I love fall! November always reminds me of the importance of being thankful, which can frankly, be hard for me. Sometimes I assume it must be easy for others to quickly compile their top 10 reasons for being grateful. But honestly, aside from the blessings of the people I love, I have to stop and think about my list. What am I thankful for? The fact that I need to process this, tells me that perhaps I need to work on the area of thankfulness in my life.
Always rejoicing, continually praying and being thankful in all circumstances, really? This doesn’t come naturally to us, does it? And yet we are instructed in 1 Thessalonians that this is God’s will for us. So how do we do this?
Rejoicing, prayer, and thankfulness all work together to fuel each other.
Have you noticed that when you rejoice then it’s easier to pray and be thankful? When we take the time to pray and be still before God then rejoicing and gratitude seem to spring forth. The path to cultivating a thankful heart is in practicing all three commands.
Rejoice Always
Can you remember a time when you were thirsty but couldn’t get any water? I’ll never forget in junior college giving an oral presentation when suddenly my mouth was so dry I couldn’t get another word out. I never gave another presentation without a bottle of water by my side again.
When Jesus was talking to the Samaritan woman at the well he referred to himself as the living water.
Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life. (John 4:13)
We have the hope of eternal life by believing in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We also have his presence, the living water, available to us at all times. He is our sustenance.
The key to rejoicing is tapping into the source of joy— Jesus.
We can always find joy when we walk with him through our trials.
Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. Psalm 16:11
Pray Continually
How do you pray continually? We do this by having a prayerful attitude throughout the day. We can pray frequently and talk to God all day as we focus our mind on him through conversational prayer. Ask him for guidance during the day as you are faced with decisions to make. Tell him your thoughts while you are driving. Pray for God to help you live for him. Ask God to show you any sin in your life that you may be unaware of.
Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm (139:23)
Be thankful in all circumstances
On Thanksgiving, my family usually shares what we are thankful for. I have always related thankfulness to being thankful for things. However, this verse isn’t saying to be thankful for all things but in all things. When hard times come we can be thankful in the sorrow because God is with us. He uses our trials to make us mature and complete.
When I was nineteen I was really sick and kept going to the doctor but was told that I was suffering from “a long flu.” It got to the point where I was bedridden and couldn’t even make it to the bathroom. In a desperate plea to get back to normal, I went to the doctor again. I had lost 14 pounds in two weeks. It turns out I had Salmonella. I was severely dehydrated— I couldn’t even walk. I remember laying in bed crying because I just wanted to get better. Then suddenly I felt an unexplainable peace and my tears just stopped. I immediately recalled this beautiful, old hymn:
Give thanks with a grateful heart
Give thanks to the Holy One, Give Thanks because He’s given Jesus Christ, His Son.
And now,
Let the weak say I am strong
Let the poor say I am rich
because of what the Lord has done, for us
Give thanks.
Are you overwhelmed with your kids? In an argument with your husband? Struggling financially? Are you uncertain of your future and your health?
Cling to the Lord and pour out your heart to him in prayer. These are often our most tender moments with Jesus as we feel him minister to our hurting hearts.
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (James 1:2)
It’s easy to tell someone to just be thankful. I think that people truly want to have an attitude of gratitude but just don’t know how. It doesn’t just happen without some effort to focus our thoughts on God.
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:8)
Just as we till and prepare the land for the growth of crops, we must practice rejoicing and prayer in order to produce a harvest of thankfulness.
Yes, if Jesus is the source of our joy then we can always find something to be thankful for.
So true Melanie! May Jesus always be the source of our joy! Blessings to you!
My family has written in a notebook since 1998. I write a little about the day and then we each take a page to write what we are grateful for that year. Love looking back through it to see how the boys age and what they are grateful for changes.
Karen, How wonderful! Isn’t it great to look back and see how God has answered your prayers and brought you through the difficult times that you didn’t understand at the time? Thank you so much for visiting!
Beautiful post! Prayer does lead to a thankful heart. And rejoicing should lead to prayer!
Thank you Tara! I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving!
Lots of wisdom here. Today my husband is gone. We’re not celebrating the holiday today. I could be sad and bitter or find God’s perspective for me, which is always the key to finding my thankful heart when life isn’t going the way I would selfishly want, as well as remembering all the hard times that were so clearly God’s plan for refining me.
I’m so sorry your husband was gone on Thanksgiving. My husband has worked many Christmases and Thanksgivings as well. We always adjusted our schedules as well to celebrate on different days. I pray that God will give you peace and joy and comfort especially during the hard days. God bless you Jennifer!
What a beautiful reminder! In a world and culture that is constantly wanting more and more the grateful attitude is withering away sadly even among believers. Thank you for the take-aways in this post!
