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Do you look at life through a glass half empty mentality? Do you ever find yourself resenting your life circumstances? Do you struggle with complaining throughout the day? Do you find yourself looking at life through a negative lens?
Before you hang your head in despair, there is hope. You are not stuck for the rest of your life as the designated complainer. 🙂 However, we need to know that nurturing a thankful heart is so much more than behavior modification. We can go to ridiculous lengths to change our external behavior but what we need to focus on is our heart.
Luke 6:45 says, “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”
We can’t fake out God. He cares about the state of our hearts. If we want to transform internally and externally, we need to partner with God in the renovation of our souls.
Immersion in scripture is a powerful way to cultivate a spirit of thankfulness. It’s not enough to just read a verse on gratitude. We need to intentionally engage with scripture, allowing the Holy Spirit to shape us from the inside out.
Are you ready to foster a heart of thankfulness? Here are practical ideas on how to immerse yourself in scripture plus fourteen verses that you can use to cultivate gratitude in your life today.
1. Thankful Scripture: How To Engage
2. Thankful Scripture: 14 Fantastic Scriptures
1. Thankful Scripture: How To Engage
There are a variety of ways that you can steep yourself in scripture. Here are some suggestions to get you started.
- Pray Scripture– Join with Christians throughout the ages by using the passages below as a prayer to God. Check out this article for more information about how to turn scripture into a prayer to God.
- Journal Scripture– There are many different ways to journal scripture. Here are two examples.
a. Use the verses below as a framework for your own prayers to God. Ask him to help you cultivate a thankful heart.
b. Make a quick list each day of the things that you are grateful for and post it in a prominent place around the house. Let that list serve as a reminder to praise God for his good gifts daily.
- Memorize Scripture- Here is a well-known but powerful practice. It’s amazing how the Holy Spirit can bring memorized passages to mind all throughout your day.
- Meditate on Scripture- Engaging with scripture is a marathon, not a sprint. The practice of meditating on scripture is all about sitting with God’s word and allowing the Holy Spirit to use it to transform your heart.
Read a passage (or verse) of scripture, and spend some time in silence and reflection. Allow the Holy Spirit elbow room to speak and cement the truth of his word in your heart.
- Sing Scripture– Turn scripture into song by singing your thankfulness to God. This is such a powerful practice that not many adults employ. Find a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed OR sing aloud your thankfulness to God with your family. Psalms is a great place to utilize this practice.
2. Thankful Scripture: 14 Fantastic Scriptures
Psalm 69:30, “Let me shout God’s name with a praising song, Let me tell his
greatness in a prayer of thanks.” MSG
Psalm 138:1-3, “Thank you! Everything in me says, “Thank you!” Angels listen as I sing my thanks. I kneel in worship facing your holy temple and say it again: “Thank you!” Thank you for your love, thank you for your faithfulness; Most holy is your name, most holy is your Word. The moment I called out, you stepped in; you made my life large with strength.” MSG
1 Chronicles 16:8-12, “Thank God! Call out his Name! Tell the whole world who he is and what he’s done! Sing to him! Play songs for him! Broadcast all his wonders! Revel in his holy Name, God-seekers, be jubilant! Study God and his strength, seek his presence day and night; Remember all the wonders he performed, the miracles and judgments that came out of his mouth.” MSG
Psalm 28: 6-7, “Blessed be God- he heard me praying. He proved he’s on my side; I’ve thrown my lot in with him. Now I’m jumping for joy, and shouting and singing my thanks to him.” MSG
Philippians 4:6, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” NIV
Psalm 100:1-5, “On your feet now—applaud God! Bring a gift of laughter, sing yourselves into his presence. Know this: God is God, and God, God. He made us; we didn’t make him. We’re his people, his well-tended sheep. Enter with the password: “Thank you!” Make yourselves at home, talking praise.Thank him. Worship him. For God is sheer beauty, all-generous in love, loyal always and ever.” MSG
Psalm 92:1-2, “What a beautiful thing, God, to give thanks, to sing an anthem to you, the High God! To announce your love each daybreak, sing your faithful presence all through the night” MSG
1 Chronicles 16:34, “Give thanks to God—he is good and his love never quits.” MSG
1 Thessalonians 5:18, “thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.” MSG
Psalm 100:3-5, “Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” MSG
Psalm 12:2-4, “Yes, indeed-God is my salvation. I trust, I won’t be afraid. God-yes God!-is my strength and song, best of all, my salvation!” Joyfully you’ll pull up buckets of water from the wells of salvation. And as you do it, you’ll say, “Give thanks to God. Call out his name. Ask him anything! Shout to the nations, tell them what’s he’s done, spread the news of his great reputation!” NIV
Psalm 107:17-22, “Some of you were sick because you’d lived a bad life, your bodies feeling the effects of your sin; You couldn’t stand the sight of food, so miserable you thought you’d be better off dead. Then you called out to God in your desperate condition; he got you out in the nick of time. He spoke the word that healed you, that pulled you back from the brink of death. So thank God for his marvelous love, for his miracle mercy to the children he loves; Offer thanksgiving sacrifices, tell the world what he’s done—sing it out!” MSG
Psalm 136:1-3, “Thank God! He deserves your thanks. His love never quits. Thank the God of all gods, His love never quits. Thank the Lord of all lords. His love never quits.” MSG
Jonah 2:7-9, “When my life was slipping away, I remembered God, And my prayer got through to you, made it all the way to your Holy Temple. Those who worship hollow gods, god-frauds, walk away from their only true love. But I’m worshiping you, God, calling out in thanksgiving! And I’ll do what I promised I’d do! Salvation belongs to God!” MSG
Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.,
If you want to know how to get started in living a deep life with God; grab our Deeper Life Beginners Guide (below). And join our community of moms who are hungry for more Jesus in their lives and in the lives of their families.
What about you? How do you develop thankfulness in your life? Leave a comment, and don’t forget to follow Most Important Work on Pinterest! [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]
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