By: Lauren Thomas
This November, I made a brown paper tree skeleton. Throughout the month I and my children wrote gratitudes on leaves of different shapes cut from colored paper. It was a fun visual exercise in gratitude, for as the gratitude increased, the tree and background became more and more beautiful, filled with shapes and colors. That gratitude was contagious, for whenever a guest entered our home, my children asked them to “do a leaf” and add a gratitude to the tree. There was so much excitement about giving thanks!
Gratitude is spiritual warfare because it is obedience.
Scripture actually tells us that giving thanks in all circumstances is God’s will for us!
give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 NIV
Gratitude is spiritual warfare because it resists the devil.
One morning, I came downstairs to notice a leaf was torn on our gratitude tree. I felt in my spirit that I needed to pray. My daughter immediately found some tape and repaired it. That week, I had written on one leaf “my mixer and working appliances.” But the night of the torn leaf, our furnace started having issues. With the weather forecasting overnight lows in the 20’s and 30’s F, I saw two options before me: despair or thanksgiving. I chose thanksgiving and trust. In just a matter of hours, a friend from church was able to temporarily fix our furnace!
Gratitude is obedience to God. The enemy of our souls doesn’t like obedience. He will try to get us distracted and off track. But when we resist him – and gratitude is one way of resisting him – he will flee from us.
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
James 4:7 NIV
Your gratitude is spiritual warfare. It is obedience. It is resistance against evil. And it protects your heart from the discontentment, materialism, and greed that our culture celebrates. Gratitude is countercultural, Biblical, and powerful.
Today, how can you wage spiritual battle by giving thanks?
Reflection:
Does gratitude come easily for you? Why or why not?
How can you express gratitude to God today in thanksgiving?
What happens when you express gratitude toward another person?
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for stopping by, we love hearing from you. Please feel free to contact us with any prayer requests or questions by commenting below or emailing us at the About Us page.