“Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”- Rom. 1:21

The absence of appreciation is a clear, common, and critical problem today, and it should be a cause for concern – especially when we are the guilty party. The goodness of God should cause all of us to be grateful. And, most of all, our greatest gratitude should be for the Giver rather than the gift. To generate an attitude of gratitude we need to do four things:

~ ASSESS YOUR GIFTS   As the song says, you need to “Count your blessings”. Take an inventory and itemize your benefits. Consider what you have. Think about the people God has placed in your life, the possessions you’ve been given, your personal well being, and the precious promises from God.

~ ADMIT YOUR GUILT   Being ungrateful is no minor matter. Ingratitude is a sin that needs to be confessed like any other. 2 Tim. 3:2 says, “For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,”. Being unthankful puts you in a horrible position. It is a sad indictment against those who claim to love God. Search your heart and be honest about what you find.

~ APPRECIATE YOUR GAIN   Think about how you can express your gratitude. Thanksgiving should translate into thanks living. Those who have been redeemed always have reason to rejoice – do it! Thanksgiving means more than         just being thankful. It means to give thanks – say it, sing it, show it by the manner in which you live. It should be vocal and visible. Our manner of life should remove all doubt as to whether we’re grateful or       not. True thanksgiving can turn trials into triumph, hardships into happiness. Best of all it glorifies God and that’s the very reason for our existence. – HDS

David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346 

There is much to be learned from Israel’s experience as God brought them to and through the wilderness to the Promised land. Think about it. They travelled without any trails to follow, nor even tracks, because there were no other travellers. But without landmarks or lights, signs or sounds from man they journeyed to the desired destination. To get to that promised place they had no human helpers to depend upon, no man made maps to guide them. There was only one way to get there and that was to depend entirely upon God.

Even so, although our goal has nothing to do with a geographical location, for us to abide in the will of God and accomplish His plan for our lives we must trust and obey Him. He enables us to do what we could never do on our own. He is all we need. He who provided light by night and a cloud by day to assist Israel has given us all we need to reach the goal. We have the advice of the Scriptures, the assistance of the Spirit, and the aid of the saints to help us. And as we journey along God protects and provides each step of the way. We have every reason to succeed and no reason to fail.

It is only when our selfish stubborn flesh interferes  that we are hindered. Just as Israel spent more years in the wilderness than need be we often waste away a large portion of our lives by our rebellion against God. The best way to avoid that is to be thankful for what God has done. Four times in this Psalm we are reminded to give thanks or praise the Lord. An attitude of gratitude encourages us and empowers us to do our best to do God’s will.

Just as being in the Promised land provided abundant blessings for Israel, being in the will of God supplies everything we need (Matt. 6:33). For that we ought to be eternally thankful. – HDS

David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346 

That’s one of man’s serious problems. We limit what God wants to do in our lives and cheat ourselves out of what we could have had. We despair and accept defeat as though victory would be impossible. Sometimes our disappointment and grief can blind us to our purpose in life and living becomes unprofitable. Not only do we deprive ourselves of blessings, we cheat others out of what we could have contributed to their lives. In other words – everybody loses!

As a pastor I’ve witnessed parents so grief stricken by the loss of a child that it paralyzed them for the rest of their lives. They couldn’t think about or talk about anything else other than their loss. They spend the rest of their lives living in misery because of their bad experience. It seems that Jacob was headed in that direction when he said “all these things are against me”. At that moment he had no idea what great things God had in store for him. May I say, Nor do you. God has kept you alive and He has a plan for you. I don’t want to sound insensitive, but you don’t have the right to stop living. Regardless of how great your grief is, and God expects you to grieve, God’s grace is greater. It can sustain you through anything (2 Cor. 12:9). You can laugh again. God can turn your memories into monuments of mercy. Not only will they remind you of the blessing you had, this experience can be used of God to show others the greatness of His power. Like you, they need to know that the power of God is greater than any problem we will ever have. Since God commands us to “rejoice in the Lord alway” ( Phil. 4:4) you can do it! Never allow your problem to rob you of the pleasure of fulfilling your purpose in life. Regardless of what is against you, God is for you and with you! Rest your troubled heart on those facts. – HDS

David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346 

Murmuring is not only unacceptable to God, it is unpleasant to others and unproductive for us. And because it displeases God it should displease us. Have you ever thought about what a horrible offense murmuring is to God? When we murmur we are calling into question God’s love, wisdom, and power. If we knew Him and loved Him as we should we would never do that. Were we truly confident of God we would trust Him. Knowing He is ever loving, all wise, and unlimited in power we should accept whatever He allows and trust Him to use it for our good and His glory. Then we would have perfect peace because we know He never fails.

We may mourn but we must not murmur. Yet this is one of the most common areas of failure among men. I suspect we all could improve in this area. It seems that most people would rather mention their miseries than their mercies. Their focus is on their grief rather than God’s grace. They give more thought to their burdens than they do to their blessings. Pouting about your problems is bad enough, declaring your displeasure is worse. It is nothing short of sinful pride that causes us to seek attention by complaining about our lot in life. The quickest way to make a bad situation worse is to complain about it. Trials are meant to make us better, not bitter. Were we wise we would understand that what God allows to happen to us is actually for us. No, I don’t understand it either, but I know it’s true.

We would do well to consider what Paul said in Phil. 2:14-15 “Do all things without murmurings and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;”. If we are to shine we must not whine. Complaining is unbecoming of the person who claims that their trust is in the Lord. He deserves better than that. Our response to our difficulties should be such that others can see that our faith is indeed in Christ, our belief that He can be trusted even in the worst of times. And it is the light of that testimony that draws others to an interest in Christ. That’s as it should be! – HDS