Christ Wesleyan Church
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Thanksliving: Rather Than a Day or a Season, Make It a Lifestyle
1 Thessalonians 5:18 NLT
A. Gratitude is commanded.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 NLT
1. Gratitude is not a feeling.
2. Gratitude is an act of the will.
3. Gratitude is a commandment.
4. Gratitude is transformational to our world.
“Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
B. Gratitude is in our original design…
Colossians 3:15 NLT
1. The benefits of gratitude:
a. Gratitude improves physical health.
b. Gratitude improves psychological health.
c. Gratitude enhances empathy and reduces aggression.
d. Grateful people sleep better.
e. Gratitude improves self-esteem.
f. Gratitude increases mental strength.
g. Gratitude opens doors to relationships.
Ephesians 5:20 NLT
2. It is a prescription for worry.
Philippians 4:6 NLT
3. It is a prescription for grumbling.
Philippians 2:14-15 NLT
4. It is a prescription for discontentment, envy, and jealousy.
Hebrews 13:5 NLT
C. Gratitude is re-focusing your thoughts from what you don’t have…to what you do have…
1. Realizing and learning that God is in control of your life and your circumstances.
Philippians 4:12 NLT
2. Giving thanks for all that comes into your life and trusting God to control your life.
Ephesians 5:20 NLT
3. Letting gratitude guide your conversation and your actions.
Colossians 3:17 NLT
4. The only worship you can offer God that is pleasing and acceptable is a heart full of thanksgiving.
Hebrews 12:28 NLT
D. When we express thanks...
1. It benefits the receiver.
1 Thessalonians 1:2 NLT
2. It benefits the giver.
Psalms 92:1 NLT
3. It benefits the witnesses.
Psalms 92:2 NLT
4. It creates an atmosphere of contentment.
Psalms 95:2 NLT
E. Ways to be thankful…
1. Think of three good things at the end of each day.
2. Send three gratitude messages a week.
3. Find what is good in your day.
4. Practice positive self-talk.
5. Remember those who have blessed your life and the blessings you have received.
6. Start a gratitude journal.
7. Write a thank you letter (possibly read it face to face).
8. Make a gratitude visit.
9. Accept a gift with gratitude and pay it forward.
10. Think and pray for new ways to develop an attitude of gratitude in all of your life!
“Gratefulness is the key to a happy life that we hold in our hands, because if we are not grateful, then no matter how much we have we will not be happy — because we will always want to have something else or something more.” — Brother David Steindl-Rast
“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” William Arthur Ward
Psalms 136:1-3 NIV
1 Chronicles 16:8-12, 31, 34, 36 NIV