“I am greatly afraid that many professing Christians do not realize what a gross sin it is to complain.” -CH Spurgeon.
So How can we Choose- and it is a choice to develop a new God-honoring habit? Know that it is god’s will and He has supplied His Holy Spirit to EMPOWER you and me and His Word to guide, and strengthen us.”I commend you to God and the Word of HIS GRACE WHICH IS ABLE TO STRENGTHEN YOU…”- {Read Phil 2:13; Rom 12:2; Acts 20:32} . We can change that is the wonderful note of Hope from god’s Word for us-{Read 2 Peter 1:3-4}.
Here is how we change…
By DEVELOPING AND MAINTAINING A THANKFUL HEART. Complaining and critical attitudes are sins against God!
- “Do all things without grumbling and faultfinding and complaining against God”- {Phil 2:14-16 Amplified version}
- “DO NOT judge and criticize and condemn others, so that you may not be judged and criticized and condemned yourselves. “- Matthew 7:1 {Amplified Bible }
God’s Will is for you to be Saying Thanks continually;
It is the will of God for you at this moment irrespective of your circumstances that you be a thankful individual. Paul shows us the marks of a man or woman who are filled under the Spirit of God’s control and as they are one of the evidence is choosing and being thankful to God the Father!
“Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”-{Eph 5:19-21}
Did you know there is no one outside of you who can stop you from making the choice to obey the command to be thankful?
GOD’S WILL; How often we fret and worry and “mystify” God’s will. “What is God’s will for me,” we wonder. Wonder no more. Here is one specific thing God has revealed in His Word, you and I can CHOOSE to do, and that is to obey God. How? Choose to focus on Him and reasons to be thankful! God’s people, including you and me, should be marked by thankfulness, a people who express gratitude, His will is that you and I, be saying thanks continually. I Thessalonians 5:18, “In everything give thanks for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
Thanksgiving Glorifies God.-{LUKE 17:12-19}
Do you remember the story about the 10 lepers when Jesus told them He would heal them? And as they went on their way, they were healed. And one came back, and Jesus said, “Where are the other 9? Has only one returned to glorify God?” How did he glorify God? He was thankful. Philippians 2 says, “do all things without complaining or grumbling.”
The word thanks and joy comes from the same Greek word, and do you know what thanks is? Thanks is joy overflowing.
WHO are we to be Thankful to?
God is to be the focus and object of our Thanksgiving.
Psalm 100:3-4 says, “Give thanks to Him.” God is to be the object of our thanksgiving.
WHAT are we thankful to Him for?
- .-I Chronicles 16:34, we are to be thankful for – His Goodness.
- -I Corinthians 15: 57, we are to be thankful for – His victory.
- -Romans 6:17, we are to be thankful for – salvation.
- – II Thessalonians 1:3, we are to give thanks for – changed lives.
- -Philippians 1:3 we are to give thanks to God for – other Christians.
- – 1 Corinthians 1:4- we are to give thanks for – the grace of God given in Christ Jesus.
- 2 Corinthians 1:11- we are to give thanks for – favor and help giving in answer to prayers
- And we’re to be thankful for – the privilege to distribute the Gospel through giving financially to those who go with the gospel, Philippians 1:5.
- 2 Corinthians 4:15 – for the {Influence of Grace} that is reaching more people that CAUSES thanksgiving to OVERFLOW to the Glory of God.
- – 2 Corinthians 9:12- sacrificial giving in meeting the needs of others is the reason for Thanksgiving
- “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him”- {Colossians 3:17}
When you have an attitude of gratitude, you can’t be a complainer.
One of the evidences of a man or woman who has never been born of the Spirit of God is found in Romans 1:21, it says, “For even though they knew God they did not honor Him or give thanks.”
A thankless individual is a discontent individual, and if this is the bent and practice of your life, you need to go back to number one and cry out and let Him save you. If you are falling back into old habit patterns before He rescued you, then choose to Renew your thinking according to His Word.-{Read Romans 12:1-3} And realize you have the power to Think right-{Phil 4:8} and DO right-{Read Phil 4:9}. Submit to Him to fill {control} you with His Spirit.
The theme in Heaven is Thankfulness.
Revelation 4:9, “and when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sit on the throne.” God’s people on earth are to be thankful people, for I Thessalonians 5:18 it says, “in everything give thanks for this is the will of God for you.”
Anything above hell for the Christian is a privilege because of what Jesus has done, I will never taste eternal damnation. No matter what life brings to me it is not the final chapter because He has written the final chapter in my life, and when He closes my eyes and He stops my heart for the last time, the Bible says to be absent from this body is to be present with the Lord. He will usher me into His presence where with the multitude of the redeemed I may spend eternity in endless praise and the giving of thanksgiving to Him who has rescued me- Rev 4
We are to be thankful people. And thankfulness is to be developed.
Thanksgiving;
It is a Command to be obeyed
And A Choice to be made.
Not only is the will of God you be saved, the will of God you be Spirit-controlled, it is the will of God that you be saying thanks continually, it is …to “Devote yourselves to prayer KEEPING ALERT THROUGH an attitude of THANKSGIVING“- {Col 4:2}….THANKFULNESS KEEPS US KEEN SPIRITUALLY, TO PRAY.
SELF EXAMINATION? Paul wrote in Colossians 1:12-13 that one of the fruit of living life worthy of the Lord.{Col 1:9, 12-14} is GROWING IN Thankfulness to the Father for Salvation.
WHEN IS THE LAST TIME YOU THANKED HIM FOR SAVING YOU? How often do you thank Him?
IF YOU ARE SERVED at a grocery store or by a waiter/waitress at a restaurant. Do you say thank you?
HOW DO WE COMBAT critical and complaining attitudes? Confess it as sin and change the focus onto God and CONSIDER – MEDITATE- {Psalm 1:2} on Him and reasons to be thankful
- – Confess ingratitude as SIN!
- – Change your FOCUS off of self onto the Savior
- -Practice thanksgiving
- – The Holy Spirit is in you to make this a reality to work it out- For The Lord’s Good Pleasure.-{Phil 2:12-13}. That’s GOOD NEWS!
LOOK FOR REASONS THROUGHOUT THE DAY TO BE THANKFUL. LOOK AT HIS WORD, HIS PERSON, PROMISES, AND WARNINGS AND GIVE THANKS… ONE OFFERING OF THANKS TO GOD AN HOUR, IS THAT TOO MUCH?….
ASK THE HOLY SPIRIT TO REMIND YOU TO TAKE TIME AND CHOOSE TO LOOK FOR REASONS TO BE THANKFUL AND IN DOING SO…YOU ARE…DOING THE WILL OF GOD…EVIDENCE AND TESTIMONY OF CONTROL OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD … AND GOD IS GLORIFIED…
STOP- THANK HIM- START A NEW HABIT…PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE… AND AVAIL OF THE OPPORTUNITIES TO GLORIFY HIM IN DOING SO…