{"id":7165,"date":"2025-11-27T15:37:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T21:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/?p=7165"},"modified":"2025-11-27T15:37:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T21:37:08","slug":"thanking-god-for-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/thanking-god-for-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Thanking God for life…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Gratitude is essential to the life of faith… We read in the Torah: \u201cAnd you shall bless the LORD your God for the good\u201d (Deut. 8:10). Whenever we derive benefit or enjoyment from something we are to bless (i.e., thank) God for his goodness. Indeed the Hebrew term for gratitude is “hakarat tovah” (\u05d4\u05b7\u05db\u05bc\u05b8\u05e8\u05b7\u05ea \u05d8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4), a phrase that means “recognizing the good.” The heart looks through the eye, and therefore how we see is ultimately a spiritual decision: “If your eye is “single” (i.e., \u1f01\u03c0\u03bb\u03bf\u1fe6\u03c2, sincere, focused),” Yeshua said, “your whole body will be filled with light” (Matt. 6:22). When we see rightly, we are awakened to God’s Presence in the little things of life, those small miracles and \u201csigns and wonders\u201d that constantly surround us. The good eye of faith sees hundreds of reasons to bless God for the precious gift of life (1 Cor. 10:31).<\/p>\n

\u201cGive thanks to the LORD for He is good; his love endures forever” (Psalm 136:1); \u201cGive thanks to the LORD always\u201d (Col. 3:17; Eph. 5:20; 1 Thess. 5:18)… Gratitude is foundational to our lives as followers of Yeshua. Indeed there are really only two prayers we ever offer to God, namely \u201cHelp, LORD!\u201d and \u201cThank you, LORD.\u201d Meister Eckhart once remarked that if the only prayer you said in your entire life was, “thank you,” that would suffice… Genuine prayer ultimately resolves to an expression of thanks. We are to “praise the Bridge that carries us over” into the Presence and Love of God, and that Bridge is Yeshua our Lord.<\/p>\n

The \u201cthank offering\u201d mentioned in the Torah (i.e., zevach ha-todah<\/em>: \u05d6\u05b6\u05d1\u05b7\u05d7 \u05d4\u05b7\u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05d3\u05b8\u05d3) is also mentioned in the New Testament. In the Book of Hebrews were are instructed to \u201ccontinually offer up a sacrifice of thanks (\u05d6\u05b6\u05d1\u05b7\u05d7 \u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05d3\u05b8\u05d4) to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his Name\u201d (Heb. 13:15). It is interesting to note that the Greek verb used to \u201coffer up\u201d (i.e., \u1f00\u03bd\u03b1\u03c6\u1f73\u03c1\u03c9) is used to translate the Hebrew verb \u201cto draw near\u201d (karov<\/em>) in Leviticus. In other words, the \u201coffering up of thanks\u201d for the sacrifice of Yeshua functions as \u201ckorban\u201d and draws us near to God. Thanking God for personal deliverance constitutes \u201cright sacrifices\u201d (\u05d6\u05b4\u05d1\u05b0\u05d7\u05b5\u05d9\u05be\u05e6\u05b6\u05d3\u05b6\u05e7) as we draw near to God in the hope of His love (Psalm 4:5; Heb. 7:19).
\n\u00ad<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u00ad
\n\u00ad<\/p>\n