Transcription
This is Bishop Dale Broner. Thank you so much for joining our YouTube channel today. If this is a blessing to you, I want to encourage you to like it and then click the Subscribe button and then turn on notification. Hit that little notification bell so that you never, ever miss another one of our videos.
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Our scriptural text today comes from the book of Colossians, as the Apostle Paul is writing to the church at Colossae, chapter 2, verse 5 and 6. Notice there these words in the New Living Translation of the scriptures: "For though I am far, far away from you, my heart is with you, and I rejoice that you are living as you should and that your faith in Christ is strong." This is the desire of every parent when they're away and their children are not with them, or they're not with their children. It is that they want them to be living as they should and that their faith in Christ is strong.
And then verse 6: "And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness."
I'm talking today from the subject, simply, "The Gratitude Perspective." The Gratitude Perspective. The Apostle Paul here was so proud of the church at Colossae because they were growing in their faith in Jesus Christ, even in Paul's absence. That's a real sign of maturity when you don't have to be a helicopter parent hovering over them all the time, trying to make sure that they're doing what they're doing, but when, in your absence, you can trust them to do what's right. That is a sign of Christian maturity. Maturity does not come with age; it comes with the acceptance of responsibility. It is to be responsible when nobody is standing over you with a, with a, with a bat making you do what's right at that moment. It is saying that this person now has the trustworthiness in them to be able to do what is right because they are rooted and grounded in Jesus. That's what we're called to be.
And notice how he mentioned here that we were, we were taught with that, and that you will overflow with thankfulness. I, I like that whole idea as he's saying that you'll overflow with thankfulness. This is like, um, whatever you are filled with, if you ever get shaken, that's what's going to come out of you. That's why he says you need to be rooted and grounded in Him because if you're rooted and grounded in Him, then your thankfulness is not based on circumstances, but it is based on the character and the stability and trustability of who God is. No matter what the circumstance is, it is saying, "I'm rooted and grounded in the love of God. I'm secured by His love." So that then, when I get shaken up, when circumstances and situations push me, that whatever I'm full of, just think of me as, as a cup, and if I'm full of coffee, and if you shake me, coffee is going to spill out. And if I'm full of water, and you shake me, water is going to spill out. Whatever I'm full of, if I get shaken, that's what's going to come out. So he's saying, "I hope that you overflow with thankfulness." Thankfulness will never overflow out of you unless you are full of thankfulness in your heart.
And so, this is where the Apostle Paul, as he's writing to the church at Colossae, he's talking about them having roots, a strong root system, rooted in Christ Jesus, in the character of who He is, in the truth of the Word of God. And so he says, he says to them, notice in Colossians chapter 2 and verse 7, notice what it says in The Message Bible: "You know your way around the faith." He's commending them. He says, "Now do what you've been taught. Schools out. Quit studying the subject and start living it, and let your living spill over into Thanksgiving." Let your living spill over into Thanksgiving. That this has to be in you. Paul is simply saying here, "Quit studying the subject and start living it, and let your living spill over into Thanksgiving."
I, I want you to think of it this way. You know how you go into a movie, if you've ever been to a movie, a 3D movie, where you have to get a pair of glasses when you come in and put them on, and as you look at the movie in 3D, you are looking at it in, in three different dimensions as opposed to two. And so it gives you a certain depth. So when you look through somebody else's perspective or somebody else's lens, you see things the way that they see them. And then, if you've ever been curious, as I have been, when I've been in a 3D movie, I've pulled my glasses off to see what it looks like with a naked eye. And you will discover that if you go into a 3D movie and remove your glasses, now things are blurred. There is, there is some kind of a disconnect that is there because you've taken off the lens. You ought to view everything that happens in your life through the lens of gratitude, where you are overflowing with thankfulness because of who is in you and the goodness of God and the grace of God.
Now, listen. When you think about God's incredible goodness, why should you thank God? If you had a bad day, if your car broke down, or you're having issues in your relationship, you know why? It is because God is good, even when circumstances are not. I mean, even when you're going through and having a bad day, God is still good. Why? Why? When you think about the thankfulness of God, listen. We, we have three major categories of our Thanksgiving to God. Number one: God's Divine Protection over us. Protection. We're thankful. You ought to be thankful to God that you got here without having an accident. It's a manifestation of God's protection. Some person who was unscrupulous and not paying attention, fumbling around with a digital device, could have run through a light and smashed into you. God's protection over you. God's protection. You ought to be thankful. I don't know about you, but every day I'm grateful to the Lord for God's incredible protection, uh, over my life, not only from other dangerous human beings, but from, from bacteria and disease and other kind of stuff that could attack your body's malignancy. You know, I'm grateful for the protection of God. I'm, I'm, I'm just grateful for God's Divine Protection.
I, I am grateful also for God's Provisions. I mean, He, He made it so that we inhale, you know, oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. And so this, this exchange of life and, and, and how thankful we are every time that we get ready to, to inhale, something has released something for us to be able to inhale. I'm thankful for the provisions that God had, the provisions of food, the provisions of clothing, the provision of shelter. Everything that God has provided by Thy hands, we all are fed. We ought to be thankful for His protection. We ought to be thankful for His Provisions.
Number three: We ought to be thankful for His Grace. What is His Grace? Grace is the stuff that God gives you when you didn't even ask for it. Sometimes you didn't even know to ask for it. It is the grace of God. Some of you all got jobs and had loans and things approved, not because your credit was stellar, but because of the grace of God. Some of you all got blessed with stuff that you didn't deserve. That is Grace. You ought to just thank God for Grace today. You ought to thank Him for protection. You ought to thank Him for provision. You ought to thank God for His Amazing Grace. His Amazing Grace. His Amazing Grace. The sustainability of God that has gifted Grace to you to be able to do things by His power and not because of us. Sometimes we didn't even ask.
So those three major categories are things that you ought to be able to overflow with Thanksgiving because of the protection of God, the provisions of God, and the grace of God. Paul said, "I am what I am by the grace of God." Not because I studied so much, and because I was always obedient, and I always did the right thing. No, no, no. In your best effort, you will still come up short. And that's why Paul says, "I am what I am by the grace of God." It's not because I dotted every "i" and crossed every "t." No, no, no. It is by the grace of God. I don't know about you, but I don't ever just stand as a self-righteous individual because what I discover is that holier-than-thou people, people are generally holier than none. You better be aware of holier-than-thou people because they're hiding something. They're hiding something that only Grace can cover. And he who covers his sin shall not prosper. If you really want to have mercy, confess it to God and say, "Lord, I'm, I'm, I'm weak. I'm frail. I, I, I missed the mark, Jesus, and I need You. I need Your help in my life." Then you'll obtain mercy when you, when you're just straight with God. But if you cover it, God says you're not going to prosper. But He says, if you'll come straight with me, go. God, I mean, who are you hiding from? He says, "I know you. I know you at your core. I know you. I, I." He, God says, "Like, I don't know the image that you're projecting. I know you. I know you. I know you."
I would say to you that being happy is not based on how much you have, but how grateful you are for what you have. It's how grateful you are for what you have. It's not that you have everything, it's that you're grateful for the stuff that you do have. "Lord, it may not be the best. It may not be as much as so-and-so, but I'm grateful, Lord, for what I have. I'm grateful. I'm grateful. I'm grateful."
And then, so remember, you're putting on like the 3D glasses. It allows you to see this thing in 3D. I told you, three dimensions of God's goodness that we ought to thank Him for: His provision, His protection, and His grace. You ought to have those on in all three of those dimensions. You ought to be looking to see what is it that God, in His, in His mercy, that He has protected me from? What has He provided me with? And what has He graced me with? And put those 3D glasses on and be looking around at different things in your life to see what God has already blessed you with so that thankfulness can overflow out of you.
Based on that, those glasses that you put on is about perspective. Perspective is what you see. Perspective is what you see. But then there's a different thing called perception. Perception is how you interpret what you see. One is what you see, your vantage point, your viewpoint, what you see. But perception is how you interpret what you see. And whenever you look through somebody else's lens, you see what you lack. But when you look through God's lens, you see what you have left. You look through the devil's lens, he'll show you what you lack. You look through God's lens, God will show you all of the wonderful blessings that you have.
