WFS 4 The Christian and Gratitude

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In this lesson we are going to learn how to shower with words. I can almost see all of you sitting there shaking your heads and thinking, “Has she lost her mind? How can one shower with words instead of water?” I am, of course, speaking of showering God with words of gratitude, praise and thanksgiving. We can’t have a study on bridling the tongue without including a lesson on learning to thank God for all that is good and being filled with gratitude to Him for all He has given us. Sometimes we seem to be like the Israelites, spending so much time complaining about what they didn’t have that they didn’t recognize the blessings of what they did have. Too much time is spent hitting those around us and God with the “poor me” syndrome and not enough time seeing all the beauty and wonder around us that we should be thanking God for and using the faith we are suppose to have that all things will work together for good with God.

THANKSGIVING AND GRATITUDE

Let’s start out by doing an exercise in God’s Word.

1. Read Psalms 100.

After you have done so, read it again from a different translation, then maybe read it again from another.

Why am I asking you to do this? Simple really, the more we read and study the Words of God the easier it becomes to remember it and incorporate it in our lives. Remember all those times you have to write the ABC’s when you were in school? Over and over the teacher had us do our ABC’s until we had them down perfectly and could not only recite but say them without a mistake. God’s Word is the same way, we can learn it, retain it, use it in our lives if we take the time to truly study it! Once we have done that, diligently study it, the thanksgiving and gratitude for Him should be overwhelming in our hearts and in our minds. Now let’s read Psalm 100 one more time and really listen to its beauty:

Psalm 100

1) “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.

2) Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before his presence with singing.

3) Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

4) Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

5) For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.”

There is so much in the world that god has created and given to us that we can never begin to be grateful and thankful enough to Him. Psalm 8:1 and 3 says it well:

1) “O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! Who has set the glory above the heavens.

3) When I consider thy heavens, the work of they fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou has ordained.”

How beautiful and full of thanksgiving and gratitude these sacred words are. We need to remember to give God that glory, thanksgiving and gratitude that He deserves. In our prayers, our thoughts, in our hearts with every beautiful sunrise or sunset we see, every colorful flower every time His glorious creation strikes a chord of awe within us. When I think of

God’s wonderful creations many things come to mind here is just some of what makes me full of gratitude for Him, makes me want to praise Him more each time I see the wonders He has go graciously given.

A HIGHER POWER THAN YOU AND I

Who is it that makes the sky so blue

Who made the clouds just that color too?

Who was it I wonder that could really do

Such wonderful artwork for me and you?

Did you ever notice how perfect the color

Of the leaves in the fall and their colorful hue?

Have you noticed the sunrise and its brilliance

Doesn’t it make you stand in awe of its greatness?

There are so many wonders and beauties around us

How could we not believe in a higher power?

Yes, my friend, I do see the hand

Of a higher power than mortal man.

You see the sky and clouds are so perfect

The colors of fall so beautifully depicted.

The grass is so intricately patterned

The waters so many different colors and hues.

Only God with His greatness and power

Could have made a world of such awesome wonder.

Only God who can see all of our hearts

Could know that we hunger for that art!

Why, think of the music of the wind in the pines

The melodious harmonies of the creatures at night.

What beautiful symphonies we can encounter

If we but stop and take time to listen and ponder!

Our God He is great and wondrous and alive

Just look at the night sky and stars of light!

We are so blessed and so very right

If we accept the God of all wonder and might!

TEMPTATION BRINGS JOY

2. James 1:2-4 - 2)“My brethren, _______ ____ ______ _____ when ye fall into ________ ___________; 3) Knowing this, that the ________ ____ _______ ________ worketh __________. 4) But let patience have her perfect work, that ____ may be _________ and ________, wanting nothing.”

