How GRATEFUL and APPRECIATIVE are we?

Are you constantly expressing appreciation and gratitude for everything that happens to you, especially the positive things, but not just for “positive” things (as I’ll show clearly)?  I’m shocked at how often some brethren can’t seem to  bother to ever say. “thank you, we sure appreciate what you’ve done”. 

But it’s not just me who can feel shocked at the lack of expressed gratitude. Imagine being a leper. It’s a terrible disease that eats up your flesh. In the days of the early apostles, it seems quite a few had leprosy. They had to keep their distance and were not allowed to mingle among the populace. Jesus healed more than a few of them. Here’s one account that is striking and makes our point today. The ten men did show a lot of faith to head towards the priests even before they were healed. The healing came “as they went”. 

Luke 17:11-19   “Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12 Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. 13 And they lifted up their voices and said, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"

14 So when He saw them, He said to them, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.

15 And ONE of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.

17 So Jesus answered and said, "Were there not TEN cleansed? But where are the nine?  18 Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?"  19 And He said to him, "Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well."

Yeshua/Jesus was obviously shocked at the lack of expressed gratitude of the other nine.  They surely must have been grateful to have been healed, but that’s not what I’m talking about today. I’m talking about EXPRESSING our gratitude to God and others. Unexpressed gratitude can come across to others as lacking completely in any gratitude. 

How many times has Yeshua/Jesus or God our Father done something wonderful for you? Have you made a point to praise God and thank him profusely? 

Even God’s son, Yeshua/Jesus the Messiah was SHOCKED at how nine healed lepers couldn’t be bothered to come back and say a simple “thank you” to him. He was shocked. I want you to ask yourself: Could Jesus be shocked at our own lack of expressed gratitude too, at times? We might feel thankful and think we’re thankful, but I’m also trying to convey that we should get really good at expressing our deep heartfelt appreciation for what God and many others do for us from time to time.  

Look up “give thanks” in a concordance and see how often the Psalms express thanksgiving. So many, but at least read through Psalm 107.

WHY do we need to express thanks?  EXPRESSING gratitude – not just feeling happy about something but SAYING something to God and others about it  -- helps us stay focused on the wonderful and positive things happening in our lives instead of on all the things we lack. Think about that. This can really help us become more positive.

I believe a grateful and thankful person is saying various forms of  “thank you” and showing appreciation to God and others at least 30-40 times a day!  Truly.  Even just expressing thanks to God each day should be at least 15 or more of those times.

When you first wake up, that should cause a sincere “Father, I thank you that you’ve given me another day of life, for your glory, thank you, thank you.”  As you get up and start to walk, breathe another thank you to Him that you can move, can walk. I know many people who have had strokes or are just getting weak in their old age and can’t get up by themselves. So express gratitude to our Father in heaven for all those things. Thank him for your spouse, for your children, for your home, for your food, for being there for you. Thank him for calling you as one of His firstfruits of salvation. Thank him for giving you his holy anointing Holy Spirit. Thank him for your eyes, for your hearing, for everything you see. I’ve started losing some eyesight from retinopathy but I still thank Him that I can see as much as I can.

Are you seeing why I’m saying we should easily be expressing gratitude at least 30-40 times a day?  It should be whispered out constantly. When I see someone cleaning up a public bathroom, or sweeping the floors in a store  -- I nudge them and say “I sure appreciate you keeping all this clean for us. Thank you so much.”  Sometimes they seem floored by that simple statement. 

Thank your spouse for everything she does. For cooking, cleaning, for being there – even as you help. Thank your children. Plan some special thank you notes. How about a nice note to a teacher who really affected your life – or the lives of your children. A note like that can make their whole day and make us all nicer people. Or a nice note to your pastor or pastor’s wife, for everything they do for the congregation. When was the last time you did that?

Those helping us – whether it be God or brethren or donors to LOTR – will be far more likely to gladly do more for us when they see how delighted we are for the help or healing or whatever it is we’ve received from God or people. But if we are not so expressive, they can possibly conclude we are not grateful but are unappreciative. IN the end, not expressing thanks comes back to bite US. 

How about when what we’re going through is painful, negative or “bad news” – like a bad accident, a death in the family, or problems we’re going through – do we thank God? Yes, even for those kinds of things we are supposed to thank God.  This is super hard to do in practice but scripture is clear on this. 

God tells us to be thankful for ALL things, in EVERYTHING be giving thanks. Let’s read the scriptures then I’ll explain why.

Ephesians 5:20  “giving thanks always for ALL things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,”

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18  “Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

Did you notice that?  Always. In everything. For this is God’s will for you.

WHY give thanks for even “the bad stuff” in our lives? Because it reminds us that God is totally involved in our lives, even in the areas that seem like He isn’t doing anything about. Even the “bad” things going on, remember God can work out for good, if we’re one of the called of God and living according to His will, as Romans 8:28 clearly says.

So when we thank God even in and for the “bad stuff” going on, it reorients our entire focus and our thinking, and our whole heart back to trusting our God fully, in full faith in him, no matter what – instead of spending long hours being miserable as we focus on the negative instead. The wrong focus also leads to worry. Worry is a lack of faith in God, so let’s not let worry start happening in our lives. In fact Jesus commands us NOT to worry but to trust God (Matthew 6:25-34). Thankfulness is a great antidote to worry.

Matthew 6:25   "Therefore I say to you, DO NOT WORRY about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?”

Matthew 6:31-34  "Therefore DO NOT WORRY, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  34 Therefore DO NOT WORRY about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

It’s very clear. Jesus says “do NOT worry”.  When we show appreciation and thankfulness to God even when we’re out of food or clothing or money to pay the rent or mortgage, our whole demeanor can change. 

Now notice how we go from worry and feeling anxious – to having peace of mind. It truly works if we’ll just do it. But it’s hard to practice when life is rough.  Here’s the formula to reach the state of peace of mind: 

Philippians 4:6-7  “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, WITH THANKSGIVING, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

He doesn’t say we aren’t to even think about or mention our scary events or our requests –no. He says DO bring them up to God – but do so with thanksgiving! With appreciation. With gratitude.  Even in the hard times we must find ways to thank God. Thank God for being there. Thank him for the time you’ve had in the past with better health. When our son died, I thanked God for the time at least that we did have him with us. A greater peace even in death came upon us both.

But the natural, carnal reaction is to wonder where God is. It’s OK to start there—but quickly move from that to realizing and appreciating that our heavenly Father is ALWAYS there, and say so, in prayers of appreciation.  There are several examples of God’s servants starting off with fear in certain situations, but as they focused on God, they came to a point of peace.

Let’s become very grateful people. And I’m sure grateful for those of you who take the time to show your appreciation for our website Light on the Rock. And thanks to the handful of you who help us with your much needed donations, which go to help people poorer than you can imagine in Kenya and Tanzania, people with no car, no running water, no appliances, and can barely meet daily expenses, if they’re working. SO thank you for helping those wonderful people. I sure can’t do it all by myself.  Thank you.   

Psalms 100:4  “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,

And into His courts with praise, Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.”

There are scores and scores of scriptures which speak of giving God thanks. Even the mighty angels and elders before God’s throne continually give thanks.

Revelation 11:16-17

And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying:   "We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, The One who is and who was and who is to come,

Because You have taken Your great power and reigned.”

Revelation 4:9-10   “Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying..”

Hebrews 13:15  “Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.”

You get the idea. Let’s be thankful. One of the prophesied descriptions of the end time people is that they would be unthankful. (2 Tim. 3:2). Let that not at all be describing you and me and others who are the grateful children of God!