The Importance of Thankfulness

I’m so excited for you to start this study because I believe having a grateful heart can change our lives more than we can imagine. And I think it’s one of the keys to living the life God wants us to have: a life of peace, joy, and fulfillment in all things.

You see, being thankful is important to God—His Word is filled with instructions and reminders to be thankful. In fact, the words thanks and thanksgiving appear in approximately 100 verses in the Bible, and we are told to give thanks 73 times. So then, what should we be thankful for?

We are to have thankful hearts and express our thankfulness to God and to the people in our lives who help us, encourage us, or do things for us. Psalm 100:4 states that we should “Be thankful and say so” (AMPC). I like this scripture because it reminds me that people can’t read my mind. They need me to communicate my gratitude in order to know that I appreciate them and am thankful for them.

As we read the Old Testament, we find that possibly the Israelite’s biggest problem may have been their tendency to initially give thanks to God for His goodness to them, but quickly forget and go right back to complaining and disobedience! Psalm 106:12-13 says, They believed his promises and sang his praise. But they soon forgot what he had done and did not wait for his plan to unfold (NIV).

God brought thousands of people out of bondage in Egypt, and they headed toward the Promised Land. One reason only two men out of that large group—Joshua and Caleb—were allowed to enter the Promised Land was because so many others chose to complain instead of be thankful. Some of those born in the wilderness did enter the Promised Land with Joshua and Caleb, but the rest never entered because their lack of gratitude led to disobedience toward God. This shows the power of “Thank You”!

The apostle Paul teaches us that God’s will for us is to be thankful at all times in everything (1 Thessalonians 5:18). I admit that this is a tall order, but God never asks us to do anything we cannot do with His help.

Our gratitude belongs first to God because, without Him, we would have nothing. God is good. Goodness is part of His character and essence. He desires to do good things in our lives, and wants us to be good to others as well. Where goodness flows forth, thankfulness should also flow forth. When we stop seeing the goodness in our lives and start complaining, we cause problems for ourselves. I say, “Why be grumpy when we can be grateful?”

My goal in this study is to birth in you a fresh revelation of the power of being thankful and urge you to make a new and firm commitment to being more thankful than you have ever been. I truly believe that the words “thank you” contain power that will change your life. I’ve concentrated on being thankful for a long time, and I can say from personal experience that thankfulness releases joy in our lives, has a powerful effect on our prayers, and keeps us focused on the positive aspects of our lives—no matter the circumstances.

_{Adapted from the book The Power of Thank You by Joyce Meyer. Copyright 2022 by Joyce Meyer. Published by Hachette Book Group, Inc. All rights reserved.}