I want you to see how it happened with Eve, back in the Garden of Eden, when Satan put his lens up to Eve's eyes. Notice what happened in Genesis 1, verse 1-6, in the Message version of the scripture: "Notice the serpent was clever, more clever than any wild animal God had made. He spoke to the woman, 'Do you understand that God told you not to eat from any tree in the garden?' The woman said to the serpent, 'Not at all. We can eat from the trees in the garden. It's only about the tree in the middle of the garden that God says don't eat from it, don't even touch it, or you'll die.' Die. And the serpent told the woman, 'You won't die. God knows that the moment that you eat from that tree, you'll see what's really going on. You'll be just like God.'" She was already like Him; He made her in His image, knowing everything ranging all the way from good to evil. And when the woman saw that the tree looked like good eating and realized what she would get out of it, she'd know everything. She'd know everything. She'd know everything. She took and ate the fruit, and then gave some to her husband, and he ate."
Now, notice, he tempted her with what she didn't have. He said, "You can eat off of everything else, but don't touch this one." And then he focuses on the very thing he says, "Don't touch." Starts telling him what it's going to do. He said, "You're going to know everything. You're going to know everything." Well, you know that would have worked with my wife. My wife already knows everything. I don't even need Google. My wife knows everything. It would never have worked with my wife. She would have told Satan something he didn't know. I would ask the other men who have wives that know everything to raise your hand, but I don't want to get you in trouble today. But the lure for Eve was for her to know everything. And little that she know that God wants her discernment to teach her everything that she didn't know. She had the discernment of God. He was her wisdom. He was her discernment. But the devilish serpent turned Eve's attention away from everything that she could eat in the garden to the one thing she couldn't have. She was looking through his lens, and it showed her the one thing she lacked, and she was blind to all of everything else that she could eat. Can you imagine all of the stuff that was in the garden that she could eat, and the devil took her attention off of everything she had and showed her the one thing she didn't have, and lost everything over what she didn't have access to?
And this is why I would say this to you: Be incredibly careful when someone shows you their perspective and gives you their perception. Just be incredibly careful when someone shows you their perspective and gives you their perception, their understanding of what all of this means. And I would encourage you to do this: Be a noticer. A noticer of all of the wonderful things that God does in your life. All of the wonderful things that God has already blessed you with. Just be a noticer of it. Notice it.
It's, it's a wonderful system that we have in the human brain called the Reticular Activation System, the RAS. Your Reticular Activation System is designed to help you to focus on things that matter. You know, over the course of a day, when you drive in, in, uh, through town, you're going to see billboards and ads and all kinds of stuff that we can't pay attention to. All of that, we get too much stimuli, thousands of them a day, maybe tens of thousands. And so the human brain is not designed to pay attention and recall all of that. So your Reticular Activation System is a filtering system to teach you what to focus on. That's why you can be in a crowded room, and if somebody all of a sudden calls your name, your Reticular Activation System says, "Hey, hey, hey! That, that's your name." That's your name. I mean, a mother can recognize the cry of her baby's voice over a room full of babies. Just like, "Wait, wait, just a minute." Sometimes one of our children would be crying, they would wake up, and my wife, like she had dog hearing. I mean, she could hear something. I mean, I'm sitting there, I didn't hear a thing, and her ears, at, she, "Wait, wait." Her Reticular Activation System was kicked in because it will tell you what to focus on. That's why this is the, this is the very system that is engaged in the human brain whenever you go out and buy a red car, and now all of a sudden, you notice every red car like yours on the expressway. That they existed before you bought it, but now your Reticular Activation System says, "Hey, hey, hey, hey! Look, look, there's one just like yours. Pay attention to that." That's the Reticular Activation System.
It also, the Reticular Activation System, there's so many similar. It will tell you this: Pay attention to things that could be a threat to you. So that if you're walking through the woods and all of a sudden you look down and you see a snake, and then you jump back, and then you realize, "No, no, no, it was actually only a stick." I was perceiving it as a snake, and my Reticular Activation System was warning me, trying to keep you safe. "Say, back, don't get bitten." So it's there for our protection. It also will draw your attention to things that you value. Things that you value. Uh, uh, the other day, I was in a place and, and a guy said to me, you know, he said, "What kind of watch is that you have?" And I told him, and he said, "Oh, he said, I have that brand." The only reason that he noticed mine is 'cause he had one. See, you notice something that is, that is of value to you. If you ever notice people that share your value, somehow your Reticular Activation System will kick in. And I want to engage all of the single people for just a moment so that you are attracted to people who share your values because, "Dawn," one may not necessarily share your values, but they've got the exterior spot on. But what about the interior? What do they really value? And somehow your Reticular Activation System in your brain ought to say, "Excuse me, excuse me. I mean, do, do, do we both fear the Lord?" That's right. "Do we both honor Him? Do we both accept His Word as truth? Do, do, do we have an understanding here that we're going to live godly in Christ Jesus? That we'll be rooted and grounded in Him?" Men, it's not about her hair and her shape. It's about what's also in her heart. Now, we need to check the other boxes. I'm not trying to say that, but, but make sure that you get the other, this other internal stuff. Because I'm just telling you, I don't care how fine somebody is on the outside, if their attitude is nasty, and if they are selfish and narcissistic, thank you, but no thank you. You, somehow, your Reticular Activation System ought to begin to say to you, "That's not what I value at all. That we don't share that. That's not how we operate." And that's why you don't want to then be unequally yoked. The, the equal yoking is not that I'm saved and you're saved, because I know a lot of saved folks that wind up divorced. You need, you need compatibility beyond just the basis of salvation. Your Reticular Activation says, "How, how, how do you resolve conflict? What was your relationship like with your father, with your mother?" Because that's going to now impact some of the, the dynamic of our relationship as husband and wife. And so you have to pay attention to little things that matter. And so you pay attention to every little thing that God does in your life because He's trying to protect us. And you pay attention to those things and say, "Lord, I thank You that You protected me by Your grace. Thank You."
You better thank God the certain thing didn't work out with somebody that you were chasing. You better thank the Lord. Thank, thank Him. You know, He tells us how, how to even step to Him correctly. Psalm 100, verse 4: "Notice this: Enter into His gates with Thanksgiving, not mumbling, grumbling about, you know, how hot it is, how cold it is, and how long the service is. No, no, no. Enter into His gates. Enter into His gates with Thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. And then be thankful unto Him and bless His name." He's telling us how to step to Him. He's telling us how to step.
And then I would say this to you: As an incredible benefit of, of a thankful life, a person whose life overflows with Thanksgiving, is that when you think about what God has done for you and express thanks to Him, it protects your mind against depression, against discouragement, against defeat, against apathy, and against jealousy and envy. I mean, when you think about what God has done for you and then you express that in thanks to Him, it protects your mind against depression. It's hard to be depressed while you're thinking about how God has blessed you, thinking about the goodness of Jesus. It protects your mind against discouragement. It protects your mind against defeat. It protects your mind against apathy. It protects your mind against jealousy. Jealousy is counting somebody else's blessing more than you count your own. Just realize that what I've got is enough for me. That God has blessed me. Stop counting other folks' blessings. Count yours. You got enough to be able to count.
It's amazing. The more you know, the more you can grow. And the more in Jesus that you find yourself living, the more you'll be involved in a life of Thanksgiving. The more in Jesus that you find yourself living, rooted and grounded, the more you'll be involved in a life of Thanksgiving. The more, the more, the more, the more you know, the more you can grow. That's why the Apostle Paul had to warn about some insincere people in 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 7. He warned against people that were ever living and never coming to the knowledge of the truth because they were really insincere. They, they, they were put on. They were doing it for the wrong reasons. But I want you to know that having the Gratitude Perspective has benefits. And you know, if God gives a truth, do you know that, uh, it's not just a whimsical, subjective kind of feeling? Some of these things can actually be empirically observed. And let me tell you what, what they just, a Harvard Medical Study revealed. A Harvard Medical Study said that recent research has pointed to gratitude's myriad positive health effects, including greater emotional and social well-being, better sleep quality, lower depression risks, and favorable markers for cardiovascular health. Now, new data, uh, from the long-term Nurses' Health Study shows that it may extend lives. Can you see that? That's enough reason right there just to be grateful. I mean, if it will give you greater emotional and social well-being, better sleep quality, lower depression risk, and favorable markers for your cardiovascular health, just by being thankful. Thank You, Lord. Not for what you lost, but what you've got left. Thankful for God's provisions. Thankful for God's protection. Thankful for God's grace in your life.
Gratitude is a virtue that requires reflection. It requires kindness. And gratitude requires expression. There's no such a thing as unexpressed gratitude. Unexpressed gratitude doesn't do anybody any good, including you and the person or persons to whom you're grateful. If it is unexpressed, it needs, it requires reflection. You think about what they have done, what you've received, who you are, what you have, what you don't have. Think about that. It's about kindness, and it is about expression.
Fodor Dostoevsky said this: "That much unhappiness has come into the world because of bewilderment and things left unsaid." Gratitude is designed to be expressed because much unhappiness has come into the world because of bewilderment and things left unsaid. That's why the Bible teaches us in 1st Chronicles chapter 16 and: 34: "Notice this: Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endures forever." I told you, God is good, even when times are not. God is good, even when times are tough. So this is what I would tell you: Look for something good. Look for something good, even in every bad situation. Look for something good. I mean, the Gratitude Perspective, even if bad things happen, there's something that is actually good. I, I like to call that luminous darkness. Luminous darkness. When you experience luminous darkness, when you go through a dark situation, God will show you a light in it. God will show you a light in it. Just look for something good, even in every bad situation.
I, I think of it like this: That things may be bad, but they could be worse. They could be worse. I mean, it could be that somebody found, uh, some malignant cells in a certain part of your body, but thank God that it's not worse. Thank God that it hadn't spread to other organs. Thank God that they caught it early enough to be able to treat it. Thank God that, even in the midst of something dark, find the light. Luminous darkness. I mean, if you, if you lose one of something, "Lord, I thank You that I still have one left." I thank You that I still have one left.
There's something that sometimes when we think that we can get away from God, that God says, "No, no, no. You can't get away from Me." The psalmist realized that in Psalm 139, notice verse 11 and 12: "He said, 'You know what? I can never get away from Your presence.' He says, 'I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night.'" And notice what he said: "It happened. But even in darkness, I cannot hide from You. To You, the night shines as bright as day.'" God says, "I, I got light in a dark place. Luminous obscurity." I'm just telling you, God can take you in an obscure, dark situation and let light shine. Sometimes the light will turn on while you're sitting in darkness. I'm just, I'm just here to tell you, you'll be sitting at home in front of a computer, in front of a, a legal pad, and, and that's not necessarily the time that the illumination of the Holy Spirit will start happening to you. It's sometimes when you're out taking a walk, you can be in the shower, and all of a sudden, and God will arrest you. When you disengage, it's not because you were trying to think it up, it's because God says, "They're prostrate right now, and I can drop this into their spirit right at this moment." And I'm just, I don't know about you, but sometimes God speaks at some of the most inopportune times. I may be driving, and I'm like, "Hold that thought." I'm like, "Lord, do you see what I'm doing here?" And so God sees you. God sees you. He says, "Even if the psalmist were saying, 'Even if I ask the day to turn into night,' God says, He said that God will be." He says that even the, the night is light to you. It is like to you. You know what that's like? It is like God says, "I, I see you. Even when you try to go in the dark places." I know that there are some folks under the sound of my voice right now that have been out there trying to fit in with a world crowd, trying to fit in over in a party in the booth, in the back, in the corner, in the dark. And you know that you don't really have any business there. You're looking at everybody else and you wonder, "Why is it that the Holy Ghost is not convicting all of these other folks?" And there you are, sitting there feeling like a fish out of water. You know you don't belong there. You don't have any joy. You don't have any peace. You're really thinking that you're doing this. You got a little drink in your hand, trying to do some, trying to be grown. And, and He knows you. He sees you. And that's when you think that you're over there hiding in the darkness, like prayerlessness is a form of hiding. You think because you don't pray, God can't see you. God says, "I see you. I see your behind." Have you ever seen children hide from you? They'll be under the bed, and got all of their legs hanging out, thinking because they're in darkness, they're assuming that nobody else can see them. It's like, "You come and find me." And God says, "I, I see you." Because even your darkness is not enough. All right, yes, to hide from Me. God says, "I see what I love. I see you even when you're in a dark situation. Even the situations that break my heart, He says, 'I still see you, and I'll come there with you and, and sit with you in that place.'"
