12 Disciplines of a Grateful Heart

Part 11

Keep a record of God’s faithfulness to you

There’s nothing quite like reading over the blessings you have received from the Lord and being grateful all over again.

We have so much to be thankful for and we experience so much of God’s mercy and love every day. God’s goodness to us is immeasurable, incalculable, unfathomable, boundless, unlimited, innumerable and so vast that we can’t even grasp the depth of God’s love and we definitely can’t count his abundant blessings.

But we can do something to help be a reminder. And that is to keep a record of God’s faithfulness. This means writing it down. Finding a way that works for you to keep a record of his goodness. Whether that be a daily journal or a list on the side of the fridge or notes on your phone. Whatever you choose to do is not the issue, it’s choosing to do it that’s important.

We read of God’s love in the Bible and we enjoy reading the stories of his blessings on the lives of people in days gone by. But we can write our own stories too. Stories of goodness, mercy and love.

By making it a point to sit down and stop and think about what God has given you and all he has done for you, you will develop a heart of gratitude as you read over the evidences of his love toward you.

When you keep a record, be specific. Don’t hold back on the detail, so that in days to come, you can go back over those blessings and remember exactly what it was God did for you and how it was that he answered your prayer. These should be an encouragement to us to keep on. To keep serving, to keep loving, to keep showing mercy to others.

As we write down our records of God’s faithfulness, our hearts begin to overflow with gratitude and love. We recall blessings and answers to prayer, however large or small. We give thanks for the little things, like the birdsong outside our window or the crystal clear water of a stream or a cloudless sky or a peaceful night of rest.

Lamentations 3:22-23

 It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed,

 because his compassions fail not.

 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

Psalm 36:5

 Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens;

 and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.

So, what are you waiting for? Grab a pen and some paper and start your list! There is not enough time in this life to list everything God has done for us, but at least we can make a start and begin to develop a heart of gratitude and let our praise of him flow from our lips and let our lives be a testimony to others of his goodness to us. 

Psalm 145:9

 The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies

are over all his works.

Count Your Blessings

When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed,

When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,

Count your many blessings, name them one by one,

And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.

Refrain:

Count your blessings, name them one by one,

Count your blessings, see what God has done!

Count your blessings, name them one by one,

Count your many blessings, see what God has done.

Are you ever burdened with a load of care?

Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?

Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly,

And you will keep singing as the days go by.

When you look at others with their lands and gold,

Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;

Count your many blessings—money cannot buy

Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high.

So, amid the conflict whether great or small,

Do not be discouraged, God is over all;

Count your many blessings, angels will attend,

Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.

12 Disciplines of a Grateful Heart

Part 10

Try a voluntary fast from something you take for granted

In developing a grateful heart, we’ve learnt quite a few things that we can do to help grow that spirit of thankfulness, but when we come to this one, it may not be so easy.  No one really enjoys fasting. We don’t like to abstain from eating or drinking for a period of time. It’s not very enjoyable.

In the Bible, we see many instances of fasting. Esther, Nehemiah, Moses, David and even the Lord Jesus himself and countless others fasted and prayed for different reasons. I’m not going to go into detail on fasting, but I just want to explain a little about what the author of these 12 disciplines is trying to get at.

I’m not sure that he used the correct word, fast, as fasting has to do with denying yourself food or drink for religious purposes. When we are trying to develop a grateful heart, through fasting, the term is loosely used here as we are talking more about denying yourself of something you take for granted, in order for you to become more grateful. Not just food and drink.

If you fast, from food,  you will find that when you give thanks for your long awaited meal, it will take on a whole new meaning. Your heart will be grateful for that first mouthful. But, also, if you walk to work and around town instead of taking the car, it will make you thankful for your vehicle. If you turn off the air conditioning in your home, you will soon be thankful for that blessing too.

We have so much to thank God for and often we don’t acknowledge it or take any notice of it until it’s taken away. We all know someone who has lost a loved one and regretted that they didn’t spend more time with them or tell them they loved them more often.

We take so many things in life for granted. But God is the giver of gifts and all good things. He is the one that blesses us with the ‘things’ we often take for granted.

