Gratitude

By Hayley Boud


Luke 17:11-19


Jesus Heals Ten Men With Leprosy


“Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosymet him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?  Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.” New International Version (NIV)


How many times does God answer our prayers and we forget that we even asked for it, we forget to say thank you, we don’t even think about it. This is why it’s good to keep a prayer journal, to write down our prayers so we can look back on them and be reminded and this will help us to praise God. It important to encourage God otherwise He might not answer our prayers anymore. We would be discouraged very quickly if we were God.


It’s also very important to not take the ordinary for granted. We forget that it’s a grace to breathe fresh air and eat fresh food and drink fresh water and to have water from a tap, especially hot water from a tap. All of these things are a blessing and only 10% of the world’s population have running water from a tap. Only 1% of the world’s population have a computer. So we need to be grateful and remember every day and thank God every morning when we wake up and every night before going to bed.


We can also put this into practise for people, not only God. We could try to remember all the good things and positive things about people and forget the negative things. We could make an effort to remind ourselves of all the things people have done for us. We could also remember to thank God for them and also find the time to say thank you to those people.


Ephesians 5:19-20 “speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”


We need to be grateful to God in every situation. When we are thankful and grateful, we will easily sing out loud and in our hearts. When someone does something for me and it’s really amazing, I feel touched and I can be so joyful and in my heart really sing. For example, if someone gave me a house, I will be full of joy. God gives us the breath of life for free, He gives us abilities, families, friends, gifts, jobs, intelligence, health…all for free. This should push us to be extremely grateful and joyful.

I’ve seen on extreme makeover house edition where people cry with joy, they scream, they laugh…just for a house. How much more valuable is your life? Do you cry with joy because you are alive? What about your children or your husband or someone else close to you? Do you scream and laugh because they have the breath of life? We need to be grateful and not forget God is the reason we have life and everything else that is attached to our lives.


We must give thanks always!!! For ALL Things. This means we have to be grateful for things we don’t like and be thankful and remember God knows why so let’s not complain and be ungrateful. I was sick last week and I was in a LOT of pain but I really praise God because I had a very valuable lesson during that time about how important it is to keep in contact with each other and to ask each other how we are because someone might be seriously sick and we won’t know unless we keep in good contact. So I praise God for being sick and learning that lesson, I’m grateful for this knowledge.


1 Thessalonians 5:18, “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”


It’s God’s will that we be thankful in all circumstances in everything we do. So if you want to do God’s will, be grateful. Being thankful prevents us from sinning. If I’m grateful and feeling joy in my heart because of thankfulness, nothing will disturb me. On the wedding day, couples don’t fight because they are so full of joy to be getting married. On the wedding day, almost anything can happen but the couple will not be disturbed or easily annoyed because they are so full of joy. If we keep this attitude, we can also face any problems without being disturbed.


Colossians 1:11-12


“so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you[a] to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.” New International Version (NIV)


If we want to walk in a manner that pleases God (v10) we need to “joyously give thanks to the Father” because He has given us the chance to share in the inheritance of the saints. Would you consider yourself a saint? God does, He’s given you that qualification to be called a saint. What university did you go to, to get that qualification? How much study did you do? How much were your fees? It was all free. Imagine if Oxford gave you an honorary PhD that entitled you to inherit all their riches, without doing any work, without spending any money. Would you joyously give thanks? Or imagine of the queen of England decided to qualify you to be next to the throne to inherit all of her riches. Would you give joyful thanks?


Let’s keep this in our minds every day, God has qualified us to inherit all His riches and we paid nothing for that, we did nothing for that, it is gift from God. Let it help us to be grateful.