Thanksgiving is coming and I always like to have my kids look up Bible verses that have to do with being thankful. So I decided to do something a little different this year. I have found 42 verses (I know there are a lot more) from the Bible for them. I am going to put the reference on an index card. I am then going to put the kids in groups and give each group some index cards that I have written references on.
The kids in their groups will look up the verses and read them aloud to their group. I will write the following questions on the board for the kids to look for in their verse to get a better idea of what it is saying. (Note that they will not be able to answer every question with each verse)
- Who is being thankful?
- Who are they thankful for? (this will be in every verse)
- Why are they thankful?
- What are they doing because of their thankfulness? (example: praising)
The kids can answer the questions and write the answers onto the cards. After all of the verses have been looked up and questions answered, have the children sort their cards between being thankful for/to God and being thankful for others.
Another idea to use these verses is to write the references on leaf cutouts. Then the children can answer the questions on the leaf and then the leaves could be used on a bulletin board. Here is a PDF version of this same list.
Thankfulness Bible Verses
- 2 Samuel 22:50 – Therefore I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the Gentiles, and sing praises to Your name.
- 1 Chronicles 16:8 – Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; make known His deeds among the people!
- 1 Chronicles 29:13 – Now therefore, our God, we thank You and praise your glorious name.
- Ezra 3:11 – And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord: “For He is good, for His mercy endures forever toward Israel.” Then all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.
- Psalm 7:17 – I will praise the Lord according to His righteousness, and will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.
- Psalm 13:6 – I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me.
- Psalm 26:7 – That I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all Your wondrous works.
- Psalm 30:4 – Sing praise to the Lord, you saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.
- Psalm 30:11&12 – You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothes me with gladness, to the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.
- Psalm 35:18 – I will give You thanks in the great assembly; I will praise You among many people.
- Psalm 50:14 – Offer to God thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High.
- Psalm 68:19 – Blessed by the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits, the God of our salvation!
- Psalm 75:1 – We give thanks to You, O God, for Your wondrous works declare that Your name is near.
- Psalm 79:13 – So we, Your people and sheep of Your pasture, will give You thanks forever; we will show forth Your praise to all generations.
- Psalm 95:2 – Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.
- Psalm 100:4 – Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
- Psalm 119:62 – At midnight I will rise to give thanks to You, because of Your righteous judgments.
- Psalm 136:26 – Oh, give thanks to the God of heaven! For His mercy endures forever.
- Psalm 140:13 – Surely the righteous shall give thanks to Your name; the upright shall dwell in Your presence.
- Psalm 147:7 – Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving sing praises on the harp to our God.
- Isaiah 38:20 – The Lord was ready to save me; therefore we will sing my songs with stringed instruments all the days of our life, in the house of the Lord.
- Jeremiah 30:19 – Then out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of those who make merry; I will multiply them, and they shall not diminish; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.
- Daniel 2:23 – I thank You and praise You, O God of my fathers; You have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of You, for You have made known to us the king’s demand.
- Daniel 6:10 – Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.
- Luke 17:15&16 – And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.
- Romans 6:17 – But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.
- 1 Corinthians 1:4 – I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus.
- 1 Corinthians 15:57 – But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
- 2 Corinthians 2:14 – Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.
- 2 Corinthians 4:15 – For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may, cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.
- Ephesians 1:15&16 – Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers.
- Ephesians 5:20 – Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- Philippians 1:3 – I thank my God upon every remembrance of you.
- Colossians 1:3 – We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you.
- Colossians 2:6&7 – As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.
- Colossians 3:15 – And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.
- Colossians 3:17 – And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
- 1 Thessalonians 1:2 – We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:18 – In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
- 2 Thessalonians 1:3 – We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other.
- 1 Timothy 1:12 – And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry.
- Revelation 7:12 – Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.
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