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heart and thanksgiving are inseparable


The holiday season is here.  Signs of the season are all around.  But the signs are more of Christmas than of thanksgiving.  Think about it.  The world makes more money off Christmas than Thanksgiving.  Buy food for one, but buy everything else for the other.

We all understand that we have to be careful.  Be careful to do what is right.  Be careful not to fall or hurt yourself.  Be careful not to offend others.  Being careful is always right, but what we are careful about doesn’t always make it right.  Who is it that we care about and who do we listen to?

1 Thessalonians 5:18  NASB
in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

It is the will of God to be thankful.  Being thankful honors God.  Having a heart of thanks brings us and others into the place where we can see, sense and seize our God in grand ways.  We cannot move on with just being thankful for food for the stuff on the surface.  It is time to be thankful for more, but how do we do that?

Colossians 4:2  NLT
Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart.

Prayer often changes situations.  Prayer most often changes the one praying.  It changes me.  Prayer has also been known to make me or the one praying thankful. 

We lead others by the choices we make and the directions we go in.  The passage we are looking at today is one such place we see the leading.

It is our heart that holds our thanks, our faith, our strength and more.  Take some time to examine what God says about our hearts.

Proverbs 4:23  NLT
Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.

Matthew 6:21  NLT
Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

Matthew 12:35  NLT
A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart.

2 Corinthians 4:7  NLT
We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.

It is hard to worship or be thankful when everything around you as well as your heart is in turmoil.  That is another reason to seek to be, plan to be and to be thankful.  It is contagious to be thankful.  It makes a difference to have a thankful heart.

Philippians 4:7  NLT
Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
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