Let’s talk about ways to practice gratitude.
I can admit that I have had very hard time with gratitude especially since things seldomly go my way.
My mindset was “How can I possibly be grateful when all hell is breaking loose all of the time? How can I express gratitude to you Lord when I’m depressed and broke?
Is there truly anything to be happy for when all I feel is anger and sadness all of the time? God, is this my life?”
Maybe you’re finding yourself in a similar situation with the same mindset and you feel like you’ve tried everything.
I want to dedicate this post to you by teaching you ways to practice gratitude daily despite your situation.
This post will be all about ways to practice gratitude.
Are you ready? Let’s geaux!
What Is Gratitude
Gratitude is an extension of your love towards God. It’s when you express thanks to Him and become one with Him through the power of your words.
Think about when you’re in love with someone. You tend to want to express your love towards them with both words and actions.
Gratitude is also like grabbing your attitude and giving it a reality check because your soul always needs a reminder of how many good things are happening around you.
When you actively practice gratitude, you go from discouraged to encouraged in a matter of seconds.
How many things can you thank God for right now?
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Benefits Of Practicing Gratitude
There are several benefits of practicing gratitude that produce healthy and helpful results in your life. Today, we’re going over spiritual benefits.
Next time, we’ll talk about the physical benefits of practicing gratitude. Stay tuned Bestie!
5 Spiritual Benefits Of Practicing Gratitude
1. A Kingdom That Cannot Be Shaken
Hebrews 12:28 ESV-Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for God is a consuming fire.
I don’t know about you, but I really dislike endings.
When things end, I usually get a little sad. In God, however, everything lasts forever.
If you’ve given you’re life to Christ, you’ve received His Spirit and He is the guarantee of your inheritance until you acquire full possession of it (Ephesians 1:14 KJV).
When you choose to live in God, you’re choosing to live in a Kingdom that cannot be shaken.
2. Strengthening Of Faith Through Trials
1 Peter 1:6-7 ESV-In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith-more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire-may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
The purpose of trials and hardships are to strengthen your faith which produces endurance. And once your endurance has a chance to grow, you will be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (James 1:2-4 NLT).
Try to keep this perspective: There is nothing happening to me because everything is happening for me!
Remember whose you are. You belong to the everlasting God and Savior Jesus Christ.
3. Blessed With Every Spiritual Blessing
Ephesians 1:3 ESV-Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
Spiritual blessings are the tools we need to navigate this Earthly realm. If you haven’t noticed by now…everything is spiritual.
We are just having a physical experience. An example of a spiritual blessing is using your voice to praise and sing to God.
Remember when Paul and Silas did this in prison? What happened next?
(See Acts 16:16-40).
4. Everlasting Love
Psalm 136:1 ESV-Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.
Human love is conditional and fickle. But God’s love for you will NEVER change.
God loves you at FULL capacity right now because you were created in His image after His likeness.
He is Love and He created you to be a target of His love.
5. Victory Over An Enemy
2 Corinthians 2:14 ESV-But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.
You can have the victory over any enemy standing in your way. If you’re facing depression, practice gratitude even if you don’t want to.
When you feel like things aren’t working in your favor, practice gratitude because it’s truly your way to victory.
Use the power of your voice to have an advantage over every situation.
{RELATED POST: How To Be Positive Everyday Even When Your Environment Isn’t}
Contentment is godly. It opens the door for gratitude to reign. Contentment doesn’t mean to settle, but it means to remain grateful where God has you. Click the image below to grab the Practicing Contentment Mini Bundle. Use it as a reminder that gratitude can help you thrive in every situation. Remember that where you are is holy because God is with you.
9 Ways To Practice Gratitude
1. Begin Your Day With Thanks
Psalm 118:24 NKJV-This is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.
Set your intentions in the morning and watch your day flow in that direction.
God literally gifted you another day and that alone is HUGE!
There are so many days that you could’ve lost your life, but you didn’t.
Today is another chance for you to live in the purpose God set for your life. You have so much to be thankful for.
2. Remember The Lord Your God
Deuteronomy 8:2 ESV-And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.
