah chapter twelve tells us that God placed six priests in the tabernacle over the duty of doing nothing else but giving thanks unto God. Nehemiah gives the names of these six priests: Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah. Looking at these six priests, we find there is great significance to their names. I believe their names tell us what we should be thankful for.

Jeshua

The first priest of thankfulness is Jeshua. The Hebrew meaning of the name is, “The one who saves”. This name was pointing toward our glorious Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I don’t think this name is mentioned first by accident because, the first thing for which we should be thankful in our lives is the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ! If you have anything to be thankful for today, it should be, first and foremost, that you have Jesus in your life!

Binnui

The second priest of thankfulness is Binnui. In Hebrew, the name means “to make repair”. Not only should we be thankful for our Savior, Jesus, but for the repair, the mending, and the restoration He has brought to our lives!

The Bible describes a leper who was restored by Jesus. He ran, fell at the feet of the Lord, and thanked Him. Jesus asks him, “Were there not ten, where are the nine?” His point was: All ten received, but only one was thankful. So, Jesus turns to the thankful leper and says “Go thy way, thy faith has made you whole”. Thankfulness positions us for wholeness.

Kadmiel

The name of the third priest of thankfulness was Kadmiel which means, “The Presence of God”. If you are able to feel the presence of God, you should be thankful. There are many people who have moved so far from the Lord that they wish they could feel what you feel when you so effortlessly enter into the presence of God. There is something special about still being able to feel the presence of the Lord in your life.

• Genesis 4:16 tell us that Cain went out from the presence of the Lord.
• Genesis 28:16 tells us that Jacob awakened out of his sleep, and he said, surely the Lord was in this place, and I knew it not.
• I Samuel 16:14 gives us a candid picture of the Spirit of God departing from Saul because he allowed an evil spirit into his life and was greatly troubled.

Feeling the presence of God in your life is a wonderful blessing. The Psalmist said it best “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; FOR THOU ART WITH ME”! We should be thankful to be able to feel His presence!

Sherebiah

Sherebiah, in Hebrew, means, “The Fire of God”. Somewhere in our thankfulness, we should be able to thank God for the fire.

Malachi talks about the refiner’s fire. The refiner was a metal-smith who heated the metal until it melted so that he could remove the dross or the impurities. The Refiner’s only concern was bringing the gold or the silver to its purest state. The beauty of trust in the Refiner is that he sits before the fire, fixing his eye on the metal, making sure that the heat is not too great, and keeping the metal in the fire only until he sees his own image reflected. When he sees his own reflection, he knows the dross is completely removed.

We don’t need to curse the fire. We need to thank the refiner, because He’s controlling the heat that causes impurities to come to the top so He can see His reflection in our lives. God prepares you for the great things He has planned for you by tempering and testing you in the situations of life. That’s why the apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Thessalonians, “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you”. Be thankful that the refiner is removing things that will stand in the way of His anointing and His power in your life!

Judah

The priest of Judah was symbolic of our “Praise unto God”. It’s no coincidence that praise comes after the fire, because the fire is the true birthing place of real praise.

Notice the connection between the fire and praise:

1 Peter 1:7: “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto PRAISE and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ”.

Mattaniah

The last priest mentioned is Mattaniah which means, “Gift of God”. If there is anything we should be thankful for, it’s the Gift of the Holy Ghost!

1 Timothy 4:14 reminds us, “Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery”.

His Spirit is the most precious gift we could ever receive in our lives! 2 Corinthians 9:15 calls it an “unspeakable gift”. We must be thankful for the Holy Ghost in our lives!

MISSION LOUISIANA

As we approach one year and three months of giving to Mission Louisiana, we celebrate an incredible total of $1,415,521! We are just a little over one million dollars away from the total cost of our New Boys’ Dorm which will sleep 280.

THANK YOU, Louisiana pastors and congregations, for your faithful giving to the upgrading of our Louisiana District Campgrounds. Let’s continue to give to make sure our campgrounds remain a place where God can touch generations.