Counting My Blessings by Seph Schlueter: A 7-Day DevotionalSample

Day 2

My mom had this old, portable radio when I was growing up. In order for it to work, you had to screw on the antenna, extend it, and keep adjusting it until you could get the right signal. Sometimes I would spend what felt like forever trying to get the radio to work only to realize that the antenna wasn’t put on right.

Everything was static until the right things were in the right places.

Thanksgiving is our spiritual antenna. It doesn’t just keep us from forgetting. It also increases our awareness of God and clears our connection to Him.

One of the most convicting passages in scripture is in Romans 1. In it, Paul talks about how all of nature itself is proof of the existence of God. That God’s qualities are “clearly seen” because of creation, and therefore, men are “without excuse.”

So, sounds like God’s existence should be pretty clear to everyone, right? You’d think. But something happened to dampen or cut off mankind’s awareness to God..that made what should be so easily seen, hidden. Paul says that though they knew Him, they did not honor Him or “give Him thanks,” and as a result, their “foolish hearts were darkened.”

In case you missed it, I’ll spell it out. When we don’t give thanks, our hearts are darkened and the connection to God that we were made for grows fuzzy. Thanksgiving is the hinge. It’s small and unassuming, yet with it, a door is able to swing wide open. But a door without hinges isn’t a door; it’s a wall.

We need thanksgiving. We need that hinge that opens wide the door of our hearts to God. Maybe you’ve been feeling disconnected from God. Like your connection is off. Like what once was so clear now seems foggy.

I’ve got an idea for you. Start thanking Him.

Use that hinge. In the same way that when we don’t thank God, our connection grows dim, when we do thank Him, things begin to become clear again.

Thanksgiving opens our awareness to God. Thank Him.

ACTIVATION

Read Romans 1:18-23. Think about where your heart has grown dark in your awareness of God. Repent for ways you’ve turned away from Him, and start giving Him thanks. Find a place where you can do it out loud; there is power to the spoken word. God didn’t think “let there be light!” He spoke it! Give thanks to the Lord. Put on a praise song that speaks of gratitude for what He’s done. Make this a regular practice in your life, and I believe that your awareness of God will grow.