And so you got to realize that God loves you even when you experience hardships. Our first response when we experience hardship is that God, "He must not love me because if He loved me, I wouldn't be feeling like this." And you assume that because you're having a hard time that God doesn't, doesn't love you. But God loves you even while you hurt. He loves you even in your pain. He still loves you. In the same way that a mother or a father, they see their child going through something, it breaks their heart that they have to go through this. But you realize, if you're a smart parent, that there are certain things that I shouldn't rescue my child from because if I rescued them, I'm not really saving them, I'm delaying them learning this lesson. And if they don't, I mean, it takes every, all of the faith in your, in your life sometimes to muster. Your greatest manifestation of faith sometimes is to be able to sit on your hands and not run in and rescue your children and let patience have her perfect work. Because if you run in and rescue them, you got to start all over again, and they go back, and you don't, you don't deliver them, you delay them. So trust God. Trust God. And, and your heart is saying, "God, God, take care of my child. Lord Jesus, take care of my child while they're out there doing God knows what." I promise you this, and if you live long enough, there are some things that you will come to realize in your life that you will never be able to fix. There's some situations that God will ensure that you cannot fix. You will not be able to understand it. Are you hearing me? You will not be able to control it. You will not be able to change it. That's right. And you will not be able to explain it. There are some situations that will happen to you over the course of your life, and you can't fix it. You don't understand it. You can't change it. You can't control it. And neither can you explain it. But God says, "Listen, when you're in that moment, He says, 'I have written something where I'm the only one who can solve this.'" You can't call your mama, your daddy. You can't call a rich person. God says, "You can't fix this. You don't even understand this. You can't change this." He says, "You, you can't even explain it. You don't even know why you're feeling what you're feeling." Anybody ever, ever been there when you just have an honest moment and said, "That I've been through some things that I cannot explain. I, I know I couldn't fix it. I couldn't change it. I couldn't control it." But Jesus, it was to let you know that He is God, and you are not. God will introduce situations into your life. I don't care how many scriptures you know. I don't care how well you pray. You're not going to be able to fix it, understand it, control it, change it, or explain it. You've got to be able to trust the God who is God. God is saying, "I'm going to give you some God-sized problems to realize that you need Me. That this is why I am here to be God in your life." When you cannot, God says, "Don't try to take my job." So I'm writing myself into the script of your life. That if I'm going to make it, God, if you don't do something now, Lord, I'm, I'm done. I'm done. Have you ever been to that place of something that you don't understand, that you cannot explain, and you got to say, "God, I trust You with my whole life." I, I call that experience a crucible of life. A crucible is a vessel that holds molten metal in one place long enough for it to be purified and clarified. And sometimes God will put you in a hot situation so He can purify you and clarify you. When you get, I'm telling you, pain, pain, pain, pain. If you hurt hard enough, strong enough, pain is a clarifier. Uh, you, you become very clear when you're in pain. What's important. When, when, whenever you get in pain, it's a purifier and a clarifier. And I just want you to realize this: That sometimes, sometimes your challenging situation is the crucible for your change. It is the crucible for your change. The thing that you can't control, the thing that you can't fix, the thing that you can't understand, the thing that you cannot explain, it is the crucible for your change. Because just remember, if God does not change your situation, He will transform you through it. Whenever God does not change, I want you to hear me about the Holy Ghost. Whenever God does not change your situation, you trust Him to transform you through it. Because when you come out of that, you're not the same man that went into the problem. You're not the same woman that went into the crisis. When you come out of that, you have evolved. God has grown you. He has purged some things from you. He has purified you. He has clarified you. Now you're clear. You know what you need to do. When you've been right at death's door, you realize that's not even important. That is not what's important in my life. Anybody ever been there? But while you're in the furnace of affliction, gratitude still must be expressed because God is still God. Your gratitude is, is, is about God. This is not about you. It's, it's ultimately about God.
And I want you to realize this: Gratitude can be expressed via spoken words. Spoken words. And these are words that are spoken specifically to be able to express appreciation for something. This is, and you have to be specific with it. Don't just tell a person thank you. Tell them thank you for what. Thank you for helping me when I was confused, when I was suicidal. Thank you for helping me to finish my project. Thank you for encouraging me when I was about to give up. Be specific with your spoken words when you express gratitude.
