CULTIVATE THANKSGIVING

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Various passages within the message.

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Today is Thanksgiving in the United States and I wanted to take a short pause from our study of the Book of Numbers to honor the holiday and help us celebrate it properly. In praying over this message, the Holy Spirit led me to this title, “Cultivate Thanksgiving”.

The idea here is that in order to live with a pervasive attitude of gratitude in life, we need to be intentional about creating the right personal, spiritual environment to abide in. We have to cultivate the soil of our soul so to reap a harvest of thanks unto our Lord.

Here are six actions I believe we can take to help us to that end.

1. Count your blessings.

Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all His benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. Psalm 103:1-5

There’s an old saying I have always held onto. It goes like this:

Count your blessings and when you finish, start counting over again.

Indeed, we should never take for granted all that the Lord has provided and done for us. As David exhorts in the 103rd Psalm, we should “forget not all His benefits” before he goes on to specifically name a few, encouraging his readers to remember that the Lord is the One who:

1. Forgives all sin.

2. Heals all diseases.

3. Redeems lives from the pit (aka Hell).

4. Crowns believers with love and compassion.

5. Satisfies desires with good things.

6. Renews us and allows us to soar on the wings of eagles (also see Isaiah 40:28-31).

All of us could maybe add other items to this list as we consider how abundantly the God has blessed our respective lives. From the simplicity of giving us air to breathe and a heart that beats, to bringing us health and life, to providing us shelter, clothing, and food, and for the gift of family and friends to love and be loved by. Indeed, there is no shortage of things we can be grateful for and when we do count our blessings regularly, we cultivate thanksgiving in our heart and mind.

2. Acknowledge the Lord’s goodness and love.

Let them give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love and His wonderful deeds for mankind. Psalm 107:21

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever. Psalm 118:1, 1 Chronicles 16:34

For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving. 1 Timothy 4:4

Over and over again, the scriptures declare and proclaim the goodness of our God, calling on believers to give thanks for “His unfailing love” that “endures forever” and “His wonderful deeds for mankind”. This Lord of goodness is always working things for the good of those who love Him, those who have been called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28) so let us always work to grow a constant response of thanks for all the Lord has done, all He is doing, and all He is still yet to do.

3. Worship the Lord and sing songs of praise unto Him.

I will give thanks to the Lord because of His righteousness; I will sing the praises of the name of the Lord Most High. Psalm 7:17

I will praise God’s name in song and glorify Him with thanksgiving. Psalm 69:30

Let us come before Him with thanksgiving and extol Him with music and song. Psalm 95:2

If you’re like me, you love Christian music. Whether listening to it when I am driving, at home, in worship at church, or even when I embark on the long walks I enjoy going on, these songs of praise to the Lord always lift up my spirit and nurture an overflowing feeling of gratitude in my soul which leads me to raise my own voice to sing along, extolling and glorifying the Lord in “music and song”.

Maybe the same happens to you.

How important is making Christian music a part of everyday life?

So much so that I post a Christian song of the day on my X ministry and I pray those songs are a rich to your soul as well as an opportunity to lift up your own voice in praise and thanksgiving to the Lord through which all things are possible (Matthew 19:26).  

4. Pray with a spirit of appreciation.

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18a

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Philippians 4:6

Friends, the best and very first wireless communication ever created was prayer which offers every believer an opportunity to personally connect with the Lord of all creation, the Maker and Master of all things, whenever we want to.

When we call on Him, we never have to first go through some divine call center where we’re put on hold before speaking with some prayer customer service agent. No, from the moment we turn to our God in prayer, He is available and ready to listen to us, ever ready to help us discern His will in any and all circumstances. There is nothing we will go through that is too difficult, complex, or complicated for Him to figure out and we can always trust His perfect wisdom and guidance.

Because of this truth, we should easily be able to “rejoice always” and refuse to be “anxious about anything”, instead praying “continually” while allowing thanksgiving to cultivate within as we present our “requests to God”.

In the end translation, no one is there for you like the Lord is and no one else possesses the power He has to take care of any problem we might be facing. All we need to do is trust Him and be appreciative for all He is, all He’s been, and all He is still to be in our lives.

5. Be generous to others.

You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. 2 Corinthians 9:11

As Christians, we should hopefully come to understand right away that Jesus calls us to a life of self sacrifice, not self service. His own life was defined by His constant willingness to place the needs of other before His own and He did so all the way to Calvary’s cross.

And so each day, we have the chance to do likewise and be generous to others, to share of the Lord’s great enrichment unto our lives with them. For when it comes down to it, there’s never a bad occasion to extend charity to others and the scriptures tell us that generosity cultivates and generates “thanksgiving to God”.

Jesus called us to care for those that society might view as “the least of these” (Matthew 25:31-40) and when we do, we reflect His compassion, caring, and giving, allowing others to see His light through what we do, an experience that can and will initiate their own praise towards Him.

6. Respond to God’s will.

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Ultimately, the scriptures make it clear that it’s God’s will for us to always be thankful and if God expects it, then we need to meet His expectations, responding to His call with obedience while exercising the first five actions in this message so to cultivate thanksgiving in our lives each and every day.

Amen. 

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.