Words of Gratefulness

During these last few weeks when our focus has been on Thanksgiving, I've been reminded of all that the Scriptures tell us about being thankful and grateful.

"Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. For the Lord is the great God, the great king above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land."  Psalm 95:2-5

"Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations."  Psalm 100:4-5

"Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men."  Psalm 107:8

"The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made. All you have made will praise you, O Lord; your saints will extol you. They will tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might, so that men might know of your mighty acts and the glorious splendor of your kingdom."  Psalm 145:8-12

All of these verses state a very simple truth, that our words of gratefulness to God are based on Who He is and what He has done.

They are all tied together. Who God is is the starting point. Each verse speaks to the character of God...He is great, good, loving, gracious, compassionate and slow to anger. And then, out of Who He is, He acts...He formed the earth and holds it together, He is always faithful, He does wonderful deeds for men, He is good to all and has compassion on all, He performs mighty acts and has a glorious kingdom. Our response is simple...to express words of gratefulness and thanksgiving. Our praise is to be offered to Him, for Who He is and all He has done.

I find it interesting that we are to have our minds filled with all these thoughts of gratefulness and then the natural response is for the words to flow out. Our words of gratefulness to God are from the abundance in our heart.

"No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn bushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks."  Luke 6:43-45

Very simply...what fills, spills. What our heart is filled with will spill out in our conversation. The thoughts that we think will come out in our words. If there is no grateful thought then ingratitude is evident in what we say.

My prayer for us at this time of year is that we will fill ourselves up with thankfulness, gratitude and joy so that our speech is noticeably different from those we come in contact with. They need to see the God Who is and the God Who has done so much for us all.

"Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved."