Cultivate Thankfulness

Thankfulness can get perceived as a less important part of our relationship with God, seen as more of a poetic affectation than what it is: one of the greatest doorways to God’s presence, and a key to thriving in your identity.

An ungrateful heart is a prison cell of pain, bitterness, and negativity. Add a political or religious spirit, and you chain yourself to its walls. The guards of this place are fears of loss, rejection, and failure, determined to isolate you from God, and from who you really are in Him.

Thankfulness disempowers them all, because it’s such a powerful way to opens the way to experience that love, as well as His peace, hope, and His perspective on your life and relationships. Gratitude is a companion to forgiveness—it’s pretty tough to judge and hate someone for whom you’re grateful.

Cultivate thankfulness until it’s your mindset. Make it a conscious part of how you see life, relate to people, and talk to God. Guard it like it’s one of the most precious things you have. Because it is.

Like thankfulness, Psalm 23 is sometimes seen as poetry for greeting cards. But it’s such a powerful doorway of gratitude into God’s presence, and an incredible place to begin renewing your mind. Say it out loud when you have a moment alone:

“The Lord is my shepherd, so I have everything I need. He leads me to rest in the most beautiful places, by the most peaceful waters. He restores and renews my soul. He leads me on paths of His righteousness, every step a revelation of His name.

Even when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will not be afraid, for You are with me. Your shepherd’s rod and staff protect and comfort me. You prepare a feast for us even here, in the enemy’s territory.

You honor me by anointing my head with oil.

My cup is overflowing with blessings. Your unfailing goodness and loving kindness will never give up on me all the days of my life, and I will live in Your presence forever” (my paraphrase).