Secondly, through written notes. I don't care whether you, you write everything else, you're texting everybody else. Text people and tell them thank you. Thank you so much for so-and-so. Thank you. Email them. Uh, uh, uh, write them an old-fashioned card. I mean, it's so meaningful when people take the time to actually get a, a, a hard copy card and a written note to you of thanks. And be specific again in the thanks. Thank you. Thank you for helping me when I had given out and I had nothing else. Take the time to thank it. It, it blesses you, and it'll bless them when you share it.
And then sometimes, it's just reflections in a journal of thankfulness that will bless your life when you begin to think about the goodness of Jesus and all that He's done for you. This is an exercise that reminds you of how blessed you are despite difficulties. You ought to keep a gratitude journal. I'm telling you, there are social and emotional benefits, mental health benefits, because I'm telling you, thankful people are the happiest people on the planet. Thankful people, they're the happiest people on the planet. And it's not determined by how much you have, it's determined by how little you need.
And then acts of kindness. Acts of kindness. I would see my parents often times bless people, and sometimes, you know what people would do? They would bake them a sweet potato pie. They'd bake them a pound cake. And I knew what they were saying without their words when that pound cake would come in, when that sweet potato pie would come in. My parents had blessed them with something, and it was generally money. And it was that way of saying, "Thank you, thank you, thank you." It's like, "I ain't got no money to send you, but I, I can, I got some butter and some eggs and some nutmeg and some cinnamon. I'll, I'll, I'll put all the love in it." You know, and it, when, when we got those pies, when we got those cakes, it, it, it was, I, I realized this is a tangible manifestation of gratefulness. Just gratefulness. Some people, you bless them, and they won't even, I mean, they turn, look like you. That's all. It's like, "Excuse me, I didn't have to do that." Learn to express it. I mean, just acts, acts of kindness. Just baking something, cakes and pies and cookies, whatever you can do. Gifts. Sometimes it's just a gift. It's just, it's just, it's just a gift, uh, of something that means, of something to you, that that will mean something to the person. It's a thoughtful present.
Sometimes your gratitude is expressed through time and attention. It's just time and attention that you're able to give. Just spend quality time. It's, it's to listen attentively. Nothing more says to a person that I value you as a human being when you're willing to listen to people. The gift of communication is not in your ability to speak, it is in your ability to listen. You show people value when you listen to them. And I'm telling you, when you will listen to little children, when it seems like what they're talking about is nothing, if you'll let them tell you about what means something to them in their world at that time, when you get old, they'll talk to you then too. And so, just listening.
Public recognition. Public recognition is a way of just saying, "Thank you, thank you, thank you for who you are." You know how when people, uh, they, they win a big award or something, then I want to, want to thank my mom. I want to thank my dad. You, public recognition. Public recognition.
And then nonverbal gestures. Sometimes people don't have to say with their mouth. They don't have to bake you a cookie. Sometimes it's a pat on the back. Sometimes it's a hug. Sometimes it is just they're holding your hand and squeezing it, and it says, "Thank you. Thank you for that. Thank you." Just nonverbal gestures. But you know what they're talking about right at that moment. It's sometimes it's just an arm around your shoulder. It's just saying, "Thank you." Sometimes you can get so full that words are inadequate to express how you feel, and the moment that you wrap your arms around them, it communicates the love and the thankfulness.
And so, when you realize that there are 3D glasses that you can put on and have a perspective to be able to see the world in greater depth, you need to put that on to look around in your life and see where the provisions of God are. To see where God has divinely protected you when you may not even have been aware of what He protected you from. And the grace that God has afforded to you, of how He has given you things that you didn't even have the wisdom to ask Him for. And that becomes the grace. Is it amazing how you can do a life-changing feat for someone, and if they don't have a heart of gratitude, they won't even come back and say thank you? Can you imagine? Remember the 10 lepers that Jesus, that's right, cleansed? Sir, this was an incurable disease. You had to be sent off into a, um, leprosy colony where you were quarantined, and they had no cure. And now Jesus gives a prophetic word to say, "If you'll go show yourselves to the priest." When He said that, you didn't go show yourself to the priest unless you had been healed. And the priest would then examine you to verify your healing. And while they were walking, when they turned away from Jesus, all 10 of them were still lepers. But as they journeyed, sometimes when, sometimes your greatest blessing is just your obedience in going to try to do what He told you to do. And they got halfway, and they began to look at themselves and realize, "The bumps are gone. The rash is gone. My body, I'm healed." All 10 of them got healed. And only one of them, one-tenth of them, I want to call him "The Talented T," was the one that said, "My going to the priest can hold up, but I'm going back to the prophet who set this miracle in motion, and I'm going to tell Him thank you. I'm going to tell Him thank you. Thank you. Thank you." And he went back. And Jesus said, "Weren't there 10 that were cleansed? Where are the other nine?" And only one of them. All of them got the blessing. Can you imagine how few people remember the incredible goodness of God?
