Live with Gratitude

Scripture:
"We give You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who is and who was, because You have taken great power and begun to reign." Revelation 11:17

Observation:
It is often easy to forget the need to just stop and give thanks. Getting caught up in the daily grind of everyday routines has a way of just lulling a person into a repetitive pattern of ungrateful existence. As this happens, it becomes hard to focus on God. Losing focus on God removes any purpose for living. No purpose for living results in cynicism. Cynicism sucks the marrow out of life.

Application:
Live with gratitude. That is the call I sense this morning. Getting frustrated, irritated, angry or discouraged only has the power to make living more difficult. My negative feelings only have power to make bad things worse. My positive feelings, however, contain power. Positive feelings awaken something inside of me that provides energy to keep going. This morning, I see a few things that I can always be grateful for.

First, I can be grateful that God is Almighty. He is the Creator of heaven and earth. He controls the universe. At times I lose sight of this and honestly begin to doubt certain aspects of it. I really must learn to continually confess and celebrate the fact that as much as it may feel like things are spinning out of control on earth, there is a God with a plan and purpose running the show. Instead of becoming cynical about why God allows bad things to happen, I must focus on celebrating the good things that He allows to come to pass. God is God and I am not. His ways are not my ways. He is the potter and I am the clay. What right do I have to become angered at the choices He makes?

Second, I can be grateful that God is, was, and will be. He is the God of the past. He is the God of the present. He is the God of the future. There are times in my life when I put enormous amounts of pressure on myself to perform. I worry with where I am, where I need to be, and how long it should take. I feel like I am solely responsible for my destiny and I am afraid that time is slipping away from me. As days roll by, I need to learn that God was in the beginning, He is the same now, and He will remain the same in the future. The world is always changing. People are always changing. Circumstances shift like the tides. What was good today can be totally wrong tomorrow. That is why I need a constant God. He is consistently the same. His character has never changed. His plans have never failed. The most amazing thing of all, He is available to me.

Finally, I can be grateful that God will set things straight. The day is coming when the chaos and pain of life will end. We will be ushered into a new existence in a perfect place. I will one day sit before God and will no longer worship by faith alone. I will worship in His presence. Famine will end. Racism will be no more. Sin will stop. Suffering will be forgotten and never again experienced. All pain will be healed. Fear will be lost. Nature will be at peace. Prosperity will be all anyone knows. If that is what I truly believe is the end result of my faith, why don’t I live in eager anticipation of it? I should celebrate that reality every day and spend my life, energy, and talent in serving its future reality.

Prayer:
I needed You this morning. My attitude towards certain things has really become soured by adversity. Gratitude has slipped away and I have begun complaining. I confess this to You today and pray that You train me to have a grateful heart. Allow me to overflow with thanksgiving and praise. You are the Almighty. You were in the beginning, You are now, and You will be still in the future. I look towards the day You return to earth to make things as they should be. I pray that You don't delay. The suffering I see on this earth is more than I can bear to see. We are a sick, wicked and broken place without Your leadership. Until that day comes though I commit to serving Your purpose and submitting to Your timing, knowing that both are perfect.