Recently, I heard much sharing about thankfulness in our church. Our members testified we should not forgot God’s grace and other members’ sacrifice and love and service. Rather than complaining, we have many things to give thanks to God. I agreed with them very much. And I found when I focus on myself, on my need, on my feeling, it’s very difficult to be thankful, but when I focus on God and others, I could see much grace and what I have had, I really need repent and learn to keep a thankful heart before God.
Amen. It’s not easy to keep a thankful heart in our life. We really need the help of Holy Spirit, than we can remember God’s grace and the amazing salvation He gave us.
I remember The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16) Those came who were hired first became angry for the master gave the same money to those who were hired last. They thought it was unfair. But the fact is the master did as he promised. And everyone of them received the grace, otherwise they would stand there and have no work to do. But those who were hired first lost the thankful heart, but be jealous of those who got more grace.
There is value in going through the motions even if the feelings aren’t there. Choosing to thank God even if you don’t feel like it and are actually more stressed than thankful can be an important first step in having your heart opened to true gratitude.
It is not easy to give thanks in every circumstance.But when we choose to thank God in the midst of difficulty, it defeats the forces of darkness in the spiritual realm. When we thank God for every gift He has given us even when things are hard, the enemy loses the battle against us. He is stopped in his tracks when we come to God with a thankful hear
very thankful that you realize this problem, we always focus on ourselves and our needs, our feelings. But Faith is to put God in the center and in any situations think about His will and His heart for us.
In my life, when I’m overwhelmed by many stuffs, I can’t give thanks to God. But I will come back to God asap to share my experience, my feelings and whisper His Name.
I remember a few years ago we did a training on gratitude, that is, writing three things a day to be grateful seven days a week. A week later I found a lot of thanks. I think this is a good training. You can also try.
You can also pray more thanks.
When we look at our own deficiencies and lacks, we will easily complain, but look at what we already have, what God has given, and take these things to thank God.
