Choosing Gratitude--Part 1

Intro:

When was a time in your life when you found it hard to be grateful

When was a time you found it easy to be grateful

When i think of gratefulness i think of times like holidays

Maybe the Christmas present your received

Maybe the days off of school

God wants us to have grateful hearts… this means not being thankful, but living a life of Gratefulness

Let’s look at examples of that

over the next 2 weeks, we’re going to look at 7 stories in scripture of people being thankful in amazing circumstances.

4 of those stories will be tonight.

Story one…Daniel gave thanks no matter what he faced (Daniel 6:10)

Daniel 6:10 ESV

10 When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.

Daniel was captured as a teenager

Prepared for leadership

As soon as he became a leader, men of the city were looking to discredit him

Daniel 6:6–9 ESV

6 Then these high officials and satraps came by agreement to the king and said to him, “O King Darius, live forever! 7 All the high officials of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the counselors and the governors are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an injunction, that whoever makes petition to any god or man for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. 8 Now, O king, establish the injunction and sign the document, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked.” 9 Therefore King Darius signed the document and injunction.

I wonder what Daniel was giving thanks for in verse 10?

He opened his windows, he probably knew they were watching Him

How do we give thanks no matter what we face?

Realize that God is in control…not me

Realize that God will never leave you

Ask God to give you wisdom when it seems hard

Resolve in your mind you will Pursue Gratefulness]

Story two....Jonah gives gratitude for hard consequences that bring repentance (Jonah 2:9)

Jonah’s story is a strange one

Here in the belly of the fish we see Jonah pray an amazing prayer

perhaps at his lowest, he is still giving thanksgiving to God

Jonah 2 ESV

1 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, 2 saying, “I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. 3 For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me. 4 Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’ 5 The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head 6 at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God. 7 When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. 8 Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. 9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!” 10 And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.

We must realize that God uses consequences not to hurt us, but to lovingly show us there is a better way.

Story Three…Hannah gives gratitude to God for being over what He gives

1 Samuel 2:1–2 ESV

1 And Hannah prayed and said, “My heart exults in the Lord; my horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation. 2 “There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.

Hannah was mocked by her husbands other wife for not having a child

Hannah was in anguish

She went to the tabernacle and cried out to God. She promised if she got a son, she would give him back for life long service.

Once he was old enough, Samuel went to live with the priest in Jerusalem

We give thanks to God for what he gives.

We don’t try to hold back what isn’t ours

We realize that every good and perfect gift comes from God and not ourselves

Story Four…Paul gives gratitude in teh midst of a storm

Acts 27 is an adventure chapter

Paul was imprisoned and heading to rome to be in prison.

The ship was in a hurricane

The crew tried to hold the ship together with ropes, then tried to throw things overboard

This storm went on for 14 days!!! The crew went without food for 14 days

ON the 14th day, just before dawn Paul wanted to encourage the men

Acts 27:35 ESV

35 And when he had said these things, he took bread, and giving thanks to God in the presence of all he broke it and began to eat.

That day, 276 men were saved and they found land

Paul gave thanks in the middle of his storm—not after

How do we find the courage to give thanks to God in the middle of the storm?

Remembering his protection at other times

Believing in his love and security now

Hoping in the eternal salvation we will one day have