Protocols, Postures and Power of Thanksgivingනියැදිය

TRAINING YOUR HEART FOR THANKSGIVING

It is important for you to develop a thankful heart "In everything give thanks" is not a recommendation but a practice that sugarcoats life and relationships. When you sincerely say, "thank you," something within you moves that cannot be purchased with money. Similarly, God loves a child who turns back to give thanks for His goodness. I would like you to seek out ways to express thanks — to those who have blessed you in life's journey — and to say thank you effectively. A grateful note, a timely present, or a public expression of appreciation can minister grace you can hardly fully gauge.

Countries celebrate thanksgiving days; churches ought to purposefully thank their pastors; families also need to designate regular times to give thanks. Create a family thanksgiving day — an altar where you give an account of the year's blessings and enumerate them one at a time. We have at the Dream Centre the last Sunday of every year set apart to utter "Thank You" to God for all He has done. Create your own rhythms: weekly reviews of thanksgiving, testimony journals, and prompt thanksgiving to those whom God employed to raise your hands. Gratitude magnifies what matters and protects your heart against entitlement.

Do not raise children to trivialise your God. Teach them that all the things that were done for them — school fees, shelter, advice, discipline — were made possible because God assisted you. Many children of spiritual giants secularise because they make sacred things seem casual. Insist gently and persistently that they acquire the vocabulary of thanksgiving — to God first, and then to men. If they learn gratitude early, they will bring honour into the future. I want you to demonstrate it to them first, demand it from them, and praise it when you observe it.

THOUGHT TO PONDER: Who needs to hear a sincere “thank you” from me today, and how will I express it? What thanksgiving rhythms will I institute in my home, so the next generation learns to honour God?

PRAYER: Father, train my heart to be thankful in all things. Help me build habits of gratitude at home and in church and use me to model honour to You and to people, in Jesus’ name. Amen.