Does the term ”supernatural power” sound too over the top? Maybe so, but when you get right down to it James says: God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble.
Thanksgiving and gratitude are both forms of humility.
If all that I have - if all that is good in my life - was self-made then I have no reason to express gratitude to anyone for anything. But since this is clearly not reality, I have a million and one reasons to be thankful and to recognize that I'm not a self-made man.
I’m a man who is a composite of many good deposits by many good people.
I’m grateful for my wonderful parents, but I obviously had nothing to do with the fact that they’re my parents. I did not choose them, rather, God chose them for me.
I’m grateful for my kids, but I couldn’t have done it without my wife!
I’m grateful for my amazing wife, and though I can say I did choose her, I know God hand picked her for me, too. Those who knew us thirty years ago can testify to this fact, as well.
Even the very air that I breathe, I didn’t ask for or earn. It’s all a gift from our creator.
Gratitude not only helps me recognize how I’ve been blessed in a certain area, but it also opens up a perspective through which I begin to view all of life.
A couple of years ago, I felt the Lord drop a phrase into my heart that from time-to-time I still recite: nobody can do me more wrong than what God has done me right.
While there have certainly been disappointments along the way in life (and surely I have disappointed others, as well) and even moments where I have experienced a sense of betrayal, the bottom line is this: God doesn’t owe me anything, but if He did, it would be eternal judgment.
Instead, He gave us His Son and granted unto us eternal life.
In Psalm 100, the psalmist says we’re to enter His gates with thanksgiving. Sometimes whining and complaining seems the most natural and reasonable thing to do, but I’ve never truly found it to be effective. I haven’t seen it help the situation that I’m in and I haven’t seen it improve my sense of well-being either.
It also doesn’t attract the blessing of God!
On the other hand, thanksgiving and other expressions of gratitude are a form of humility that recognize every good thing in my life didn’t come because of my goodness, but rather His goodness towards me.
The simple powerful thing about thanksgiving is that it’s not complicated, I simply have to choose to recognize the goodness and mercy of God in every circumstance. I’m not saying it’s easy, though. Some of us have faced horrific circumstances that are very difficult. I’m just saying it’s not complicated.
I’m grateful God has given us such a powerful key to working in victory that isn’t too complicated. It may be hard at times, but it’s not overly complex.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve discovered a principle in my life: what I feed grows. Once I start complaining, I find many other things to continue to complain about. Conversely, once I start giving thanks, my eyes open and I begin to discover many other things for which I can be grateful.
It’s amazing to me that the God of the Universe gives us such a simple key to access His supernatural presence, which is the key of thanksgiving, of which humility is the foundation.