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Choosing Gratitude: 30 Day Challenge: Day 4

Day 4: Another...and Another
Scripture Reading: Psalm 103:1-5

I recently interviewed a woman for our Revive Our Hearts broadcast who has faithfully memorized and meditated on Scripture for more than fifty years.  She talked about the many benefits she has received as a result of hiding God's Word in her heart.

I was amazed when she mentioned that she had never really been depressed.  She explained that whenever she finds herself becoming a bit down and blue, she begins to quote Psalm 103.  At that point in the interview she proceeded to recite the entire psalm--from memory, thoughtfully, with heartfelt expression.

It as a amoving expereience fore lal of us who were in the room listening.  When she goit tot hte end of the passage, there was a holy hush.  The first thought that went through my mind was, " How in the wold could anyone ever be overwhelmed wiht depression, and how in the world could I ever give in to discouragement, if all theses blessings are ours--and they are!"

As we recognize and identify the specific blessings we have received from God an dfrom others, we discover countless reasons for expressing gratitude.  The psalmist took time to bless the Lord for specifice benefits--he didn't wnat to forget even one of the theof them!  As  you open your heart to Him in prayer today, ask God to reveal to you just how great your "benefits package" really is.

Designate several pages in your journal or notebook for each of these two headings:  "Gifts from God" and  "Gifts from Others."  Then start making a list of everything that comes to mind.  As you try filling these in with personal examples, it's quite natural for your writing to stop and start, sometimes piling up faster than you can get the blessings down, sometimes drawing a blank abou twhat to putnext.  So don't try forcing this into a one-time, ten-minute exercise.  Keep adding to these lists as additional gifts come to mind over the next thirty days (and beyohnd!).

GRATITUDE IN ACTION

• After you've written out a list of your blessings, take some time to walk through your list line by line, thankiking God for each of these "benefits."
• Read Psalm 103 alod.  Try memorizing and meditiating on at least the first five verses over the next week or so.

Choosing Gratitude: 30 Day Challenge: Day 3

Day 3: Let the Redeemed Say So
Scripture Reading: Psalm 107: 1-32

The theme of Psalm 107 is stated in the first two verses:

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
For his steadfast love endures forever! 
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, 
Whom he has redeemed from trouble.

This theme is followed by four "personal testimonies"--illustrations of those who have been redeemed by the Lord and have reason to give Him thanks.  Each testimony includes a similar progression:

• Distress--the straits people found themselves in
• Desperate cry to the Lord for help
• Divine deliverance

The passage is punctuated by a response--a "thanksgiving chorus" that is reapeated at the end of each testimony (vv. 8, 15, 21, 31).  Write out the words to that chours in your journal.

How often do you consciously thank the Lord for His steadfast mercy and love and His "wondrous works" in your life?

GRATITUDE IN ACTION

• Write out your personal testimony of God's saving grace following the progreassion found in Psalm 107.
• How did God bring you to the end of yourself, to the place where you cried out to Him for mercy?
• What has changed in your life since He delivered you from your slavery to sin?
• If you have additional time, write another brief testimony of a time subsequent to your initial salvation, when you were in distress, you cried out to the Lord, and He came to your rescue.
• Now, reread the first two verses of Psalm 107 and the "chorus" that recurs throughout.  Take time to thank the Lord for His steadfast love and His redeeming work in your life.
• "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so" (v.2). Share you story (His story) with someone else today.  Tell them how grateful you are to the Lord for saving you--eternally, as well as daily.

Choosing Gratitude: 30 Day Challenge: Day 2

Day 2: Abounding in Thanksgiving
Scripture Reading: Colossians 1:3, 12; 2:7; 3:15-17; 4:2

Every chapter in Paul's letter to the Colossians has at least one reference to the attitude of gratitude.  In your Bible, underline or circle the words "thank," "thanks," "thanksgiving," "thankful," and "thankfulness" in the verses above.

Paul makes it clear that being thankful is not optional.  We learn about the source, the nature, the frequency, the object, and the scope of thankfulness, and we are introduced to its companions.  Record in your journal as many insights about Christian gratitude as you can find, from these verses in Colossians.

The central theme of Colossians is Christ.  He is exalted and worshiped for:

• His divine nature
• being the Creator and Sustainer of all things
• His preeminence over all creation and over all cosmic rulers and powers
• His redemptive, reconciling work on the cross
• defeating the power sof darkness
• being the Head of the church which is His body
• being the fulfillment and substance of Old Testament types and figures
• being the believer's life and our hope of glory
• and so much more!

As those who have "died" with Christ, "been buried with him in baptism," and "raised with him through faith," our joy and hope do not emanate from any earthly source or from our religious practices, but from Him.

Within the four chapters of this short epistle, Paul calls us to be: sexually pure, compassionate, kind, humble, meek, patient, forgiving, loving, peaceful, obedient, just, wise, gracious, and thankful!  Whew--that's a tall order!  But everything we are called to be and do as "Christians" flows out of who Christ is in us, and what He has already done on our behalf. 

