Gratitude Makes, Brings & Creates

Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. 

~ Melody Beattie

Spirit of Gratitude

So while it's true that Thanksgiving only comes but once a year, we should actually celebrate thanks each and every day. It's just a matter of learning to live with a spirit of gratitude. ~ Unknown

Attitude of Thankfulness and Appreciation

Gratitude is a constant attitude of thankfulness and appreciation for life as it unfolds.  Living in the moment, we are open to the abundance around us and within us.  We express appreciation freely.  We contemplate the richness of our life.  In life's trials, we seek to understand, to accept, to learn. 

~ Unknown

Things or Us?

"We want Him to fix things. We don't want Him to fix us." 

~ Chris Tiegreen

Gratitude Is...

Gratitude is a vaccine, an antitoxin, and an antiseptic.’ This is a most searching and true diagnosis. Gratitude can be a vaccine that can prevent the invasion of a disgruntled attitude. As antitoxins prevent the disastrous effects of certain poisons and diseases, thanksgiving destroys the poison of fault-finding and grumbling. When trouble has smitten us, a spirit of thanksgiving is a soothing antiseptic. ~ John Henry Jowett

Pride Slays Thanksgiving

Pride slays thanksgiving, but an humble mind is the soil out of which thanks naturally grow.  ~ Henry Ward Beecher

Thanksgiving Unto Him

Unto no duty are we more dull and untoward, than to the praise of God, and thanksgiving unto him; neither is there any duty whereunto there is more need that we should be stirred up. ~ David Dickson 

Thanksgiving Day

On Thanksgiving Day we acknowledge our dependence. ~ William Jennings Bryan

Express Your Gratitude

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. ~ John Fitzgerald Kennedy

True Homage

Let us remember that, as much has been given us, much will be expected from us, and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips, and shows itself in deeds. ~ Theodore Roosevelt, 1901

Thanksgiving...

We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. ~ Abraham Lincoln (at Thanksgiving time during the Civil War, 1863)

Giving of Thanks

Foolish talking and jesting are not the ways in which Christian cheerfulness should express itself, but rather “giving of thanks” (Eph. 5:4). Religion is the source of joy and gladness, but its joy is expressed in a religious way, in thanksgiving and praise. 

~ Charles Hodge

Thanksgiving Is...

Thanksgiving is the language of heaven, and we had better start to learn it if we are not to be mere dumb aliens there. ~ A. J. Gossip

To be Grateful...

To be grateful is to recognize the love of God in everything He has given us -- and He has given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of His love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it brings with it immense graces from Him. ~ Thomas Merton

See HIM in Everything

A state of mind that sees God in everything is evidence of growth in grace and a thankful heart. ~ Charles Finney 

Gratitude Unlocks...

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.  It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.  Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. ~ Melody Beattie

Believe...

We know God can do great things on our behalf; we seldom believe that He will. ~ Chris Tiegreen

A Cup of Cold Water

They do well and wisely who give the “cup of cold water” whenever they have opportunity…. This is to have the mind of Christ. ~ J. C. Ryle

Thanksgiving

Pride slays thanksgiving, but an humble mind is the soil out of which thanks naturally grow. ~ Henry Ward Beecher

A Thankful Heart

A thankful heart is one of the primary identifying characteristics of a believer. It stands in stark contrast to pride, selfishness, and worry. And it helps fortify the believer's trust in the Lord and reliance of His provision, even in the toughest times. No matter how choppy the seas become, a believer's heart is buoyed by constant praise and gratefulness to the Lord. ~ John MacArthur

Learn Thanksgiving

How wonderful it would be if we could help our children and grandchildren to learn thanksgiving at an early age. Thanksgiving opens the doors. It changes a child's personality. A child is resentful, negative, or thankful. Thankful children want to give, they radiate happiness, they draw people. 

~ Sir John Templeton

The Height of Devotion

The height of devotion is reached when reverence and contemplation produce passionate worship, which in turn breaks forth in thanksgiving and praise in word and song. ~ R. Kent Hughes

Gratitude Is...

Gratitude is an offering precious in the sight of God, and it is one that the poorest of us can make and be not poorer but richer for having made it. 

~ A.W. Tozer

Prayer Begins...

The prayer that begins with trustfulness, and passes on into waiting, will always end in thankfulness, triumph, and praise. ~ Alexander MacLaren

Revival

"Revival - the inrush of the Spirit into the body that threatens to become a corpse." ~ D.M. Panton

Thankful for Affliction

The Lord afflicts us at times; but it is always a thousand times less than we deserve, and much less than many of our fellow-creatures are suffering around us. Let us therefore pray for grace to be humble, thankful, and patient. 

~ John Newton 

The Best Helps to Growth

The best helps to growth in grace are the ill usage, the affronts, and the losses which befall us. We should receive them with all thankfulness, as preferable to all others, were it only on this account, that our will has no part therein. ~ John Wesley

Thanksgiving Draws Our Hearts

Let us thank God heartily as often as we pray that we have His Spirit in us to teach us to pray. Thanksgiving will draw our hearts out to God and keep us engaged with Him; it will take our attention from ourselves and give the Spirit room in our hearts. 

~ Andrew Murray

Give Thanks for Everything...

We ought to give thanks for all fortune: if it is good, because it is good, if bad, because it works in us patience, humility and the contempt of this world and the hope of our eternal country. ~ C.S. Lewis

Thank You for My Thorn

My God, I have never thanked Thee for my 'thorn!' I have thanked Thee a thousand times for my roses, but never once for my 'thorn;' I have been looking forward to a world where I shall get compensation for my cross as itself a present glory. Teach me the glory of my cross; teach me the value of my 'thorn.' Show me that I have climbed to Thee by the path of pain. Show me that my tears have made my rainbow. 

~ George Matheson

Source of Our Mercies

If He be the Source of our mercies they can never fail us. No heat, no drought can parch that river, the streams whereof make glad the city of God. 

~ Mrs. Lettie B. Cowman

The Final Word

Jesus always has the final word because He is the Word made flesh that was bodily resurrected. That last word is never a Facebook post, a doctor's diagnosis, a government election, a family's disposition toward you, the state of your bank account, the opinion of others, or anything else you can imagine. The final Word says loudly that nothing can separate you from His love and the evidence is the cross. The hope that this can be possible is the empty tomb. ~ John Comstock

Nail It to the Cross

Can we take our deepest, unfulfilled desire and nail it to the cross? ~ Sarah Hagerty

Longing for Pentecost

"We long for Pentecost in our lives and in our churches, but there is no Pentecost without Gethsemane and a cross." ~ Henry Blackaby

The Real Enemy

"Identifying the real enemy is halfway to winning the battle." 

~ Charles Ringma

The Enemy of Discontent

We would worry less if we praised more. Thanksgiving is the enemy of discontent and dissatisfaction.  ~ Harry Ironside

Social Justice...Proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ

Humanistic and/or atheistic groups can do works of social justice and can even move toward the margins with compassion. Government agencies can implement programs and systems to aid those on the margins.Their motivation will not be a transcendent reality but it is noble work. We applaud any work that alleviates suffering but let's be clear. Without a solid proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, any work in the areas of social justice and ministry in the margins is NOT fulfilling the call of the Church.

We hurt for the things Jesus hurts for and it is clear from Scripture that Jesus touched the untouchable, was present with the despised, and entered the hell of people's lives to bring resurrection. Our encounter with Jesus will move us with compassion to the broken people in our world. It will move us toward a righteousness that desires to seek justice. Yet, it is the outcome of the primary encounter of Jesus Christ, the salvation of our souls.

~ John Comstock

The Church Is...

The Church is not a court of law, equipped to dole out condemnation and administer punitive justice. The courthouse is suited for such things as these.

The Church is filled with former prisoners, dead in sin, that have become slaves chained to Jesus Christ.

The Church is a hospital where the dead come to life. The Church speaks with a moral conscious, grounded in the Person of Jesus Christ, uncompromisingly and unapologetically living as channels of free flowing love and grace.

~ John Comstock

Fear Is...

Fear is satan's calling card. Whenever you accept his calling card, you'll receive a visit from him. ~ Watchman Nee

A Thorn in satan's Side

"A Christian should live in such a way as to be a thorn in satan's side." ~ Watchman Nee

Position of Obedience

When we put ourselves in a position of obedience, we give God the freedom to overwhelm the natural circumstances of this life with His supernatural power. ~ Gloria Copeland