Have you ever noticed that there is a seemingly different spirit in a spiritually stable person? The noticeable difference in spiritually stable people is derived from a spirit of thanksgiving. There are numerous benefits to having a thankful spirit. The benefits of cultivating a gratitude attitude are well worth the work it takes to break the negative cycle. “Spiritually stable people react to trials with thankful prayer. Such prayer is the antidote to worry and the cure for anxiety.” (MacArthur, 2001) Psalm 68:19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah. God is ready to lighten our load of care and give us a whole load of Himself. In Psalm 68:19 the phrase, (us with benefits, even the God) comes from just one Greek word:(`el). The word (`el) is translated most other times as the word "God." God wants to give us a whole load of Himself or the essence of his power and strength towards us.
On the other hand, God wants to lighten our load of care. Philippians 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. We are literally called to carry no care but to let God load us daily with himself. Thanksgiving is an act of faith, acknowledging God in this very concept. As if God and his goodness were not enough: notice five benefits of the very act of thanksgiving itself.
1. The first benefit of the act of thanksgiving is that it creates an appetite for the giver to give. I'll never forget the trial of 2009 of having Irish twins in the same calendar year. The economy was nearing a double-dip recession, and being a drywall contractor wasn't the secure employment that one needed to weather that kind of a storm. The second twin, Luke, was born December 10th, 2009, and there were lots of complications with the pregnancy, and postnatal care left mommy and baby having separate homes for a short while. Since my wife was unable to drive with her recent surgeries, the only option left to take her to the hospital was me. By now, you are getting the picture: it was tough to make money for Christmas that year. Around Christmas time, our expenses double while the economy was slashed in half. The Thanksgiving of 2009, we began preparing our children for this life lesson we were about to experience without dashing their tender hearts. It seems as if I were a broken record player that year as I touted this little phrase to our children: "the foundation of gratitude is the expectation of nothing." Their little ears seemed to have perked up, and I was sure they caught on to the spirit of the life lesson that year. Within a week, our family was selected from the public school my children attended to be the family that their school adopted at Christmas. As I sent the children downstairs to bring in the presents freshly picked up from their school, it was taking a really long time. In fact, that year, we had to send them downstairs twice within a matter of an hour because it took two loads to get everything the school had purchased our children. I remember explaining to Noah, my oldest son, that he could come out of the basement but that I would have to send him downstairs again later as I came through with more presents. With a warm tear tucked in the corner of his eye, he looked up at me and humbly proclaimed, "Dad, you didn't have to get me nothing for Christmas this year." This is one life lesson that met its wisdom of application in the form of a nine-year-old thankful boy. I wanted to buy that little humble nine-year-old boy the whole mall that year. One benefit of the act of thanksgiving is that it creates an appetite for the giver to give.
2. Another benefit of thanksgiving is that it calms the spirit. In Philippians 4:7 we have a promise of peace that we wouldn’t even be able to understand. Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. This peace is promised by not only the “Peace Keeper" but with all the enforcement of God's armed guards. The Greek word that the English word "keep" was translated from is the word "phroureō." The word phroureō means to keep or protect with a military guard or garrison (stronghold). What God literally promises believers in Christ is to protect their minds from strongholds with His armed forces. As we focus on the attitude of thanksgiving, God guards our hearts and minds with His peace. Philippians 4:6-7 6 Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. 7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
3. Thanksgiving not only creates an appetite for the giver to give and calms our spirit, but thanksgiving also catapults our trajectory. "We become what we focus on" Proverbs 23:7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee. As the saying goes, "attitude determines altitude." No one will go beyond their attitude. Having a gratitude attitude places our focus on the right attitude, which in turn takes us a higher altitude. In other words, when we give thanks continually, our focus thinking will take us in a distant trajectory, and our biblical growth patterns will soon be noticeable.
4. Thanksgiving cancels our cares. When we are casting our cares on God with thanksgiving, then we cannot simultaneously worry. Philippians 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. Philippians 4:6 teaches us to, "not be full of care" or to be careful for nothing while at the same time going to God in everything with thanksgiving: we could summarize the verse with this equation, “Careful=Nothing; Thanksgiving= Everything." What is your thanksgiving to worry ratio? “In 2005, the National Science Foundation published an article summarizing research on human thoughts per day. It was found that the average person has about 12,000 to 60,000 thoughts per day. Of those thousands of thoughts, 80% were negative, and 95% were exactly the same repetitive thoughts as the day before”. (Antanaityte, 2019) Since we think that many thoughts and our thought patterns seem to "on repeat,": what is our thanksgiving to worry ratio today: right now? Thanksgiving cancels our cares.
5. Thanksgiving is a cost-efficient form of therapy. One grossly underrated benefit of thanksgiving is that it is free. You don’t have to get in a car and go anywhere, there is not a copay to paid or a deductible to be met to be thankful. You don't need to dress up for church or even put gas in your car to receive this therapy for the soul. Thanksgiving is God's designed re-calibration of the body, soul, and spirit, and it's free.
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