Thankfulness IS Believing

A good yardstick for believing is one's degree of thankfulness. Being thankful to God means there is a good amount of believing going on. There is so much around us to remind us of God's goodness.  Just as no amount of darkness can ever cover light, God's love always outshines the evil that exists in this world.

As I read through chapter by chapter and book by book (I and II Samuel, Chronicles, Psalms and several more) of David's life and his heart for God, thankfulness pops up everywhere. David got it done for God. He was able to get through all the hard things and do big things, because he really acknowledged the goodness of God in his life. His worship was not a religious exercise, it was heart-felt devotion and true.

The world is in dire need of a good dose of thankful living. It is the greatest thing we can teach to our kids. The way we teach it not necessarily by telling them to be thankful, but by reminding them of the great things God has done, and teaching them to remember all the ways in which God has poured his heart out, and how God loves them and shows his love everyday. There are plenty of things to point out. God's handiwork is everywhere.  Sometimes I think we do too much for our kids and don't leave room for God to bless them himself.

I think we can do that to ourselves too. We go out roaring to take on the world's pressures sometimes, and all we really need to do is stand still and wait on God. The Israelites in the Old Testament faced off against many enemies. In one such battle God told them he was going to handle it:

17 Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you.2 Chronicles 20:17

When we see God step in like this it is mind blowing! It says in Romans that it is the goodness of God that leads a heart to God. We learn to love God not by being told we should love God, we love God in response to his love. I John puts it very simply:

We love God, because he first loved us! (I John 4:19)

I am so thankful to God for this very reason.  Even on bad days, he is even more lavish with his love if I let him. That is, of course, unless on that particular day I like being miserable. Usually when that happens I start wondering who turned out the lights because miserableness is just plain miserable. Many times when I'm having a rough day, he leads me into a giving situation and that fires me up and out of the mud.

God has got a lot of love up his sleeve to help out. We just have to get rid of the condemnation, guilt and shame and access righteousness, which he gave us long ago in Christ. That is what believing is all about! When we see the results of this powerful love over and over we build more and more thankfulness into our heart which insulates us against the next negative that comes along. Hey, if he raised Christ from the dead; how simple it must be to rescue us from the negative mind doldrums with the word!