Pastor Wayne Cordeiro
November 17, 2002 - W0246

There is something obviously absent in todayís society, a spirit of gratefulness. The simple trait of thankfulness and contentment is sorely amiss in our midst. And the effects are long-ranging and hard-hitting. One unfortunate result is that its counterpart, stress, is taking its toll on our nationís health and economy, just listen to a few statistics: Nearly 66% of our doctor visits are stress-related. Over $150 billion is paid every year in lost revenue, absenteeism, insurance payments, therapy, stress leave, and loss of productivity. Every week 112 million Americans take some kind of medication to relieve stress. Weíre stressed out!

Even our vocabulary reflects our new stress levels. Check out some of these new phrases: ìIím ready to throw in the towel,î ìIím at the end of my rope,î ìIím just a bundle of nerves,î ìIím about to snap,î and the list goes on and on. We live in a society where we have the tendency to see whatís wrong and to grumble about it.

The same negativity is found throughout the Old Testament with the children of Israel. Take for instance when they left Egypt. Just after being delivered from slavery and oppression, they began to grumble. They were actually ungrateful for Godís deliverance! They grumbled so much that God actually had to let these grumblers die off one by one before the next generation was allowed to go into the Promised Land.

The children of Israel excelled in grumbling. Where did they learn this aptitude for complaining? Because of their lifestyle of slavery. You see, slavery teaches you how to grumble well. And weíre still prone to that todayóbeing enslaved by our grumbling. On top of that, many of us come into Christianity with baggage filled with grumbling and ungrateful patterns. We all carry around this bad habit. Counselors say that one of the major causes of stress is a base of ungratefulness or unthankfulness.

Q1: Do you find yourself always grumbling throughout the day? What type of things do you grumble aboutópeople, finances, relatives, your job, tight schedule, trafficÖ what?

As we become free in Christ, we must unlearn this pattern of slavery so we can enter into our own Promised Land. How do we do that? Simple: by starting with a thankful heart. Today we want to talk about the power of a grateful heart. A grateful heart is so important to God that He says, ìLet us come into His presence with thanksgivingî (Ps. 95:2). God wants thankfulness to be the beginning of our reach, not the end of our reachÖ where weíre only thankful afterwards. Instead He wants us to have a thankful heart when we come into His presence.

Here are three wonderful ways we can tap into the power of a grateful heart. First of all, when you start with a base of a grateful heartÖ

1.                 IT PROTECTS YOU FROM BITTERNESS.

Itís so easy for us to become bitter because dashed expectations leave a hardened residue in our hearts. Broken expectations and broken promises breed bitterness. We can be bitter about so many thingsófriends, family, coworkers, position in life, even people we donít know.

However, the Bible says, ìIn everything give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesusî (1 Tm. 5:18). Godís desire is for us to be thankful in everything, not necessarily for everything. Even when circumstances are tough or sickness lays you flat on your back, God still wants us to be thankful.

This happened to the children of Israel after they had left Egypt. At one point of their journey, they came to a rest stop but the water there was completely bitter. They couldnít drink it so they began to complain. ìSo the people grumbled at Moses, saying, ëWhat shall we drink?íî (Ex. 15:24). After all that God had brought them through (delivering them from Pharaoah, crossing the Red Sea, conquering the Egyptian army) and still, the people found a reason to complain. How was this so? Because they were constantly seeing the negative instead of focusing on what God had accomplished and was still able to do. They needed to zero their hearts back to God!

We need to recalibrate our hearts often. Our circumstances may not always be the best, but in them be thankful because, as Scripture says, ìHeíll work all things together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purposesî (Ro. 8:28). God can turn around any negative circumstances and work it for our good. Just like in our testimony from Del Gibbs who had polio and a near death accident. Through it all, Del and his family kept a thankful heart and God used him for ministry purposes and created the wonderful person that he is today. Del has no bitterness because in everything he gave thanks.

Q2: Are there old bitter feelings in your life that need to be dealt with? What are they, what situations do they stem from? How would you give thanks in these things so the bitterness can leave your heart?

