Thankful, Grateful, Blessed

This time of year we have started to see many items around us that have the words “thankful,” “grateful,” “blessed” written on them. When we enter any home goods store we see numerous items that have these words written on them. Anything from sings, mugs, rugs, pillows and the list goes on. Maybe some of us adorn our home with such decor and therefore we see these words all around us in our home this time of year as well. This is of course the time of year that we celebrate Thanksgiving and therefore these items seem appropriate for the occasion. When we do look upon those items reminding us that we are blessed and that we should be thankful do we ever stop to remember that we are in fact blessed and do we stop to think about the reason we ourselves are thankful? Are we truly thankful for the blessings that we receive? Are we truly thankful for the people in our lives? As we feel thankful for the endless blessings we receive, who do we thank? Let’s take a moment, quiet ourselves and think of all the blessings in our lives, for they are endless. Every blessing that we receive is from God. James 1:17 says that “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. (NIV) It is God alone who deserves our thanks and our praise! It is of course a good thing to thank those around us and to let the people in our lives know that we are thankful for them, for this is pleasing to God! Let us always remember that all the love we receive in our lives comes from God and it is God who blesses us and loves us through the people in our lives. We should be faithful in thanking the people in our lives and showing them appreciation and love while we always remember that it is God alone who has blessed us with them and it is God alone who blesses us through them.

As we read in James, every blessing, every good gift comes from God! There is one ultimate gift that God has blessed us with and that gift is God’s free gift of salvation for our souls in His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, who died on the cross to save us from our sins! We are all imperfect sinners. (Romans 3:23) Our sin separates us from God and our sin leads to death. (Isaiah 59:2, Romans 6:23) John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (NIV) Jesus Christ died on the cross to save us from our sins, He was buried and then He rose to life again, (1 Corinthians 15:3-4) and all who believe in Jesus receive eternal life in Him and eternal forgiveness for all of their past, present and future sins in Him. We cannot save ourselves and salvation for our souls is found in no one else, for salvation is only found in Jesus! (Acts 4:12) Salvation in Jesus is a free gift from God and we must receive this free gift from God by faith. (Romans 3:25) Romans 10:9 says that “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (NIV) If you have come to understand and admit that you are a sinner and if you believe in your heart that Jesus died on the cross to save you from your sins and that He rose to life again, then you can invite Jesus into your heart and your life as your personal Lord and Savior and receive eternal life in Him. You can pray a prayer like this:

Dear Heavenly Father,

I know that I am a sinner and that I need Jesus to save me. I believe that Jesus died on the cross to save me from my sins and that He rose to life again. God I am sorry for my sin. I invite Jesus into my heart and my life as my personal Lord and Savior. I commit my life to you.

In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

If you prayed a prayer like this and accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior then you have been eternally forgiven for all of your past, present and future sins in Jesus and you have received eternal life in Him! Jesus loves us and He gave Himself for us to reconcile us to God by the shedding of His precious blood for us! Jesus paid the full price for us and He conquered sin and death for us! It is done, it is finished! All those who accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior become children of God! (John 1:12) God always works all things out for the good of His children! (Romans 8:28) If you have accepted Jesus Christ as you personal Lord and Savior, then it is no longer you who lives but it is Jesus who lives in you and Jesus is your life. (Galatians 2:20, Colossians 3:4) You have died to sin and death and now you are alive to God in Jesus! (Romans 6:11) Jesus lives in your inner being and He is your life! Praise God for you have received the ultimate gift, eternal salvation for your soul in our Savior Jesus! It is by the grace of God that we are saved! Ephesians 2:8-9 says that “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. (NIV) We do not deserve forgiveness or life, in fact we deserve death and punishment because of our sins, but God has blessed us with His perfect love and His perfect grace in our Savior Jesus who loves us and gave Himself for us! It is God alone who we sin against and yet it is God who has blessed us with His free gift of salvation in Jesus! God opened our eyes and revealed to us the truth about our sinful nature and our sinful ways. God shared His truth with us and God taught us about our need for our Savior Jesus! God has blessed us with our faith to believe in Jesus and accept Him as our personal Lord and Savior and receive eternal life in Him! God has blessed us with His truly free gift of salvation in Jesus and God has blessed us with our faith in Jesus to believe in Him and receive Him as our personal Lord and Savior! As Romans 7:24-25 says “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! (NIV) As 2 Corinthians 9:15 says “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! (NIV)