As Christ abounds in His infinite splendor and in His grace toward us, so as we walk by faith in Him, we have abundant motivation--and divine enabling--to live a life that is always "abounding in thanksgiving."

GRATITUDE IN ACTION

As is the case regarding every virtue and everything that is expected of us as children of God, true thankfulness is rooted and grounded in Christ and His gospel.  It is generated by His life within us.  Read through one or more of the following passages from Colossians, meditating on them, praying them back to God, and using them as a basis for giving thanks to Him (I've helped you get started on the first one):

• 1:12-14  --  Oh Father, I am so grateful and joyfully give You thanks, because though I was in no way related to You and had no right to have any part in Your kingdom, by Your grace, You have made me fit (qualified) to be a recipient--along with others who belong to Your family--of the infinite riches of Your inheritance...
• 1:15-22
• 2:9-15
• 3:1-11

Choosing Gratitude: 30 Day Challenge: Day 1

We just wrapped up our Summer Bible Study reading of "Choosing Gratitude" by Nancy Leigh DeMoss.  Please join us...whether you read the book or not...in our 30 Day Challenge of Choosing Gratitude.  The challenge will be posted here each day for the next 30 days.  These 30 days will lead right up to our Fall Bible Study (more info coming soon!).  We would love to hear how God is transforming you and blessing you through this challenge so please leave a comment to share YOUR journey to JOY.

We encourage you to start a Gratitude Journal as you journey through these next 30 days...and beyond! 

(Taken from "Choosing Gratitude" by Nancy Leigh DeMoss.)

• Record a key thought and any further insight you gain from each day's Scripture reading, in relation to thankfulness.
• Record your responses to questions and assignments throughout this 30-day devotional.  This will include "gratitude lists" in several different categories.
• Write out prayers in response to your study and meditation.
• Each day, make a list of five things you're thankful for that day.  As you look for things to include each day, you'll be amazed at how your eyes are opened to see His mercies that are "new every morning  (Lamentations 3:23).
• Jot down other Scriptures you come across that relate to the theme of gratitude and thanksgiving. 
• Capture any additional insights the Lord shows you about gratitude as you make this a focus of your thinking.  Record how you're doing as you seek to cultivate a grateful heart.  Identify what the Lord shows you along the way--heart issues that need to be addressed, "triggers" to ingratitude that you need to watch our for, helps in becoming more grateful, consequences of ingratitude and blessings of gratitude, the impact of grateful people on those around them, etc.

Day 1: Defined by Gratitude

Scripture Reading: Colossians 3:12-17

We've said that "gratitude is learning to recognize and express appreciation for the benefits we have received from God and from others."  Let's break down these components a bit further today:

To "recognize" what we receive each day, the eyes of our heart must be open and alert.  This means constantly being on the lookout for blessings, making each day a treasure hunt.  I have a friend who makes a habit of thanking the Lord for ten things every morning before he gets out of bed.  He wants to start his day by focusing on the goodness of God, rather than whatever problems or challenges he may have to deal with that day.

To "express appreciation" means that what's in our heart needs to come out!  It means being intentional about thanking God and others for the blessings that come our way.  It also means frequent opportunities to invest back into those who are involved in our lives.  It's our return gift to them--and to the Lord.

Being mindful of "the benefits we have received" helps squeeze bitterness and entitlement from our hearts, replacing negative, depressing thoughts with the realization that our loving Father has showered us with good things, and that even the "bad things" in our lives are "benefits," intended to make us more like Jesus.

Gratitude changes the way we start the day, spend the day, and look back on the day.  It defines us as people who value our relationship with God and with those He's placed around us.  By thanking Him and others throughout the day, we are expressing humility, realizing these "benefits" are all undeserved.

GRATITUDE IN ACTION

• Overall, how would you rate your "Gratitude Quotient"?  (If you're not sure--or you want to know how others would answer that question about you--ask a couple of people who live or work with you...people you know will be honest with you!)  Check any of the following that apply:
• I look at the world through grateful eyes and consistently express my gratitude to God and others.
• I know I've been greatly blessed, but I don't often stop to actually express my gratitude to God and others.
• To be honest, I had not thought a lot about gratitude until reading this book.  I've got a long way to go to develop a lifestyle of gratitude.
• I'm a whiner!  I tend to focus on my problems and I frequently express them to others.
• Write a prayer asking the Lord to cultivate in you a more grateful heart over these next thirty days.  If you have realized that your "Gratitude Quotient" is not what it should be, confess your ungrateful spirit to the Lord.  Ask Him to forgive you and to transform you by the power of His Spirit into a truly thankful person.
• Write down and memorize the definition of gratitude at the beginning of today's reading and reveiw it whenever you're feeling less than thankful about where you are and what's going on.