Remember To Say Thank You!
I think one of the things that is important to me is for my girl's to be grateful. When they were little we taught them manners, saying please and thank you. As my mom taught me, they were expected to write thank you notes. They still send them and I think that is very important. When they were teenagers I remember thinking how ungrateful they were at times. We would give and give. They would ask and ask. A quick thank you but everything seemed to be taken for granted. Is that why God gave us teens? So we would know how God feels when we take things for granted. Like surviving the hurricane! We pray, pray, pray before the hurricane but do we thank Him after?
What if we wake up and are not grateful for what we find? Or what we lost? God's grace has made it possible for us to thank Him every day for his faithfulness. Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 8: 39, "neither the world above nor the world below—there is nothing in all creation that will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord." This is reason enough for us to give thanks every day! Praise God even when you don't know what he is doing! Psalm 107: 1, "Give thanks to the Lord, because he is good; his love is eternal!" 1 Thessalonians 5: 18, "...be thankful in all circumstances. This is what God wants from you in your life in union with Christ Jesus." Sometimes praise is a sacrifice when we are struggling and weary. Psalm 28: 6, "Praise be to the Lord, for he has heard my cry for mercy."
Jesus taught us to pray, “Father, hallowed be your name” which recognizes God as holy, all-powerful, sovereign over all things. That is how we should being prayer - with praises. This helps us recognize all that God is and all that God has done for us. Before we ask God for something for us or for someone else, we should give God glory and honor. Psalm 92: 1-2,
"How good it is to give thanks to you, O Lord, to sing in your honor, O Most High God, to proclaim your constant love every morning and your faithfulness every night..." We should begin and end each day by giving thanks to God for His love and faithfulness! Psalm 113: 3,
"From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised."
We have busy lives, but we have to make time to praise God throughout the day. The more time we spend praising God, the more we will see ourselves grow and see the whole picture of our circumstances. Praise softens our hearts and makes them pliable for God to work on us. When you spend time with Him during the day, you will have a deeper and more meaningful relationship with Him. Psalm 103: 1, "Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name."
The more we spend time thanking God and being grateful the more we realize we enjoy being in the presence of God. Here are some of the many reasons to give praise to God:
2 Corinthians 9: 8, "And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work." We will always have all of the grace we need!
Philippians 1: 6, "being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."
Romans 6: 23, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in[a] Christ Jesus our Lord."
Galatians 2: 16, "know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified." We do not have to depend on our good works to get us to Heaven!
Hebrews 13: 5, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." He will never leave us!
John 3: 16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." One day we will be with Jesus!
Psalm 16: 11, "You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand." We will spend eternity in pure joy!
No matter our circumstances this morning and before we ask for anything, let's give God the glory! Psalm 103: 2, "Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—"