Thanksgiving Devotional Ideas – And a Family Devotional

Thanksgiving Devotional Ideas:

• Take turns reading specific verses praising God for His character and greatness. You could have each person come to the table with a verse, or write the verses ahead of time on name cards (or put them all in a bowl and draw them out one by one).
• Sing songs of thanksgiving and praise.
• Name specific characters from the Bible and discuss how they praised God by the way they lived and handled trials.
• Study aspects of the history of the Thanksgiving holiday, looking at God’s hand and provision and the pilgrim’s response. You may find the resources compiled on Wilkes Team Blog a good place to start.

One wonderful way to prepare for Thanksgiving is to do a daily devotional on God’s character. Below’s an excerpt from The God We Praise: A Thanksgiving Devotional on God’s Character that includes a little booklet for children to make as they listen, as well as daily activity suggestions.

Devotional Example – Day 1

In just a few weeks, we will be celebrating Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is supposed to be a day of giving thanks, or praise, to God. So let’s take the next few weeks to learn about God and prepare our hearts to praise Him.

God wants us to know Him, so He gave us a very special book to teach us about Himself—the Bible. The Bible is God’s very Word. We can think of it as a love letter straight from God to us.

In the Bible, God tells us what He’s done and what He will do. He tells us what He is like and what matters to Him. He reveals His character to us and shows us how we can know and praise Him.

Every day for the next twenty days, we will be looking at portions of the Bible and seeing what they teach us about the God we praise.

We can trust what God tells us in the Bible because it is God’s Word, and God never lies. People can lie and deceive us, but God never lies or deceives.

He…does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a man, that he should change his mind. 1 Samuel 15:29

As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. Psalm 18:30

Think About: Since God never lies, we can trust Him and His Word completely. As you go about today, ask God to help you remember to place all your trust in Him and His Word. He alone is worthy of trust.

Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. Psalm 62:8

Prayer: Lord, thank you for being trustworthy. Thank you for your perfect Word. Help me to read it with a heart eager to know you more. Amen.

Book: As we study who God is this month, you will be making your own little book. Every day, you will get to decorate a page in your book. On day 1, you will decorate page 1. On day 2, you will decorate page 2. Some days you will have cut outs to use to complete your page.

Let’s get started right now by decorating the front cover of your book. First you need to title your book. You may want to title your book “The God I Praise,” “Who God Is,” “What I Learned About God,” “Thanksgiving Praise,” or some other title that goes along with the theme about God and who He is. Put your name underneath the title as the book’s author. Next, you’ll want to design your own cover. You can use crayon, markers, or anything you wish to make your cover special.

Now open the book to page 1. Color the Bible to remind you that God reveals Himself to us in His Word, and that God never lies. We can completely trust everything His Word says.

Learn more about this ready-to-go Thanksgiving devotional.

Need Christmas ideas? Check out our Christmas suggestions page as well as our Christmas devotional kit.