A Thankful Heart

Religion

“Rejoice always; pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus”. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) Can we comprehend how much God is committed to us? Maybe not, but we can begin to better understand his ways when we function at the level of trust that the above verse presumes.

He wants us to see that every challenge of life as a potential victory. God’s grace permeates every aspect of our life but drawing on His grace is up to us, and that’s where having a thankful heart comes in. There is a difference in giving thanks and having a thankful heart, one precedes the other. The proper order is to first be thankful – that’s an act of the will regardless of how we feel. As a result of giving thanks in all things a thankful heart will be the result.

Giving thanks is about having the proper trust factor. We are to trust God so much that whatever is going on in our life our first reaction is to give thanks. Yes, that means even if the circumstance or event is unfair, flat wrong and hurtful. Giving thanks is an act of the will; a thankful heart is the result of yielding that circumstance to God.

We give thanks for two reasons; First, because it’s the will of God for you. “In everything give thanks for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus”. Secondly, it’s part of the trust factor. As this verse infers, we are to trust God so much that whatever he allows to come into our life has purpose and meaning, whether we see that purpose or not.

What is the benefit for us? If we will trust Him, then he will provide the proper amount and the proper type of His grace to help us get through the challenge. God provides the proper amount of grace because His grace is sufficient for every need. He provides the proper type of grace because every need is different. For example, He won’t give you dying grace, when your need is persevering grace.

The ability to draw on God’s grace is not about doing but rather it’s about being. It’s resting in the sufficiency of Christ and trusting that God is working it all out for us. Having a thankful heart is all about trusting God and knowing that He has gone before us and is making the way clear before we even knew about our future problem. Remember the saying, “Has it ever occurred to you that nothing ever occurred to God?”

To illustrate the point consider the excerpt from the late David Wilkerson:

Your heavenly Father is on the move in your life to solve your problem even before you know you have a problem. God is on the move on your behalf even before the sin sets in, or the problem occurred, even before it takes hold. God is working! The old Puritans called this a prevenient grace – grace at work before the temptation comes. Even before Adam and Eve got out of the Garden, even before sin began to take hold in the fruit, God said to the serpent, “The Son (Jesus) will crush your head” (Genesis 3:15). After Satan deceived Adam and Eve, he slithered out and began to move throughout the whole world to deceive the sons of Adam and Eve. God said, “I have a plan in action.”

This is not God standing on the sidelines saying, “If you fall into that sin, come to me and repent and I will forgive you again.” Yes, He does that, but it is so much more than that. God is working on your behalf even before that temptation or crisis ever comes to you, building up a wall in your life. He is building up grace and maturity in you, leading you through the spiritual process of your growing to where you are strengthened – line upon line, precept upon precept. God is already planning your victory!”

God is at work in you willing His will, and that may include from time to time circumstances and events that are very uncomfortable. But remember, especially when you reflect about your Thanksgiving Day memories, that giving thanks in everything is part of the process of allowing Christ to have full control of your life.

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