The Power of Being Thankful: 365 Devotions for Discovering the Strength of Gratitude (67 page)

Faith is given to everyone, according to Romans 12:3, but that faith must be unleashed for it to do any practical good. It may sound spiritual to say, “I am full of faith,” but are you using your faith? Faith is released by praying, saying, and doing whatever God asks us to do:

Be thankful for the faith God has given you and begin putting it to work in your life by praying, saying, and doing.

Father, I am thankful that I can release my faith by simply coming to You in prayer, speaking Your promises, and doing what You tell me to do. Help me to stand in faith when the circumstances are against me. I thank You that I can trust You completely.

When we focus on what has gone wrong in our lives, it can start to seem that nothing ever goes right, but that is simply not true. You may have had difficult things take place over the course of your life, but the mind-set of gratitude realizes that the good times have outnumbered the bad.

Look at your life as a whole rather than focusing on tragedies, trials, and disappointments. Looking at the good will give you courage to deal with the bad things and avoid living in fear. Realizing that God is with you, helping you along the way, provides the courage you need to face the future boldly, knowing that you truly can overcome any obstacle in the strength and power of the Lord.

Father, when I am feeling discouraged or overwhelmed by life, help me to see all the good things You have done. I thank You that the good outweighs the bad. And I thank You that there are many more good things to come.

There have been times when we have all tried to handle our circumstances instead of trusting God to take care of them for us. It is not a sign of weakness to admit that we cannot help ourselves—it is the truth. You may be frustrated, struggling, and unhappy simply because you are trying to fix something you cannot do anything about. You may be trying to change something that only God can change.

While you are waiting for God to take care of the situation, I encourage you to be thankful that God is in control and to decide to enjoy the wait. That may be hard because it takes patience, but it pays marvelous dividends in the end. Waiting on God honors Him, and the Bible says that the person who honors God will be honored by Him (see 1 Samuel 2:30 NIV).

I thank You today, Father, that I don’t have to handle my circumstances on my own, but that You are here to help me. While I wait on You, help me to enjoy the process, knowing that You have good things in store.

One of the best ways to get your mind off a problem or a troubling situation is to go help someone else. When you display love to others, it not only blesses you, but it changes the world around you. Those are two great reasons to start living in love.

We’ve all tried selfishness, discouragement, and self-pity—and we have seen the terrible fruit of that. The world has seen the results of those things too. But thankfully, genuine love is different!

Let’s agree that we will live life God’s way—in gratitude and love. Be mindful to be a blessing to others (see Galatians 6:10), put on love (see Colossians 3:14), and live like Jesus. Jesus got up daily and went about doing good (see Acts 10:38). If we will follow that example, we are sure to change the world.

I thank You, Father, that there is a better way to live my life than focusing on my problems. Today, I choose to go out and follow the example of Jesus by doing good to others. With Your help, I am going to be an agent of change in the world around me.

Enjoying the abundant life Jesus died to give you is based on a decision you make, not on your circumstances. Thankfully, you can decide to be happy right where you are and to enjoy the life you have right now on the way to where you are going. You can make a firm decision to enjoy your journey.

You can begin by saying out loud, “I am going to enjoy my life.” Until you get that thought established in your mind, every morning when you wake up, before you even get out of bed, I encourage you to declare out loud, “I am going to enjoy this day! I am seizing the day! I am taking authority over the devil—the joy thief—even before he tries to come against me. I have made up my mind that I am going to keep my joy today!” Having a right mind-set always helps in every situation.

I thank You today, Father, that I can choose to live in the abundant life Jesus died to give me. I don’t have to live a miserable, unhappy life. I can choose to celebrate Your goodness and enjoy the life You have given me.