Gratitude

This week we are celebrating the Thanksgiving Day holiday. We are thankful for many things. Family, friends, health, the things we enjoy doing like relaxing at home, going to the beach, watching a game and of course, food. But the main reason you and I can be thankful and have gratitude is because we have a God who is amazing and He is the One who created us. We can have a life that always criticizes everything and everyone, or we can choose to live a life filled with gratitude. When we praise God for everything with gratitude every day, life is awesome! When we don’t, life is a major bummer! The opposite of a life of praise with gratitude, is a life of pride with misunderstanding! Gratitude gives us a thankful spirit!

Psalm 139:13–14 NKJV

13 For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. 14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.

We Have Gratitude Because We are a One Off!

You and I are fearfully and wonderfully made. We are one of a kind. There was no one like us or no one after us. You and I are a walking miracle. We were at one time a egg gin our mother’s ovary. A woman carries a million eggs so we are already one in a million.

Psalm 56:10–13 TPT

10 I trust in the Lord. And I praise him! I trust in the Word of God. And I praise him! 11 What harm could man do to me? With God on my side I will not be afraid of what comes. My heart overflows with praise to God and for his promises. I will always trust in him. 12 So I’m thanking you with all my heart, with gratitude for all you’ve done. I will do everything I’ve promised you, Lord. 13 For you have saved my soul from death and my feet from stumbling so that I can walk before the Lord bathed in his life-giving light.

We Have Gratitude Because We are Saved!

God has done it all for us. He has created us. He has saved us from our sin. He has given us the promise to live with Him for eternity. We have so much to be grateful for and we are filled with gratitude!

Colossians 1:9–14 TPT

9 Since we first heard about you, we’ve kept you always in our prayers that you would receive the perfect knowledge of God’s pleasure over your lives, making you reservoirs of every kind of wisdom and spiritual understanding. 10 We pray that you would walk in the ways of true righteousness, pleasing God in every good thing you do. Then you’ll become fruit-bearing branches, yielding to his life, and maturing in the rich experience of knowing God in his fullness! 11 And we pray that you would be energized with all his explosive power from the realm of his magnificent glory, filling you with great hope. 12 Your hearts can soar with joyful gratitude when you think of how God made you worthy to receive the glorious inheritance freely given to us by living in the light. 13 He has rescued us completely from the tyrannical rule of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom realm of his beloved Son. 14 For in the Son all our sins are canceled and we have the release of redemption through his very blood.

We Have Gratitude Because We Have an Inheritance!

God has rescued us from darkness. The Message Bible says it this way, Colossians 1:13–14 (MSG)

God rescued us from dead-end alleys and dark dungeons. He’s set us up in the kingdom of the Son he loves so much,

the Son who got us out of the pit we were in, got rid of the sins we were doomed to keep repeating.

He rescued us! The word rescue means: to free from confinement, danger, or evil. We have gratitude because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.

1 Timothy 2:1–8 TPT

1 Most of all, I’m writing to encourage you to pray with gratitude to God. Pray for all men with all forms of prayers and requests as you intercede with intense passion. 2 And pray for every political leader and representative, so that we would be able to live tranquil, undisturbed lives, as we worship the awe-inspiring God with pure hearts. 3 It is pleasing to our Savior-God to pray for them. 4 He longs for everyone to embrace his life and return to the full knowledge of the truth. 5 For God is one, and there is one Mediator between God and the sons of men—the true man, Jesus, the Anointed One. 6 He gave himself as ransom-payment for everyone. Now is the proper time for God to give the world this witness. 7 I have been divinely called as an apostle to preach this revelation, which is the truth. God has called me to be a trustworthy teacher to the nations. 8 Therefore, I encourage the men to pray on every occasion with hands lifted to God in worship with clean hearts, free from frustration or strife.

Gratitude is an Important Part of Prayer!

Finally, it is important to have gratitude when we pray! We are to pray with all forms of prayer for everyone. We just had an election so we need to pray for all those who will take office. It doesn’t matter if the one you voted for didn’t win, but it is very important to pray for the ones that did win. Why? So we can live in peace and so that they will learn about the true leader, Jesus. So let’s begin to live a life of gratitude!