God is in control of all things and His will is always done. As we mentioned earlier, God works all things out for the good of His children. (Romans 8:28) All those who believe in Jesus and accept Him as their personal Lord and Savior become children of God! If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, then you can rest assured knowing that you are guaranteed a perfectly blessed future in your Savior Jesus who lives in you! God always knows exactly what we need in each and every moment of our lives and God will always bless us with exactly what we need according to His perfect will! Even times that seem difficult in our lives are perfect blessings from God! God blesses us with struggles in our lives to teach us and shape us even further into the children of God that He has created us to be in Him! (James 1:2-4) God blesses us with struggles in our lives to discipline us as His precious, dearly loved children because, in Jesus, that is who we are! (Hebrews 12:7) God blesses us with struggles in our lives to better prepare us for the blessed eternal life to which we have been called in our Savior Jesus! So we must always remember that even struggles in our lives are perfect blessings that God has designed specifically for us to bless us with exactly what we need according to God’s perfect will! We are always perfectly blessed in every way by our God who loves us and has appointed us to eternal life in our Savior Jesus! Let us remember that we are instructed in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 to “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (NIV)

We have every reason to be thankful and it is God alone who is worthy of our honor and praise! Let us be faithful in praising God without ceasing on each and every day of our lives! As Colossians 2:6-7 says “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. (NIV) Be faithful in praising the Lord your God who has called you out of the darkness and into His Son, Jesus, who paid the full price for you to reconcile you to God! Let us also be faithful in thanking those around us and loving them with sincere hearts remembering that it is God who loves us through those people and it is God who blesses us abundantly through the people in our lives! Let us always remember that God is constantly sharing His truth and love with all of those around us through us! As children of God, who believe in Jesus, Jesus lives in our inner being and He is our life! (Galatians 2:20, Colossians 3:4) Jesus lives in us and He is the light of life! (John 1:4) Jesus is shining His light of life from within us for all to see! Let us always remember to be faithful in sharing the gospel of Jesus with others. Always remember that it is God who shares His gospel of Jesus through you and it is God who speaks through you as His gospel is shared, the gospel of your salvation! Let us always be careful to share the gospel of Jesus with gentleness and sincere love. We are all imperfect sinners who need Jesus! We must remember that we are sinners who have been saved by the perfect grace of God! Praise God that He has blessed us with our salvation in Jesus even when we are deserving of punishment and death. Let us share the gospel of Christ with the gentleness of Christ Jesus our Savior! Colossians 3:17 says “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (NIV)

So now let us remember to always be thankful for all of our endless perfect blessings giving thanks to God without ceasing! God blesses us perfectly always in every way and God alone is deserving of our praise! Let us rejoice in the Lord and go forth with sincere hearts overflowing with thanks for all of our blessings! Let us go forth giving endless praise to God and faithfully showing the people in our lives that we are thankful for them and the blessings that God blesses us with through those people! Let us be faithful to constantly give glory, praise and honor to our God and let us be faithful in living as children of God who have been called to eternal life in Jesus! Let us live in such a manner that makes all of those around us long for the life we have in Jesus and leaves them wondering how they themselves may receive life that is truly life in Jesus! All of this may lead to an opportunity to share with them that Jesus is the reason for our hope and our joy and our peace and we may get to share the gospel of Jesus with them! Praise God that we get to be the vessel through which God shares the gospel of Jesus with others! So let us be sincerely thankful and let us remember that when we see those items with the words “thankful” or “grateful” or “blessed” written upon them, that we truly are perfectly blessed by our God! Let us give God thanks and praise with sincere hearts overflowing with thanksgiving for our God and our Savior Jesus who loves us and gave Himself for us! Let us be a sincerely thankful and grateful people for we are truly blessed in every way!