James 1:17

 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,

and cometh down from the Father of lights,

with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

Denying ourselves can lead us to become more grateful. Now, I’m not saying to go on a holiday away from your family, just so you can remember how much you miss them and love them, but just take note of the people and things in your life that you have to give thanks to God for.  And offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving to the only one who truly deserves our praise and worship.

Psalm 116:17

 I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving,

and will call upon the name of the LORD.

Psalm 107:22

And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving,

 and declare his works with rejoicing.

12 Disciplines of a Grateful Heart

Part 9

Thank God publicly and corporately

Psalm 35:18

 I will give thee thanks in the great congregation:

 I will praise thee among much people.

God never expected us or wanted us to become hermits once we became a Christian. His will is for us to have fellowship with other believers.

Hebrews 10:25

Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

When we join with other believers, we are able to encourage each other as we share the blessings God has given us. We are able to tell of God’s goodness and faithfulness and be a blessing in someone else’s life.

In this passage in Psalms, David tells of his difficulties with his enemies and the struggles he’s facing, but then, when he comes to verse 18, he says “I will give thee thanks”, and not just in his prayer closet, alone, but “in the great congregation”.

David makes a point to tell us that he plans to share his God-given blessings with many people. The great congregation doesn’t mean the quality of the people, but the quantity of the people. In other words, many people. He is going to praise God in public among the people. He is going to let others know of God’s blessing upon his life. Publicly and corporately!

How often do we hide our blessings from others. We are abundantly blessed every day, and yet we choose to keep them to ourselves and not share what God has done for us with those around us.

Just recently, I heard testimony time referred to as “the Baptist moment of silence”. How true and yet, how sad. When we are called upon at church, to share something God has done in our lives, we become silent. We say nothing. We don’t share. Why is that? It can’t be that we haven’t been blessed and that God has done nothing for us. Why are we afraid to sing His praises in public?

We never know how sharing our blessing with others may touch someone’s life in a particular way and in turn bless them.

Praising and thanking the Lord publicly is seen many times in scripture. Even the Lord Jesus praised publicly. We read in John the account of Lazarus’ resurrection.

John 11:41-42

Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.

The Lord Jesus thanked the Father publicly, in front of others, so that His words would benefit others around Him. He made sure that He gave thanks vocally, and publicly so others would know God’s blessing.

Yes, there is a place for private worship and giving of thanks, but we should not neglect sharing God’s blessings and giving thanks publicly. We all have something to share, we all have much to thank God for and we all have a voice. A voice to use in praise. A voice to raise in thankfulness. A voice to lift in gratitude.

 God is so good to us and He wants us to let others know of His goodness. We can be a light to a dark world. We can sing His praises and let the world know that God answers prayer. That God is on our side.

And in a church setting, we can give praise to God so that others may be blessed and encouraged to keep fighting the good fight, to keep serving, to keep praying, to keep loving, to keep giving.

Psalm 22:22

 I will declare thy name unto my brethren:

 in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.

Psalm 150:1-6

 Praise ye the LORD. 

Praise God in his sanctuary: 

praise him in the firmament of his power. 

Praise him for his mighty acts: 

praise him according to his excellent greatness. 

Praise him with the sound of the trumpet:

 praise him with the psaltery and harp.

 Praise him with the timbrel and dance:

 praise him with stringed instruments and organs. 

Praise him upon the loud cymbals:

 praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.

 Let every thing that hath breath

 praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.

12 Disciplines of a Grateful Heart

Part 8

Set aside time daily to express thanks to God

Ephesians 5:20

 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father

 in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

Setting aside some time daily to take time to praise God is a good way to cultivate a grateful heart. The more we praise Him, the more we find to give Him thanks for. We will never run out of things to praise Him for.

Many times in scripture we read of people giving thanks and often we are commanded to praise. A grateful heart has to be cultivated and we have to practice thankfulness. Who better to give our praise to than God?

