“Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart!”

“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

1 Thessalonians 5:18

“By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.  Hebrews 13:15

In an earlier blog, I talked about the “Prayer Closet”. In which I encourage one to find a place and make that your “Prayer Closet” and seek Our Heavenly Father on daily bases. It is good to retreat to our special place and seek His face through out the day, for we were created to hunger after God and to commune with Him.

We know Our Heavenly Father is a good God and He loves to bless us His children. In Matthew 7:7-8, it says,  “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:  For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened”. Then in Matthew 7:9-11, Jesus states the following, “Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

We as His children love going to Our Heavenly Father in prayer to ask Him to bless us or ask Him to grant the desires of our heart. For we know that nothing is impossible with God. He like any good father loves to shower blessings on us, but the only problem is our prayers are self-center and they are selfish too. We come consume with our own selfish desires that we fail to see the whole picture. We love to flee into our prayer closet and fall on our knees and shoot our mouth off like gallant gun and saying ‘give me this or give me that.” By hearing this prayer, one cannot help to witness how selfish our prayers are.

But what Our Heavenly Father desires for us to have a broken spirit and a contrite heart. He also desires for us to have a thankful and grateful heart. He loves it when we kneel or sit before Him and express our gratitude for all that He has done for us. When we praise Him our prayers ceases to be self-center because we are focusing on Him. When we praise Him, Our Heavenly Father’s heart is moved to a greater passion. It is easier to bless someone who grateful for all blessings they have. On a personal note, I as a father love blessing my children, but I love even more when show their gratitude, because it moves me to shower them even more.

One would ask why we should have a grateful heart and the answer is simple. He loved us first and He sent us His only begotten Son to save us and He redeem and us from the fall. Jesus died on the cross to pay the bill for our sins. His death cancelled out our debt and gave us the gift of eternal life. These two gifts alone should cause us to bless Him and praise Him. Like it says in Psalm 150:1-6  “PRAISE ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness. Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp Praise him with the tumbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs. Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals .Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD”. This psalm is telling us to praise Him with our whole being. Our praise should be “Thank you Lord for giving me Your Son and loving me enough to redeem me and for forgiving me for all of my sins. Each day of our lives should be like celebrating Christmas and Easter in one.

We should be grateful for all blessings that He has given us. Such as our families, our homes, our jobs, our health, our victories and the list can go on. We should be grateful even the situations that we are experiencing, because Our Heavenly Father working something out for us, so we can grow and mature and become person he wants us to be. The lesson can teach us the love the mercy of God and knowing that nothing is impossible with God.

One of my favorite stories in the Bible is in 2 Chronicles 20. The people of Moab and the Ammonites were attacking Judah. They surrounded the city of Jerusalem and planning on destroying it. King Jehoshaphat was consumed with fear and sought God’s face and proclaims a fast for the Land of Judah. The Spirit of the Lord came upon one son’s Levi and told them the battle wasn’t theirs, but God’s. The Lord also told them that there was no need for them to fight this battle and He told them to stand still and see the salvation of God. Then King Jehoshaphat appointed singers unto the Lord. In verse 21 it says: “And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth for ever,” When they began to sing and praise the Lord, the Lord set a ambush against Moab and Ammonites. They were defeated and destroyed. After the battle Judah for three days gathered all spoils.

On personal note, I love to sing and praise God on daily bases. When I praise Him, it lifts up my spirits and makes my day go better. I like sitting in my prayer closet and I will sing various songs and hymns to my Heavenly Father. I also like to make up my own words as I sing and praise. I would like to encourage to take time out your busy day and sit before the Lord and praise Him, I would encourage you to stand still and see God move on your behalf.