You may be asking at this point, what has this got to do with the tongue and showering God with gratitude and thanksgiving. Again, the answer is a simple one. If we never had a temptation, never had to work through a problem, never had to decide whose side we are on, God’s or the world, wouldn’t we be like puppets on a string? Temptation, if we turn to God for the help and guidance we need to get through it should bring us joy because we overcame it. It should bring us patience to keep on keeping on for Him because we know in the end we are the ones who will benefit. Thankful, grateful, and full of praise for God should be the first things on our minds when we come through some temptation that seemed like a mountain but turned into a flattened out molehill once we put it in the hands of God! Temptations and trials are part of life, we have to be able to handle them and to succeed in overcoming them. We can’t live in a bubble where nothing touches us but thankfully we have the best of the best in God and His Son to help us on our journey. In order to accomplish what is told us here in James we have to equip ourselves with the right kind of tools for the job. Just as soldiers are equipped and trained to handle the battle so must we be equipped and trained. As Christians we are given the right tools and training right in God’s Word to be able to handle the battles we must face.

3. Quote a scripture here that gives us the right tools to fight the battle of trials and temptations in this world.

We know we can withstand whatever comes our way because the Word of God tells us we can. I line of defense is given us in Philippians 4:13:

4. “__ ____ ____ _____ ________ _________ ________ _______ _____________ ____.”

We need to keep this scripture in our hearts and in our minds, we need to make sure we truly have faith in it! Quoting it, knowing it is there and being able to find it and tell it to others doesn’t mean we BELIEVE it! Our actions when we are struck with trials and temptations shows if we truly have faith in it.

Where do we go when we are struck with trials and temptations?

Do we whine and complain or do we go to God in prayer asking Him for the strength to carry the load of the battle and to win over it?

Do we think to prayerfully thank Him that He is there for us to come to and gain strength to do what we must in order to strike down Satan?

We are assured that there is no temptation that God won’t provide an escape for us. We should be showering God with praise and gratitude for providing this.

5. Find and quote the scripture here that gives us this assurance.

We also know that if we are rooted in the faith we will abound in thanksgiving. Did you realize this? Let’s repeat that, if we are rooted in the faith we will abound in thanksgiving! How do we know this? We know

This from Colossians 2:6&7:

6. - 6) “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so ______ ____ ______: 7) _______ and ______ ___ in Him, and established in the _______, as ye have been taught, ____________ therein with _____________.”

God will deliver us if we follow Him! What a blessing deserving of all the gratitude and thanksgiving that we can possibly give!

7. II Peter 2:9 - “The Lord ________ _____ ___ _________ the ______ ____ of ___________, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.”

Let us remember to give thanks no matter what the circumstance, shower God with love through thanksgiving and gratitude because He loved us so much that He gave His Son and for that sacrifice we can never be thankful enough!

8. I Thessalonians 5:18 - “In __________ give _______: for this is the ______ ____ _____ in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

A thankful and grateful heart doesn’t allow time for the “poor me” syndrome. Christ suffered on the cross for us. Doesn’t seem so hard to rejoice over temptations when we put Christ into the equation! To suffer for Christ leads us to glorify God.

9. I Peter 4:16 - “Yet if ____ ____ ______ as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but ____ ____ _______ _____ on this behalf.”

How do we get to this stage of counting it joy when we fall into temptations? By learning to be strong.

11. 13) “Brethren, I count not myself to apprehended: but this one thing I do, __________ those things which are ______, and ________ forth unto those things which are ______.” 14) I _____ toward the ______ for the _____ of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

We can see from these scriptures that being strong is not just being physically strong but being spiritually strong. We get spiritually strong by walking with Him (I John 1:7-9), by studying His word (II Timothy 2:15) and by staying close by His side in all we do (Philippians 3:13&14). With spiritual strength comes gratitude, thankfulness and praise for the One who has given us so much.

As we close this lesson, let us remember the words of Psalm 100:1:

“Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.”

My prayer as always is that you enjoyed your study. That it gave you at least some insight into something you had not thought of just in the same way as you might now after having diligently looked into God’s Word and studied it.

May God lift you up and teach you to fly on wings as eagles.

Beverly Rainwater

OBC email: RainwaterB3@aol.com