Don’t Growl Be Grateful
Many of us will soon be sitting around a table with our families sharing with each other what we are thankful for in our lives. For some this will be easy, but others will find this impossible because their joy tank is empty.
John 16:24 24 Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.
Focusing on what has gone wrong or what could go wrong will cause us anxiety, stress, and a defeated attitude. We can’t experience happiness if we are focused on ourselves. If we focus on Christ and what He wants for us we will experience a complete joy, even if our reality is surrounded by chaos and confusion. When we pray according to God’s purpose and plan in our lives, He will lead us into the joy of answered prayer.
Through both nature and nurture, we tend to have a natural lean towards what’s negative. We are frustrated by the bad choices of others and yet we get upset when others treat us the same way.
We blame our feelings on our circumstances and become like addicts who need their next fix of things going the way they want, otherwise it’s emotionally, mentally, and relationally crash and burn.
The grass can always seem greener on the other side of life’s fences when our focus is on what we don’t have now and what we could have later, if we weren’t in our current relationships and situations. We are choosing to be unhappy and then blaming our emotional bankruptcy on others. We excuse ourselves and accuse others, and then we wonder why we are so defeated and depressed. There’s a better way to live.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Rather than focusing on what we are lacking, we can prayerfully look for what blessings God has for us in the eye of the storm, in the middle of the chaos, all the while trusting God’s will and purpose for our lives.
What is the Holy Spirit saying to you through these scriptures?
