God is good!

So, one day recently, my daddy had been sick. His stomach had been hurting and other things were wrong. We carried him in prayer and I got up a couple of mornings later to find he had slept through the night and things had turned around. We’ve been praying for my Shelia for some time now about her heart, but she had another condition. So, we took her to the doctor and we could have gotten the worst news. But we got such a good report, the best news you could get! Didn’t even have to come back to that issue anymore.

Daily we should give thanks!

I looked up the word thankfulness. It means an expression of gratitude or acknowledgment of a favor. God has just been so good and I have a lot to be thankful for!

Our nation picks one day out of the year to be thankful. But I don’t want to take Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for me, for granted. I refuse to only choose one day out of the year to be thankful. I want to make it a daily routine. I want it to be my heart, my character, I want to be a thankful person.

If you are thankful, He’ll draw nigh to you. When you’re thankful, He comes, and when He comes, He brings healing, peace, and blessings!

Psalms 116:8. I’m pretty sure that thankfulness is the key into His presence. Psalms 100:4. Yes, there’s always something to grumble and complain about. But if you’ve ever come out of a car wreck, sickness or depression you should praise Him. If you woke up this morning, you should praise Him. There’s so much we can grumble about, but there is so much we can be thankful for! As long as we are receivers of mercy, we should be givers of thanks. Mercy permits us to enter His gates. Let us praise Him for that mercy! Psalms 145:2.

God pulls back from unthankful people.

Romans 1:21. If you decide to be unthankful, God will draw back from you. We have to make up our minds that even if we only have a glass of water to drink, we are going to praise Him. Whether it’s a T-bone on our plate or a cheese sandwich, we are going to thank the Lord. If we have a place to lay our heads, we should thank the Lord.

They have the saying “Remember the Alamo!” I’ve based a saying on that. I want to “Remember Calvary!” When the enemy comes against you, you ought to stand up and say, “Remember Calvary!” Remember everything Jesus has done for you! Remember what He paid, all the love and all the blood.

We take so much for granted.

I went to preach in Jamaica and I saw children laughing and playing with their toys. They didn’t have bicycles. They were rolling bicycle tires. They didn’t have pretty matchbox cars or toys from the store. Their cars were milk cartons that they had attached sticks to for wheels, and they had a string, dragging them and playing. Laughing and playing, so thankful for their milk carton cars.

We ought to be thankful for our food. Mark 8:6-7. 

It is sad when you sit down in a restaurant and see how many don’t pray. Why should you be intimidated to give thanks to a God that loves you and takes care of you? You shouldn’t be embarrassed to sit down at a restaurant, bow your head, and pray. You don’t have to make a scene or lift your voice. There were things in your body that weren’t wrong and He fixed them. There have been car accidents or scares in your health, and He brought you through them. There have been things that could have taken your life. But God has had mercy! Let your thankfulness be greater than your bashfulness.

Don’t grumble and complain!

Instead of whining and complaining, lift your hands! “God, you woke me up today! Thank you!” Start praising Him and thanking Him for all the things He’s done and all the things He is going to do. If He’s ever healed you, you should never quit talking about it.

Unthankfulness hinders our worship.

If we were really thankful, we couldn’t help but worship Him. If we would get our thankfulness back, we wouldn’t wait until the music and singing started. We’d walk into the church, hands raised, “I’m on my way to Heaven because a King died for me!” You can’t worship if you’re not thankful. And if you’re really thankful, you can’t help but worship.

We shouldn’t be embarrassed or intimidated by other people looking at us. God has been too good to us for us to be unthankful. God has been too good to us!

–Pastor Anthony Wynn