Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
When was the last time you thanked God for your pain? I know that seems very backwards, but today's Verse of the Day shows us how we could be missing an opportunity to interact with God in those moments.
It comes from Ephesians chapter 5, verse 20. "And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."
When was the last time you thanked God for your pain? It feels weird, because we thank God for the things that we want. Or even just make it purely human—someone walks up to you and gives you a present you've been waiting for. You thank them out of gratitude in your heart. Their generosity toward you makes sense. You give gratitude back to them for those things, but there are moments that don't make sense.
There are the moments that leave you more with questions than answers. There are situations you walk through that cause you to wonder, God, where are You in this? I have no idea. When was the last time you thanked God in those moments?
Gratitude Shifts the Way You Think
For me, very recently, I've been learning how gratitude pulls me out of moments of temptation, when my mind starts to shift into a direction that I don't need to be going.
I've recognized that if I say, Jesus, thank You for Your presence. Thank You for Your nearness in my life. Thank You for… fill in the blank. Just look for something to thank Him for. I've noticed a shift in my thinking, and the longer I stay in gratitude, the further away I feel I get from that moment that I was just having.
There's something that shifts when you put your eyes on Jesus, when you say thank You to Him for a little thing. It doesn't have to be huge. Thank You, Lord, that I'm able to breathe right now. Thank You that I have clothes on my back. Thank You that I have a friend sitting right next to me. Gratitude shifts the way you think, and there's science to prove this.
I don't have the stats or the numbers in front of me. But they went into the brain, they did some scans, and they noticed that somebody dealing with anxious thoughts didn't deal with them when they started filling their heart and their mind with gratitude.
A Secret Weapon
I think this is a secret weapon that God has given to us, and we're seeing the purposes here when we choose to thank God for everything. In moments that we would have pushed aside and said, this doesn't feel like something I should be grateful for, I think we might be missing out on an opportunity to experience God's presence in those areas.
Thanking God in the Fight
I don't know about you, but for me, in moments where I wrestle with sin and I fail, I come back and I thank God for grace after my failure. What if we were to thank God for His grace as we're fighting the fight of faith that the Bible tells us about?
If we feel the oppression of the enemy coming against us, or we feel our situations encroaching on us, they're crouching at the door. They're waiting to take us out. What if we were to start thanking God in those moments? I wonder how many opportunities we miss to experience God's presence tangibly, personally, intimately because we push those opportunities to the side.
He Will Never Leave You
You might be in a moment right now where you don't know how you're going to get through it. Let me remind you of the truth. Jesus says, I will never leave you or forsake you. I'm not going to drop you just because your situation gets hard. Let that be a reason you thank Him today. You can say, Jesus, thank You for being with me. See if that changes things. See if that shifts the dynamic you feel in your heart and your mind.
Make a List
Find reasons to be grateful today, and practically, write them down if you need to remember, because you know how easy it is to shift to the left or to the right in the way that you think. Grab a piece of paper and say, I'm grateful for… and start making a list. Hang it up on your mirror so you don't forget. It's always in front of you.
Keep the Word of God forever in front of you and on your mind. Anytime the enemy tries to shake you, you can come back to the truth. Hold on to that anchor, and remain grateful through the struggle.
