Ingratitude Is Intolerable 1 Corinthians 4:6-7 Jeremiah 29:11-13 John 14:26-27 Colossians 3:15-17 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Job 1:20-22 Colossians 1:9-14 Psalms 105:1-4 Psalms 100:1-5 Psalms 106:2 02.24.21

 

INGRATITUDE IS INTOLERABLE

BREAD

⁷ For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?   1 Corinthians 4:6-7 (NIV)

 

¹¹ “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”   Jeremiah 29:11-13 (NIV)

 

²⁷ Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.  John 14:26-27 (NIV)

¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. ¹⁷ And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.  Colossians 3:15-17 (NIV)

 

¹⁶ Be joyful always; ¹⁷ pray continually; ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.   1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NIV)

 

²⁰ At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship ²¹ and said:  “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart.  The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.”  ²² In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.  Job 1:20-22 (NIV)

 

⁹ For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. ¹⁰ And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, ¹¹ being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully ¹² giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. ¹³ For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.  Colossians 1:9-14 (NIV)

 

¹ Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. ² Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. ³ Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice. ⁴ Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always.  Psalms 105:1-4 (NIV)

 

¹ Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. ² Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. ³ Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. ⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. ⁵ For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.  Psalms 100:1-5

(NIV)

 

² Who can proclaim the mighty acts of the LORD or fully declare his praise?   Psalms 106:2 (NIV)

 

BUTTER

 

“When life is moving placidly along, when the diagnosis is negative and the mortgage is paid, we are easily lulled into habits of self-reliance and self-congratulations. Without clouds in the sky, we are given to forgetting that every ray of sun, every hint of spring is a gift from the Creator and Sustainer God.”  Jen Pollock Michel

 

Fret not.

Rejoice always.

Do not be anxious.

In everything give thanks.

Serve the Lord with gladness.

Be strong and of good courage.

Come before Him with thanksgiving.

Rest in the lord, and wait patiently on Him.

Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. 

The Bible  (from The Promise – Robert Morgan)

 

“It is so easy to give thanks for what one naturally chooses, but that does not cover the ‘everything’ of the text...One morning lately, in speaking of some small trouble, I quoted ‘In everything give thanks,’ and at once someone answered ‘But I cannot give thanks for everything.’ Now if our God tells us to do a thing and we say cannot, there is something wrong somewhere, for we all know the words ‘I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me’ - that is, all things commanded. It is treason to say ‘I cannot.’ But first we should make sure that we are commanded to do this.  The text says give thanks IN everything, not FOR everything. All God’s biddings are enablings. We can do that. We will do that.”   Amy Carmichael

“Whenever you react with praise and thanksgiving for an opportunity to grow more like Jesus in your way of reacting to things, instead of grumbling or feeling self-pity, you will find that that whole situation will be changed into a great blessing.”    Hannah Hurnard

 

“Joy is the realest reality, the fullest life, and joy is always given, never grasped. God gives gifts and I give thanks and I unwrap the gift given: joy. Gratitude for the seemingly insignificant - a seed - this plants the giant miracle. The miracle of eucharisto. Do not disdain the small. The whole of the life - even the hard - is made up of the minute parts, and if I miss the infinitesimals, I miss the whole...There is a way to live the big of giving thanks in all things. It is this: to give thanks in this one small thing. The moments will add up.”    Ann Voskamp

“Christian thanksgiving is the life of Christ in the heart — transforming the disposition and the whole character.  Thanksgiving must be wrought into the life as a habit—before it can become a fixed and permanent quality.  An occasional burst of praise, in the midst of years of complaining, is not what is required. Songs on rare, sunshiny days; and no songs when skies are cloudy—will not make a life of gratitude. The heart must learn to sing always.  This lesson is learned only when it becomes a habit which nothing can weaken.  We must persist in being thankful.  When we can see no reason for praise—we must believe in the divine love and goodness, and sing in the darkness.  Thanksgiving has attained its rightful place in us, only when it is part of all our days and dominates all our experiences.”   J. R. Miller

“He who can give thanks for a little will always find he has enough.”   Anonymous

“But the Bible does not say give thanks to the Lord because you feel good. Rather, it says, ‘Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!’”   Greg Laurie

¹⁸ “‘Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. ¹⁹ See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.’ Isaiah 43:18-19 (NIV)  We are to live into this Truth.  Just because I do not see something happening out of my poor visibility due to my human earth-bound eye, does not mean it is not happening.  Just because I cannot see God’s work does not mean He is not working – God is always at work.  I am to sign all my prayers with anticipatory thanksgiving – thanking Him in advance and closing with ‘I am very truly yours, always’ is a constant reminder to me of Whom I belong to.  It is God alone.  It is He Who sends the great ‘showers of blessings’.”  BHY 

“Gratitude is what we experience when we perceive that what we have received is an undeserved gift of God’s grace. It is a fruit of humility; it’s inherently unselfish. We don’t feel true gratitude toward ourselves, but only towards someone else who treats us better than we deserve.”  Jon Bloom

“God requires nothing greater from us than giving thanks.  Giving thanks is a more acceptable service than all sacrifices.  God is continually heaping innumerable benefits…Ingratitude, therefore, is intolerable.”  John Calvin

HEART SAVOR

 

·         Create in me a clean heart oh Lord and renew and steadfast and thankful spirit within me.

·         What do I have that I did not receive?  The answer would be nothing.

·         God loves a thankful heart.  In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.