Try Giving Thanks

"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." (I Thes. 5:18)

Have you experienced a sorrow, or a grief, or a trial, or a spirit of blahs that you cannot seem to get away from? Have you tried giving thanks? In Phil. 4:6 where Paul tells us not to worry about everything, he says instead we should pray about everything with thanksgiving.

When we give thanks we acknowledge the sovereignty of God in our lives. We recognize that He is in control, and that He is able to make all things work together for good. Sometimes it just doesn't make sense to us, but when Paul wrote the Thessalonian believers he said it was always God's will for us to give thanks.

When you pray and you know it is God's will, you can go ahead and thank him in advance for the blessing. For all of the blessings you have already received, give thanks. One of the great failures in our lives is ingratitude. Stop today and give thanks.

Thank God for all of His good gifts in your life. Thank Him for the trials, recognizing that He never allows us to face tests or temptation greater than we can withstand, so the greater the trial, the more God trusts us. Thanks Him for the sorrows that come. In everything, for all things, give thanks.

Job modeled that for us. When tragedy struck, and he lost his livelihood, and he lost all of his children, he said, 'The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord."
Try giving thanks.