Gratitude!
What a beautiful word! And when expressed, what a beautiful aroma it will leave.
There might be weeks in your life when there is little gratitude in your hearts. You feel there is not much to be thankful for. At other times, you seem to be overflowing with appreciation and cannot stop thanking Him. Praise God for those moments, because you got a glimpse of who God is and what He wants to be for you and those He created.
Why then those extremes? Why can’t we feel like that all the time? The difference is whether we go by feelings or choice. If we go by feelings, we probably would spout out words we feel bad about later but that did not show much gratitude. If we go by choice, we can choose to Say words of gratitude whether we feel like that or not.
Is that being a hypocrite? Nope! If God would go by His feelings looking at this world, I wonder what words He would say! Thank God, He chooses to Think good thoughts about His creation and so He declares good things over those He knows are or will eventually choose His ways. Just because He knows someone makes a bad choice or will say bad words, does not mean He says bad words or changes His gratitude, of how He knows that life or this whole world will end.
The fault lies not with God. He Himself is a spiritual being full of gratitude who loves to share this with us human beings, which He calls His crowning creation. Here on earth circumstances, friend circles, environment, families, values, and more, can change and does fluctuate. The choices people around you make change. Those choices will affect us positively or negatively. It depends who those people are tuned into which can flip back and forth. If you are a believer in God the Father, In Jesus Christ, His Son and in the Holy Spirit, you also know there is a spiritual being, called Satan. He from the first time man was created, did oppose everything God calls good, beautiful and of the Light. If we do not recognise this opposition and who is there to help us overcome this opposition, our focus becomes dim, clouded and we put the blame where it does not belong. Which is often God. Who gets the blame of what human beings and the evil spiritual forces behind it are doing or plan to do. Men are the key players on this planet to overcome what Satan tries to destroy. Humans are to build, back-up and restore what this evil creature and his followers have destroyed and continue to tear down. It comes down to us recognising who is at work and what should be our response. We choose to be proactive in what we know will happen because we picked up the hints and tips and signals the Holy Spirit on time. Often men are too slow to pick them up (if at all) because we are so busy with our own lives, gadgets and problems. In all this our focus unknowingly becomes Satan’s playbook because now he can move and get his way because no one speaks up against the wrongdoing going on.
What should be our strategy? Number 1- Know God’s playbook! Study God’s word yourself and learn to understand what He says to you from His Word. When you open the book it is your life. Study it and put it into practice. Number 2- If something happened that is not as you wanted it, or was beyond your capacity and has become harmful or had negative consequences for you and others, respond with praise to God and worship. Number 3- Focus on something you can be thankful for. Did you wake up today? Are you still breathing? Start with that. Number 4-Have a little plastic jar on your desk with some sticky notes and put on there: “Thanksgiving jar 2024. My thank you stickers as a remembrance to Him”. Number 5- Focus on your true identity. Know who you are. Learn to boldly say: I know who I am! I am a child of God and I am born again. God’s Spirit lives inside of me and I am here on assignment”
There is so much confusion these days with peoples’ identity. How do you see yourself? How do you identify yourself? How do you relate to a God you cannot see?
How we should see ourselves is “made in the image of God” .
Our identity should be based on what He made us after we are born again. This means we gladly accepted He lived on this earth as God incarnate, died for us in our place but rose again for us so His Spirit can be put inside of our spirit and be made new. We boldly declare this and we live as a reflection of Jesus Christ Himself. We are what Jesus is and so are we in this world. We will find out from scripture how He lived and do likewise.
How we relate to Him is as a son or daughter to their father. That means true relationship. You got someone you can put your trust Him, you can talk with, you can get answers from.
How? Through his written Word and through His voice: The Holy Spirit.
Find out what you are here on this earth for. Whether you like it or not, we are all on assignment. The choices are: God’s assignment or the Satan’s assignment. What about your own assignment? Not there. Assignments either line up with one or the other.
One leads to life, the other to death. One gives true peace and joy and fulfilment and is eternal. The other is temporary and gives no true peace, no joy and definitely no fulfilment except of self gratification.
Choose to be grateful: Worship Him and show His true face to the world.
Akhrienuo
