THE ATTITUDE OF THANKSGIVING
EPHESIANS 5:19&20
Thanksgiving goes beyond just taking time out to sing praises and worship God on a daily basis. As good as that is, it is more than that.
Thanksgiving is an attitude, it is a heart positioning. Having a grateful heart towards God at all times.
The Psalmist said I will enter His gate with thanksgiving, then he went on to say I will enter His court with praise,Psalm 100:4.This is quite revealing and it illustrates exactly what I am talking about.
Thanksgiving is first a heart attitude, it is from this heart attitude that the second action spring from, praise. Praise is a verbal expression of thanksgiving.
Today, my emphasis will be on thanksgiving as an heart attitude not only as verbal expression.
When the heart is positioned right, praise is the automatic response. Luke 6:45 says "A good man out if the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil, for of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaketh.
When you have an attitude of thanksgiving, it is not only what you say but what you live. You get this attitude by focusing your attention on every small small good things that God has done or doing in your life and that of others or around you, Phillipians 4:8.
When you begin to focus your attention on the small things, you will begin to see the big things, Ephesians 5:20 .
If you trek from your house to the main road without having an accident, thank God for it. If a friend buy you a #50 naira snack, thank God for it.
If you sleep and wake up the next day, thank God for it. If you go two days at a stretch without having a headache or body pain, thank God for it.
You were peeling yam and the knife narrowly missed cutting your finger, it is the Lord's doing, thank Him for it. That is exactly what happened to someone and he died.
Every good gift and every perfect gift comes from above and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness neither shadow of turning, James 1:17.
A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven, John 3:27. Many of us have been enjoying the favour of God everyday but because it is in small small matters we take it for granted.
We are waiting for the day someone will give us a major assistance or help like get us a job or give us a car or house before we regard it as favour from God.
If we never learn to thank God for small small things we will never cultivate the heart attitude of thanksgiving.
It takes deliberate effort on our part to always thank God for everything before it will later become our automatic heart response.
Some of us when we go to church it will still take many many examples from the Pastor before we can remember something to thank God for.
It is because we don't already have the attitude of thanksgiving, so we need somebody to work upon our memory and emotions to generate that heart of gratitude and once we leave that environment we go back to complaining and grumbling about everything that is not working in our lives again.
Train your eyesight to always focus on what is good in your life. I remember sometime ago there was this person that always remind of what is not yet working in my life and everytime the person did that, I always begin to get discouraged.
I always countered back with even though I may not be there yet, God has really been so good to me. Not just to get something to say back but because that is the truth.
That response always strengthen my faith because at that moment I begin to remember the so many ways God has been good and faithful to me. Where I was and where I am, who I used to be then and who I am now.
Don't just praise God in songs for 30mins or 1hr everyday as a religious routine and go back to complaining the rest of the day.
Let thanksgiving be your default heart attitude throughout the day. It doesn't mean you will be singing all through the day but there will always be a melody in your heart.
Your heart will always be indicting a good matter, Psalm 45:1. Praising God will no longer be a boring routine, it will be spontaneous, something that comes straight from your heart to God.
That way, you will always have a melody in your heart, ready at all times to sing to God, Psalm 42:8.
You don't have to think and think hard before you come up with a song to praise God. You will praise God many times unconsciously than you do consciously that way and it will be frequent, Ephesians 5:19.
Take time out to always meditate on the goodness of God in your life and that of others, it will birth in you an attitude of thanksgiving.
Anything short of you being born again and living a life of holiness and purity hurt Jesus so much. But you can make things right here and now by saying this simple prayer and mean it genuinely from your heart:
Lord Jesus I come to you today. I acknowledge that I am a sinner and I cannot help myself. I repent of all my sins and I forsake them. Jesus, I invite you into my life, be my Lord, be my Saviour.
Wash me by your precious blood, forgive my sins and write my name in the book of life. From this day, I promise to follow you all the rest of my life. Help me Lord, in Jesus name, Amen. Congratulations you are now born again!
PEACE
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