The people of Israel stood at that bitter water pool and gave up. ìTake us back to Egypt!î they cried against Moses. Out of this lesson weíre able to learn the lesson gratefulness from bitter water. Sounds odd but if you look at the story, youíll see that because of their bitterness, the people were blinded to the answer that was right in front of their face. The second lesson we learn from the power of gratefulness is thatÖ

2.                 IT OPENS OUR EYES TO THE ANSWERS.

The people had become so focused on their own discomfort and problems, that they stopped looking for answers. And what happened then is that they just sat in their misery and whined. Moses couldnít stand their grumbling so he cried out to the Lord for help, ìThen [Moses] cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree; and he threw it into the waters, and the waters became sweet.Ö and there He tested themî (Ex. 15:25). Notice that the answer, the tree, was already growing there. The people were probably sitting right underneath its shade as they were grumbling! God didnít have to create a new tree, He simply showed them it was right in front of their faces. The answer to their problems was there all along, but bitterness had blinded them from finding it.

A lot of times we get so upset about what we donít have that we are blinded by what we do have. For example, if youíre ungrateful for your marriage you wonít see the answers when you have a problem with your spouse. You may grumble about your childrenís disrespect for you, but you canít see the answers because your bitterness has blinded you. Choosing an to have an ungrateful heart will mean that you will not have the eyes to see what you do have, whatís right in front of you. However, if we start with a grateful heart, then our eyes will be opened to the answers so readily available to us. Then youíll see answers pop up all around you.

Q3: Have you ever been so bitter that you couldnít see the answers to your problems? Share a brief testimony of a time when this happened to you. Could you have changed your response? How?

Q4: Think of a hard situation in your life right nowóat home, at work or even in ministry. How might you open your eyes to existing answers through a heart of gratefulness?

We learn so much through our struggles. In every affliction and in every situation, there will are life lessons to be learned. Itís when weíre without a grateful heart that the lessons will be missed. ìFor even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkenedî (Ro. 1:21).

Even Jesus learned lessons from struggles in His life. ìAlthough He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things that He sufferedî (Heb. 5:8).

There is great power in maintaining a grateful heartóit keeps us ready to learn. New doors will open up in life with more options and great things will start happening. ìI pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of the glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believeî (Eph. 1:18-19). When you exude a positive attitude, you will receive great things back whether it is a job promotion or a thank you note from someone unexpected. At the very least, you will have maintained a positive spirit and teachable spirit through it all.

A positive spirit is one of the greatest issues in Godís Word. The Apostle Paul prayed that God would open the ìeyes of his mindî (Eph. 1:18) and in the book of Matthew it says that ìthe lamp of the body is our eyeî (Mt. 6:22). Moreover, it says that though our outer bodies are decaying, our inner man is being renewed day by day (2 Cor. 3). All of this points us to the tremendous importance of making sure we see things clearly and positively.

Thatís the power of a grateful heartóto open our eyes to answers and to Godís best for our lives. The third thing a thankful heart does isÖ

3.                 IT BRINGS WHOLENESS TO OUR LIVES.

When you live with a grateful heart, your life will become whole. You wonít be prone to being stricken with sickness, stress, fatigue, depression, and diseases like the children of Israel in the wilderness. ìAnd He said, ëIf you will give earnest heed to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the Lord, am your healeríî (Ex. 15:26).

A nurse once worked in a highly contagious ward for nine years and never caught a thing. In fact, she was surprisingly healthy for someone in her situation. However, that was only true until the stresses of her failing marriage made her susceptible to the diseases she worked with. She eventually had to resign. It takes more than a good diet and exercise program to be healthy; it takes a grateful heart. Itís what eats you up inside that cause the never-ending problems in life. God can turn your bitter water sweet again if youíll understand that retaining a grateful heart is the key.

A good way to start with a base of thankfulness is to think of something you are thankful for every morning before you start the day. You can say a prayer to God and thank Him for giving you another beautiful day. You can be thankful that you have a job to support your family. Or, you can be thankful for the pancake breakfast youíre about to eat. Whatever it is, acknowledge it and let God know how thankful you are. It will change your entire day in great ways. Watch how it protects you from blinding bitterness. Watch how it opens your eyes to answers that are already there. And then, watch how gratefulness brings wholeness so that you can live a healthier life.

As we come into this season of thanksgiving, lets thank God for all that he has given us for there is so much to be thankful for. ìAnd let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which you were indeed calledÖand be thankfulî (Col. 3:15).

Q5: Think of three things youíre grateful for & why. Share these with your group.

Final Q: What part of todayís lesson most impacted you and why? How will you be different for it?

WOWZAH! Whatta-BANG-up job Miss Christy Itamoto! Thank you!