Thankful

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. 

Psalm 100:4

We are commanded to be thankful as Believers in Christ. Thankfulness is not a suggestion, it is a command. How can we grow in thanksgiving? How can we increase in giving thanks to God? Try these three steps.

**Realize your blessings. Take a moment each day and realize just how much God has blessed you. Take a look at your material blessings, your physical blessings, and your spiritual blessings. Write them down and take inventory of God’s goodness. This first step will put you on a path of thankfulness as we become cognizant of the bounty God has heaped upon us.

**Focus on what you have been given. Too often we focus our hearts upon the things we don’t have. God’s has blessed us mightily, but, we tend to focus our minds on what we have missed. If you desire to grow in thankfulness, focusing on God’s blessings will help you to comprehend the goodness and grace of God.

**Make thanksgiving a daily part of your prayer life. As you pray each day, give thanks. Paul tells us we are to make our requests known to God “with thanksgiving.” (Philippians 4:6)  Praying with thanksgiving to God for His goodness multiplies our “thanksgiving quotient” as we grow in Christ.

Try these steps this week and it will make a difference. Let us strive, as Christians, to make Thanksgiving more than a season or a day. May we seek to make thanksgiving a way of life every day!

Tony French