Gratitude Shows!
Good Morning My Loves,
Today we pause with grateful hearts and thank our Heavenly Father for the bounty of abundant blessings that we have received from Him. We pray, eat, play, and enjoy our family Thanksgiving traditions. But, did you know that God didn’t want us to do this once a year, but every day? He wants us to follow Christ Jesus, draw life and strength from Him, live the abundant life that He died to give us, and be a people of continual thanksgiving! God knew that gratitude was a key element in sustaining the health of our mind, body, soul, and relationship with Him. The benefits of gratitude have been scientifically proven to improve ones mental and physical health. How much more our spiritual health? Actually, our mental and physical health are a direct reflection of how our spiritual health is doing. Everything stems from the spirit realm. Colossians 2:6-7 (ERV)
Continue to Follow Christ Jesus (Pay attention to the sub-titles)
6 You accepted Christ Jesus as Lord, so continue to live following him. 7 You must depend on Christ only, drawing life and strength from him. Just as you were taught the truth, continue to grow stronger in your understanding of it. And NEVER STOP GIVING THANKS TO GOD. -Gratitude is not a feeling, it’s a choice. -Gratitude is not just verbal affirmation, it’s showing Christ that we appreciate His sacrifice to give us everlasting life by: -Being good followers who love Him and his Word, and that do not love the world, but forsake it.
-Loving, obeying, trusting, and worshipping Him regardless of what we experience along the way.
-Maintaining a devotional and prayer life.
-Appreciating His amazing love and unmerited grace, by not using it as a sheer license to go on sinning, but allowing His grace to empower us to walk away from ungodly behaviors and lifestyles that do not bring Him glory.
-Never forgetting what He did at the cross, by taking communion and fellowshipping with Him from a heart of true reverence.
-Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together with His Body aka-the Church.
-Telling others about Him. Sharing the Good News of the gospel, which is salvation through Him, and by his grace alone.
-Being loving, generous, and giving sacrificially to others as He has done for us.
Ingratitude always manifests in a breakdown of our relationship with Christ. When we stop being grateful:
-We no longer have a devotional and prayer life. -We abuse His grace by using it as a license to go on sinning.
-We love the world more than the Word.
-We stop worshipping Him at the first sign of difficulty.
-We grumble and complain, rather than praise and worship Him. This complaining causes a breakdown in our spiritual, mental, and physical health, where gratitude causes our spiritual, mental, and physical health to improve!
-We no longer stop to appreciate what He did at the cross.
-We no longer desire fellowship with Him through communion or His Body aka-the Church.
-We don’t share the Good News of the gospel, but instead talk about anything and everything but Jesus.
-We become stingy and hardhearted.
-We leave ourselves wide open to the devil to kill, steal, and destroy us.
LET’S NEVER STOP GIVING THANKS TO GOD. First of all, we can’t afford the negative results of ingratitude. We need our relationship with Christ to remain strong, so that we might continue to draw life and strength from Him. There is so much joy and life that comes from our gratitude. We not only need it, those around us need it as well. Let’s not be those who only verbally express our thanks, but those that SHOW IT!
On a final note: I am deeply grateful for each of you. You have blessed my life in indescribable ways. I feel that my words are inadequate to express what’s in my heart, but I want to say thank you for your prayers, love, and support. My life has been indelibly marked by your love and friendship.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING! I love you all! PV