What has God already done for you? Take some time to go through the records of your memory.
If you can’t think of anything, you ask God to remind you and wait for His response.
You can even go into the Word and pull out things to thank Him for.
Example: Genesis 1:26 ESV-Then God said “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on earth.
“God, thank you for creating me in your image after your likeness and for choosing to give me dominion”.
3. Consciously Make The Choice To Express Gratitude
Hebrews 13:15 ESV-Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.
Your expression of gratitude will be a sacrifice because most times you WILL NOT feel like doing it.
In those moments, you have to consciously make the choice to praise God regardless of the situation.
When you make the choice to do this, He will always meet you.
4. Circumcise Your Heart Regularly
Deuteronomy 10:15-16 ESV-Yet the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all people, as you are this day. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart and be no longer stubborn.
To circumcise your heart means to cut off any barriers that keeps you from choosing God.
A personal example of this is how I would use food as a way to cope with the stresses of life.
Food was comfort for me, but the Bible says that God is the Source of all comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).
This means that I can no longer run to food for temporary relief and I have to make the decision to circumcise my heart.
Food is not my comfort. God is!
What is it that you need to circumcise your heart from?
5. Get To Know God’s Heart Instead Of His Hand
Matthew 5:45 NIV-that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
Getting blessed doesn’t mean that you have a relationship with God. I repeat: Getting blessed doesn’t mean that you have a relationship with God.
It’s so easy to seek after God for what He could give you, but what happens when His hand closes?
We don’t like it when someone uses us, so why do we think it’s okay to do it to God?
6. Love And Serve The Lord
Deuteronomy 11:1 ESV-You shall therefore love the Lord your God and keep his charge, his statutes, his rules, and his commandments always.
Loving and serving God is the key to His heart.
Obedience is His love language and when you respond to Him with this type of love, the benefits are endless.
{RELATED POST: How To Walk In Obedience To God}
7. Work The Word Given
James 2:23-24 NKJV-And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. You see then that man is justified by works, and not by faith only.
Faith and works are a couple that cannot be separated. When you believe something and couple it with action, then you get results.
Think about it: Even when God tells you to be still, you’re still performing an action.
You’re being still. Let your faith be coupled with action as you practice gratitude everyday.
8. Stay True To Who You Are
Deuteronomy 7:6 ESV-For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
God chose you. Your unique personality, beautiful thought process, and everything in between was chosen specifically by God.
Why would you ever try to change who you are to appease others? You have to become bold enough to walk in your authenticity.
The way you were created and designed is MORE than enough.
I pray you begin or continue to believe and live that out for the rest of your days.
9. Use Your Voice And Gifts For Purpose
1 Peter 4:10-11 ESV-As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies-in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever amen,
Everything you were given was perfectly crafted for you. Have you ever wondered why your voice is the way it is?
Or why you have a knack for witty inventions or why you tend to see things from a deeper perspective?
It’s because you were created on purpose, with purpose, for a purpose.
Your voice and your gifts are instruments that God wants to develop for your unique assignment.
Thank you so much for reading this post! I hope that these nine ways help you to practice gratitude despite your circumstances. Remember you can change anything through the power of gratitude. Use these tips for your everyday life and watch things slowly begin to change.
This post was all about ways to practice gratitude.
If You Enjoyed This Post, You’ll Love These:
The BEST Method To Overcome Negative Thinking
Face Adversity With A Positive Attitude
How To Overcome Guilt And Shame
15 Ways To Develop A Positive Attitude
Forgiving Yourself: 5 Steps To Forgive Yourself God’s Way
Before You Go…Let’s Recap
A quick recap of ways to practice gratitude:
- Begin your day with thanks
- Remember the Lord, your God
- Consciously make the choice to express gratitude
- Circumcise your heart regularly
- Get to know God’s heart instead of His hand
- Love and serve the Lord
- Work the Word given
- Stay true to who you are
- Use your voice and gifts for purpose
Gratitude is a way to grab that attitude! What way will you be grabbing your attitude this week? Let’s chat about it in the comments down below.
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Always remember that you’re destined to win because He got up!
-Devyn Janae
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