There are many verses encouraging us to pray throughout the day, but we should also use these times for praise. Not just supplication, but actually, seriously, taking time to praise and be thankful and tell God sincerely that we are grateful for the blessings we receive at His hand.

Psalm 5:3

My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD;

 in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.

Psalm 55:17

 Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray,

and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.

Psalm 119:62

 At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee

because of thy righteous judgments.  

Setting that time aside every day, whether at the beginning or the end of your day, make a conscious effort to praise. Keep a list of blessings, so that when you sit to thank Him, you will be reminded of His goodness.

What an encouragement it is to my heart, when I am feeling overwhelmed or down or disheartened, to be able to stop and praise God for all He’s done. I find that after only a short while, the sky is brighter, the birds sing sweeter, the darkness lifts and my perspective changes and I can smile in gratefulness to my great Saviour.

Go ahead and try it. Take time to give thanks daily!

And watch your gratitude meter grow!

12 Disciplines of a Grateful Heart

Part 7

Give your attention and care to those whose lives

 make your particular blessings stand out by comparison.

How many times do we feel discouraged about our circumstances? Often. But when we take a look around, we will always find someone who is worse off than us. Our blessings stand out in comparison to what they’re going through.

One of the ways to develop a grateful heart is to look for those less fortunate than us and give them our attention and care. We will soon see that we are blessed beyond measure. Our problems pale into insignificance when we see what others are dealing with. We can lift up our voices in praise to God for His goodness.

Some around us are dealing with a terminal illness, or the death of a child, or a crumbling marriage or bankruptcy or any number of things. And yet, we like to think that our particular problem is insurmountable and devastating and there is no way we can praise God. But God gives us what we can bear and He never forsakes us.

The lost world doesn’t have the hope we have, and if we stop and look and listen, we will see how truly blessed we are and it should cause us to fall on our faces in worship of such a great God, who knows our weaknesses yet chooses to shower his love upon us, each and every day.

Psalm 35:27

 Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause:

 yea, let them say continually, Let the LORD be magnified,

 which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.

💗 Beautiful Grandbabies 💗

 The grandkids are growing so fast,

so I ducked over briefly to Abbi's to 

try and get a few photos. 

Mimi wasn't too keen on sibling photos

and Lydia was getting hungry,

so I just took a few snaps. 

A Broken Cucumber, A Squashed Orange

And some Torn Cauliflower Leaves

If that strange title has piqued your interest,

then head on over to my other blog to see what it's all about.

https://learnliveloveshare.blogspot.com/

All the Recent Happenings in One Post!

For those of you who don't like

to read my waffling on, this post is for you.

Here's what's been going on lately, 

in a very condensed version.

 We recently had a nice dinner and fire

with family and friends in the backyard on a cool night.

(yes it has been cold here lately)

And our little grandbabies are growing

up so quickly. It's time for Grandma to get

busy with another photo shoot! (hopefully soon)

We also had a lovely visit from Dave's sister

and family. We had a nice picnic lunch out at the gorge

and a beautiful view from the lookout. 

Miriam loves to play Grandma's piano. 

Abbi and James have a new deck /verandah 

for entertaining now. It's lovely. 

Emilee and Laine have moved out of town

to a house on the station that Laine works for. (20 minutes from Katherine)

Mim got to try out the trampoline with Aunty Moo.

(ok, so Grandma tried it out too. You knew I would) 

Growing up so quickly. 

Laine and Em's place. You know where I'll be going

for some peace and quiet now! 

And lastly, it was Territory Day on Monday,

and this year, we were given a HEAP of fireworks

for a job Dave did. So we had a blast (pun intended)

shooting them all off at Abbi's place! 

We managed to not get hurt or set fire to much.

This was the first year we had the BIG bangers, 

so it was very exciting stuff! 

Besides that, Dave and I and the girls 

are keeping busy 24/7 with work and business.

I have taken over Emilee's freight delivering, 

so my muscles are getting a workout and complaining

about it frequently. (my muscles, not me, of course) 

And that's the short version! 

