GRATITUDE: THE RIGHT ATTITUDE FOR SPIRITUAL HEALTH

GRATITUDE: THE RIGHT ATTITUDE FOR SPIRITUAL HEALTH

delivered on 

Sunday 2^nd December, 2012

by 

Olayinka Moses

 Text: 1 Thessalonians 5:18; Habakkuk 3: 17-19

 As the year 2012 gradually winds-up it is common for folks to recount what the year has been for them. A basic underlying feature of this review will include the consideration of all faulty events and perhaps losses incurred during the year. This list will typically include things like:

i.                    Top 10 misses of the year 2012;

ii.                  Biggest Failures of the of year

iii.                Enemies of the decade

iv.                Unfortunate events of the period

v.                  And the endless list of all manner of negative things that happened.

Believe me it is a time for gratitude and appreciation to the Almighty God for His infinite mercies and super sufficiency. It is time to count our blessings not our losses. Just in case you have lost count of blessings the year 2012 has offered you below are a few:

Ø  1. If you have food to eat; clothes to wear, and place to sleep ... you are richer than over 75% of the world’s population who cannot afford that; 

Ø  2. If you woke up this morning with more health than illness ... you are more fortunate than the million people who will not survive the week.

Ø  3. If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture or the suffering of starvation ... you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.

Ø  If you can read this message, then you are fortunate not to have been killed by one religious crisis or the other that have rocked this city and the entire nation.

So it is really not hard to see what God has done throughout the year and what He is still doing.

But consider this. If we follow this logic, then it means that if we do not have these things, we cannot give thanks. So what if we have no food ... no car ... no home ... no job? Does this mean we cannot give thanks? Consider what Prophet Habakkuk had to say in this regards:

“Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord,  I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.”

We owe gratitude to God in spite of the situations around us. Remember God is good all the time. I know we just gave our sacrifice to God last Sunday, but that should not mark the end of our thanksgiving to Him for the year.

As I try to make you see the need to thank God, I am compelled to remind you of the very popular hymn of Johnson Oatman Jr. titled “Count your blessing”. It is good for each of us periodically to take time to rediscover the simple but profound truths expressed in this hymn.

In the first two verses he develops the thought that counting our blessings serves as an antidote for life’s discouragements and in turn makes for victorious Christian living.

The third stanza of this hymn teaches us that counting our blessings can be a means of placing material possessions in proper perspective when compared to the eternal inheritance awaiting believers.

Then as we review our individual blessings, we certainly would have to agree with the writer’s fourth verse: The provision of God’s help and comfort to the end of our earthly pilgrimage is one of our choicest blessings.

What next? Sing this hymn now as a spiritual awakening of your commitment to an unending life of gratitude God.

Count Your Blessings

1. When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed,
   When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
   Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
   And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.
• Refrain:
  Count your blessings, name them one by one,
  Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
  Count your blessings, name them one by one,
  *Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.
  [*And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.]
2. Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
   Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
   Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly,
   And you will keep singing as the days go by.
3. When you look at others with their lands and gold,
   Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
   Count your many blessings—money cannot buy
   Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high.
4. So, amid the conflict whether great or small,
   Do not be discouraged, God is over all;
   Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
   Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.