CHOOSE TO GIVE THANKS

And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 5:20 NLT

You can choose to see the blessings from God in your life

You can choose to be grateful for your job

You can choose to be grateful for your family

You can choose to thank God you had enough to eat this weak

You can choose to thank God you had clean water to drink when millions do not. Whenever you drink a bottle of water just think about the fact that Five million people will die today because they don’t have clean water.

If you are complaining about your job, your family or your life remember the following-

·         40% of the world lives on less than $2 a day

·         26,000 children die every day from preventable diseases like Malaria, diarrhea or malnutrition

·         854 million people are suffering from malnutrition

·         25,000 people will die today because of hunger

·         Over a billion people do not have clean drinking water and 5 million people will die this year from drinking contaminated water

·         In one nation in Africa Sierra Leone, 28.2% of the children are dead by the age of five

It is impossible to follow the Lord without consistently cultivating an attitude of gratitude.

“Of all the ‘attitudes’ we can acquire, surely the attitude of gratitude is the most important and by far the most life-changing.” —Zig Ziglar

Here are some signs you are not being thankful

1.   You think more about what you don’t have than at what you do have

“If a fellow isn’t thankful for what he’s got, he isn’t likely to be thankful for what he’s going to get.” —Frank A. Clark

2.   You never genuinely thank others-

Did you let anyone know that you appreciated them this today? This week? This month? This year? In your lifetime?

Did you give anyone a high five?

People with a gratitude problem rarely thank others because they feel as if people owe them things

3.   You constantly condemn others for being ungrateful-

My kids don’t appreciate all I do for them- my boss doesn’t appreciate how hard I work- people don’t realize how much I sacrifice- nobody has it as hard as I do

If you are always complaining about how YOU are mistreated then how much gratitude can there be in YOUR life since you are focusing on what YOU don’t have or what YOU aren’t getting.

Sins of commission are easy to recognize but not giving thanks is a sin of omission and is easy to see in others but hard to see in ourselves.

We can choose whining or we can choose to be thankful for these things

·         Jesus is coming back

·         God is greater than Satan

·         Grace can overpower sin

·         Satan will be cast into Hell forever

·         I have a future home in heaven forever

·         Everything that does happen will happen according to God’s plan

·         We can make a difference in our world

But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:57 NIV

WE CAN BE GRATEFUL WARRIORS OR WE CAN BE COMPLAINING WHINERS BUT WE CANNOT BE BOTH