Gratitude & Thankfulness: Choose Joy

In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God (Philippians 4:6).

As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are given 49 commands by Jesus Christ. The last time I checked in with our military friends, a “command” was not an option. It is something that we must follow and do. Gratitude is a command in which the Bible explicitly instructs believers to be thankful in all circumstances.

We know that God is the source of all good things. We know that we are to pray continuously. We know that God asks us to have a relationship with him. Praying continuously takes our dependence off ourselves and focuses it on the ultimate truth: Jesus Christ, our Lord. Thanksgiving in prayer helps us approach our God in prayer with thanksgiving when we present our prayers and petitions to Him.

Choosing thankfulness and gratitude can help us experience the power of gratitude in their lives. This is imperative on changing one’s perspective from focusing on what’s wrong to instead focusing on the blessings that God provides.

Ways to strengthen our prayer lives: ACTS
A = Adoration
C = Confession
T = Thankfulness
S = Supplication

When we apply ACTS to our prayer lives, we give God the glory, honor, and praise that He is worthy to receive. By confession, we acknowledge that only God is capable of forgiving us of our sins through His Son, Jesus Christ. By thankfulness, we begin to take away the negative in our lives and change our focus on the things that matter most.

One way that we can express thankfulness and gratitude is to share this with others that God puts in our lives words of affirmation (I cannot thank you enough, I’m eternally grateful, you have my deepest thanks). By being intentional in our walks and exercising expression of gratitude and thankfulness to God and to others, we can change focus on the things we do not have or the things that have stolen our joy and instead focus on things that are coming from above.

It is interesting to note that psychologists categorize gratitude as an affective trait, a mood, and an emotion. The trait is a person’s overall tendency to be grateful. A mood here is fluctuations in overall gratitude, and the emotion is more of a temporary feeling of gratitude that might be felt after receiving a gift or favor.

Whether we are looking forward to spending Thanksgiving with our family and loved ones or we find the experience as not a pleasant event, let’s change the latter to a change in our attitude. By being grateful that God has given us another day to choose joy, to be thankful, and to have a heart of gratitude, we can slowly start to see God change our hearts of stone to a heart of gratitude and thankfulness. Colossians 3:15-17: And let the peace of Christ, to which you were also called in one body, rule your hearts. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Blessings to you all!!!