Let My Praises Be Heard!
FROM WHENCE COMES THE ‘POWER’ TO LIVE A LIFE OF GRATITUDE?
The ideas, just shared in the previous paragraphs, are the ‘background'(the context) for understanding the ‘touching beauty’ of the spirit of gratitude. The grateful person (like my brother), during life’s losses and grief’s, may be tom up in his/her emotions, during times of great sorrow. But we must always remember the ‘classic statement’: “There is an expulsive power in a new affection!”
The power of ‘gratitude’ is able eventually to expel the weaker power of despair and heart-breaking grief. Grief is an emotion that comes (understandably) to a person, during life’s periodic losses, but gratitude is a perpetual attitude that a believer practices throughout his entire life.
The spirit of gratitude (based on the knowledge of God’s unconditional love) is the spirit that can confront and can powerfully overcome any other negatively-oriented attitude and emotion. Other emotions will ‘come and go’, but the spirit of gratitude is the stable and abiding and permanent attitude in the life of the Spirit-controlled Christian! There is great ‘expelling power’ in the spirit of gratitude – power to force out any spirit which is destructive and negative and God-dishonoring!
Gratitude, is has been shown previously, is not a mere ‘human attainment’; rather, it is a ‘divinely- given gift’. A gift whose source is the Holy Spirit, and a gift that, through the Spirit’s enablement, must, nevertheless, be activated and practiced by fallible humans.
It is when we (weak) believers fail to ‘tap into the divine resources’ that are resident within us, that we begin to live ‘fleshly-driven’ lives, instead of Spirit-motivated lives. And the results? Many possible negative results, but one of the sad results of not ‘walking in the Spirit’ is a life that is characterized by discontent and complaining and criticism and self-centeredness and, yes, ingratitude!
Only Spirit-motivated Christians have the power to consistently live a life of Gratitude! Christians, of course, must cooperate with the indwelling Spirit, but it is only the Spirit who is able to empower a believer to live a life of Gratitude – a life in which a believer expresses thanksgiving during loss (grief), and humility during gains (successes). The Spirit is the great stabilizer, the great balancer, the great Helper in all times of need.
Table of contents: Let my praises be heard!
Christian Devotionals 