And if you ever want to know how the story ends, and if we believe it, you know, you can thank Him in advance. I'm actually blown away to realize that the last chapter of the book of the Bible, in Revelation, when you go to the end of the book, I know that I'm going to spoil it for some of you who've never read it, but it does not end, as you may suppose, with the fire of God's judgment against the world. The last utterance in the last chapter of the Book of Revelation, and the last verse reads like this: "The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen." He finished the book and says that the grace of the Lord Jesus be with the saints. Grace. He knew the saints needed grace because in the best of the law that we would still come up short. And He said, "If, if you just be able to understand the grace of God." In one sense of it, the grace of God is the divine enabling ability of God to be what God has called you to be and to do what God has called you to do. He didn't end Revelation in a judgment. He ended it in a grace. That Jesus was born from the foundation of the world to come and bring a grace to all men, all humanity. Grace be with you. He pronounced Christ's grace to a faulty, failing world. Grace, grace, grace be to all. Not, not, not just a few. Be to all the saints, the godly believers. Grace. You would think that He would give grace to the sinners, but even the best of the saints never gets so holy that you ever get to a place where you never need the grace of God. And He ends the book with a very grace. But we are saved by faith through grace. It is the grace of God.
And may you have on your gratitude 3D lens and be thankful to God. Not only this day, it's a way of life for the believers. It's not, not a season, it's a way of life for us. Grateful for the protection of God. God's protection over your life, over your family, over your stuff. God's protection. God's provisions. And God's grace. Those three major categories. No matter what's happening in the world, none of that will ever change God's protection over your life. If you have to go through hell, God says, "I got you. I'm with you." The psalmist, he said, "Even if I make my bed in hell, You'll come right there with me." And you will have some hellish experiences here on Earth. He never promised that you wouldn't go through hell. He just told you, "When you go through it, don't stop. Keep going. You'll get through it." He says, "I'm, I'm going to be with you even when you go through hell. Even when you go through pain. Even when you go through loss. I'm going to go with you." It doesn't mean it's not going to hurt. It will hurt like the Dickens, but He said, "My presence is going to be with you, and I will never leave you nor forsake you." So no matter what's going on in your world, just realize, "God, I'm thankful for Your Divine Protection over my life. I'm grateful for Your provisions of everything that You have provided for me. You didn't have to do it, but You did." Whether He's provided education, job opportunities, whatever God has provided in your life, your family, the provisions of God, food and clothing and shelter, and friendships, relationships, and ministry assignments, whatever God has provided, thank Him for it. And whatever He has graced you with, the grace that saves you, the grace that sustains you, the grace that gives you what you didn't even have the wisdom to ask Him for, the grace of God. Thank Him. You have so much for which to be thankful. God's amazing protection, provisions, and His grace. May you look through those lens of the 3Ds of life, and may your heart be rooted and grounded in Him, and may you overflow in a life of thankfulness. Thankfulness, because when you are full of the grace of God, Thanksgiving is its fruit. You're rooted in His love. Thankfulness is the fruit of that. That's the real thing that He's going for. "Herein is My Father glorified, John 15, that you bear much fruit." But you don't get a fruit unless you've got a root of love, rooted and grounded in Him, and you will abound in the fruit, no matter what's happening, in spite of the circumstances. You'll realize God is still good, even when you go through a dry season. God is still good, and He's still faithful.
I hope you got something out of the Word of the Lord today. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah to Jesus! We hope that you enjoyed that message. Don't forget to like and subscribe, and then press the notification bell so that you don't miss another one of our videos. And if you want to partner with us, click the Give Now button. Thank you for what you do.