Thank you for your kind words! Have a blessed Thanksgiving!
This is an amazing post! Gratitude is ever-so-important. Thanks so much for linking up with The Alder Collective! Hope you’ll join us again this week!
Thank you! I enjoy linking up with The Alder Collective!
Wow!! What an encouraging, inspirational, truth in this article. We can never thank God enough for all He has given us past, present, and future. Truly the love of God written in this that touched my heart and soul tremendously. God Bless you!
Thank you so much for your kind comment Tammy! God is so good to us and is always there for us! Thank you for visiting!
I love this post! I’ve never really thought about the fact that doing part of what that verse says leads to the other two. I’ve certainly experienced it, but I’ve never put two and two together. It’s sort of comforting and makes the verse seem less intimidating!
Thank you Charlene! Until I studied the verse, I never noticed the correlation either. I love it when God’s word reveals truth to our hearts that we never thought of before!
I find this post so encouraging! It’s important to focus on the small things, even when life is hard. Having an intentional attitude of gratitude can help us get through the tough times by remembering that we still have God’s blessings.
P.S. You should share your post with Thankful Thursday!
https://bellebrita.com/2015/11/thankful-thursday-women-supporting-women/
Thank you so much for visiting Brita! Thank you for inviting me to your link-up too! I linked up:)
Love to have a chance to visit after you left a comment on my blog today! I love your sharing on having a grateful heart, and the relevant use of scripture weaved in and out makes your post like a prayer! I love the scripture about praying without ceasing — but now thinking of praying as cultivating thankfulness..lots of gems here about having a grateful heart!
I’m so glad you came by Kathy! I appreciate your nice comment and I’m happy to meet you!
Valerie,
Your blog is wonderful!
Anytime I have a point of discouragment, or loss of hope, I somehow get led to your blog quite a bit! Thank you so much for everything. Your encouragement and your beautiful faith in our Lord
Jesus inspires me to keep on keepin on and deepen my relationship when I tend to beat myself up. you are truly blessed! Thank you!
Toni, this is the first thing I read this morning. What a wonderful way to start the day! I want to thank you for leaving such an encouraging comment and for taking the time to write this ! I hope you have a great day. Thank you for reading my blog.
Thank you for sharing in our #SmallVictoriesSundayLinkup! I really enjoyed reading this post & it was such a great reminder of how important our relationship with our faith is…..even just talking to God during the day is still fellowship. I really appreciate this because sometime my time with HIM can be waiting in the carpool line or even in the grocery store line. Great psot!
Thank you Tiffani! I totally relate to the carpool line. I spend a lot of time there. I’m so glad that you stopped by. Thank you!
I agree that it is difficult to maintain a grateful heart. Thanks for this encouraging post. Visiting from Small Victories Sunday
Thank you for understanding. Sometimes it’s hard to remember to be thankful and we have to be intentional about it.
Hello Valerie, You are my neighbor on today’s link up party Word of God Speak. Having a thankful heart is something I find needs to be intentional. We have to be still long enough to find the little things just as important as the big things in life to be thankful for. I have learned this myself over many years and now it is like a habit. Scripture tells us over and over to continually give thanks in ALL circumstances. The good, the bad, the ugly. Enjoy your weekend!
Wise words Michelle! It’s so important to be still so that we can gain perspective and appreciate everything that God has blessed us with. Thank you for visiting!
Valerie! This is a wonderful post. I want to remember that: rejoicing, prayer, and thankfulness all work together to fuel each other. So true. I appreciate your honesty and your practical suggestions.
Pinning and tweeting because this is so good!
Thank you so much Betsy! Your comment made me smile! Thank you so much for sharing. Have a blessed day!
Thanksgiving is the only part of fall that I enjoy! I love this month to focus on gratitude, especially for my children.
Hi Ana,
I’m so blessed that you stopped by and took the time to comment. I love Thanksgiving too! I hope to slow down and appreciate all the blessings there are to be thankful for!
I love the reminder that we’re not instructed to just be thankful for things, but in all things. Sometimes this is so hard to do, but the more I practice it, the more I experience what true joy really is. Thanks for this timely reminder, Valerie. Such truth!
Hello Abby! True joy is found when we can dig deep “in all things” and remember that God loves us and will never leave us to live our lives alone! I’m so thankful for that. I’m also thankful for friends like you who love the Lord and share His message! Bless you!
Valerie, I am so thankful for this post. I cherish every reminder during this season to celebrate gratitude — not to rush on by it on the way to Christmas!
I’m so glad you enjoyed the post. Thank you for your kind comment. Let’s soak up the grateful moments and enjoy this season. God bless you!