12 Disciplines of a Grateful Heart

Part 6

Turn your attention from your problems to God’s priorities

At times our problems seem so insurmountable, and we can’t see how any of it can be working for our good. But thankfully, God sees the big picture, He has 20/20 vision and He sees into the future and knows what’s best for us. He knows what good our problems can accomplish in our lives. He sees our beginning and our ending all at once. What a comforting thought that is.

The difficult thing for us to do is to turn our attention away from our difficulties and focus entirely on God and His priorities. We know that His ways are not our ways. There will be times when we don’t understand why God allows certain things in our lives. Many times, we are called upon to give up our plans, and just follow Him. Our plans may seem important and well thought out, but they may not be His plans.

Romans 11:33

 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!

how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!

This verse stresses the fact that God has all wisdom and knowledge. His judgments are unsearchable. We can’t even begin to grasp His ways and the workings of His mind. It is our job to blindly put our faith in Him and follow Him wherever He leads. We shouldn’t stress ourselves to try and find out His ways, as they are past finding out. They are impossible to understand.

It’s easy to get caught up following our little agenda and thinking that what we’ve planned is the only way. But we must remember that we are on this earth to do God’s will and not our own. Praise God that He is omniscient (all knowing) and He sees far off into the distance and He will do what’s best for us.

Despite how we may feel, despite the doubts we may have, our obedience is more important than anything and God’s rewards are better than any earthly rewards we can receive.

If God knows our beginning and our end and loves us with an everlasting love, why would He steer us the wrong way and take us down a path that is wrong for us? He wouldn’t! It’s us that takes ourselves down the wrong path, stubbornly refusing to do God’s will, setting our own high-minded priorities, contrary to what God would have us do. And we wonder why our lives turn out so messed up. If only we would turn our attention off our own problems and plans and focus on what God would have us do, and follow His perfect plan, our lives would be a lot more peaceful.

So, how does this discipline of a grateful heart fit in? Paul Thigpen puts it like this:

“Jesus gave the Father thanks for His last meal just hours before the horrible death He knew what was waiting (Mt. 26:26). How could He be grateful for such a seemingly small thing when He was about to endure such suffering? Jesus could be grateful because He saw the bigger picture of God's plan 

John 13:3 Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands,

and that he was come from God, and went to God;

 Because of that perspective, Jesus could give thanks for a Last Supper that would establish the glorious new covenant He had come to make possible.”

He saw the bigger picture and because of that, He was able to give thanks to God and do the will of His father.

Now, we don’t see God’s master plan, but we can still give thanks for what God brings into our lives, knowing that God loves us and will always do what is best for us. His priorities may not line up with our ideas and our plans, but His plans are always perfect. And our hearts should flow with gratitude to Him.

There are so many times that God keeps us from the harm that would have befallen us had we continued on the path we were set on taking. But He takes us down a different road, because He knows what lies ahead. Praise God for the twists and turns He encourages us to take. The straight road we have planned for ourselves may look easy, but the winding path He takes us on is the better path. It leads to a better destination. One we may not have considered, but one that has eternal value.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Give God praise and let thankfulness flow from your lips. For His ways are not our ways and His thoughts not our thoughts. What a comfort it is to know that God doesn’t think like us. He doesn’t have our human frailty, our failings, our poor vision. We can turn our attention away from our problems and focus on the priorities He has for us. Only then will we know His peace.  

When my way seems dark and drear and the future I don’t know,
My heart feels so empty as the tears unending flow.
When my heart breaks with sorrow and a tempest fills my soul,
This one thing I know for sure: my God is in control.

His way is perfect, His way is perfect.
Though I don’t understand His wise and loving plan,
His way is perfect. His way is perfect.
Take my life and make a vessel purified.
God makes no mistakes, His way is best.

When the toils of life are come and my heart is worn with care,
I faint ‘neath the burden of a cross I cannot bear.
When the joy has departed from my sorrow stricken soul,
This one thing I know for sure: my God is in control.

His way is perfect, His way is perfect.
Though I don’t understand His wise and loving plan,
His way is perfect. His way is perfect.
Take my life and make a vessel purified.
God makes no mistakes, His way is best.

Wilds Music.