A Devotional Guide to Pray With Gratitude During the Thanksgiving SeasonSample

THANK YOU, GOD, FOR CREATING THE LAND, THE SEAS, THE PLANTS AND TREES!

• On the third day, the dry land, seas, plants, and trees were created.

What would we do without the land where farmers grow acres and acres of crops?  The land produces food for us to be able to survive.  

Who doesn’t feel peace when they sit near a sea and listen to the waves crash to the shore? We become mesmerized by the ebb and flow of the water. Many people take cruises for vacation, but the seas are also a form of transportation to ship things from country to country. They also contain sea life, that provides yet another source of food for us.

With the land and water, plants and trees can grow and fill our world. Botanic Gardens Conservation International has come up with a solid number: 60,065 tree species exist globally. There are also about 391,000 species of vascular plants currently known to science, of which about 369,000 species (or 94 percent) are flowering plants, according to a report by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in the United Kingdom.

"And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. God called the dry ground land and the gathered waters He called ‘seas.’ And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.  And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day." Genesis 1:9-13 NIV

I don’t know if all those facts wow you like they do me, but we sure have a lot to thank God for:

• the creativity in the earth

• the land we have to grow crops 

• the harvest of crops that allows us to have food

• the water in the seas

• the many uses of the seas - for transportation, recreation, food, and more

• the abundance of trees and plants that help with climate change. As they grow, they remove carbon dioxide from the air, store carbon in trees and soil, and release oxygen into the atmosphere. Trees also give us lumber to build homes, and some species produce food for both humans and animals. 

Father God, 

I come to you this day with thanksgiving for what You created on the 3rd day! Father, may we never take for granted that we can walk on solid ground every day of our life and that land allows us to go from one place to the next. Father, we thank You that it provides a wealth of food for people all over the world. We thank You, Lord, for the beautiful seas. Oh, how beautiful it is to sit by the water and watch its motion!  We see Your power in the waves. We thank You that the water provides so many benefits for us. We thank You for all the trees and plants that are before us each day. Their limbs seem to reach toward the heavens! The leaves clap in the wind giving You praise! In Jesus' Name, Amen.