The Power of Giving Thanks

Even though Thanksgiving is a once-a-year holiday, we need to exercise thanksgiving every day of the year for the physical benefits and the power of giving thanks to God.

Physical benefits from GIVING THANKS/gratitude:

Gratitude can help relieve stress. We all deal with stress daily. When you’re in the middle of a stressful situation, refocusing on what you’re grateful for can calm the body and mind. This reduces the symptoms of stress. When you choose gratitude over negativity, you also feel less emotionally charged.  

Gratitude can make you more positive. According to psychologist Dr. Catherine Jackson, gratitude causes the brain to increase the production of dopamine and serotonin. Dopamine is the “feel-good” neurotransmitter. It’s associated with pleasure and reward. It contributes to focus, motivation, and happiness. Serotonin is a chemical that is considered a natural mood stabilizer. It helps reduce depression, regulate anxiety, heal wounds, and maintain bone health. So, a grateful mind allows you to feel more positive emotions.

Gratitude can make you healthier. The more grateful you are, the healthier you feel. Those who practice gratitude tend to have better psychological health.

Gratitude reduces your risk of depression. Regularly expressing gratitude can lead to fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety. Being grateful reminds us that not everything is bad. There are positives that we can focus on. Gratitude can make you feel more motivated, which pushes you toward your goals and dreams. A sense of hope helps to protect against depression.

POWER FROM GIVING THANKS TO GOD

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

Giving thanks to God is the power that allows us to move into higher realms of faith while providing peace.

Lysa TerKeurst, American Christian author “If there was ever a secret for unleashing God’s powerful peace in a situation, it’s developing a heart of true thanksgiving.”

 It is not always easy to give thanks to God, but this is the very thing we must do to see God's will accomplished in our lives. I, like most children of our Heavenly Father, have had many disappointments in my life where my immediate initial responses were not exercising the power of giving thanks.

Some of these include: (1) Having a neck injury in college football that ended my playing career that appeared pro-bound; it also caused me to fail my physical exam to get my second lieutenant commission in the Army that ended a potential career in the military. (2) Losing a net worth of several millions of dollars in the real estate business when the US economy crashed, and I was on the verge of declaring bankruptcy. (3) My wife was diagnosed with nonsmoker’s lung cancer which caused her physical death after she suffered tremendously for thirteen years. (4) My oldest grandson was born with ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) and OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder).

In looking back on each of these and many other disappointments for which I eventually gave thanks to God, I truly see God’s will in them as “disguised eternal blessings”.

(1) My neck injury allowed me a new focus of future business opportunities that provided me the necessary time to focus on God’s Word and grow in my faith. (2) My loss of millions and almost declaring bankruptcy provided me a worldwide testimony about God’s provision that restored my ability to give amounts exceedingly abundantly above anything that I ever imagined. (3) God allowed my wife to lead numerous people to Christ during her cancer journey including the last two months of her earthly life where she led her brother to Christ who died six weeks after my wife. (4) God trained my grandson in perseverance and diligence where he graduated as Salutatorian of his Senior class; was elected President of the Student Body; was awarded his Eagle rank in Boy Scouts; and was the high scorer on his school’s basketball team.

Thank You, God, for these blessings!!

Giving thanks has great power to bring joy and break the power of the enemy. Whenever you give thanks to God, despite the most difficult circumstances, the enemy loses a big battle in your life. When you give thanks during difficulty, you bring pleasure to God's heart. He is looking for Christians who live in a realm of praise and thanksgiving where the enemy no longer has an ability to hold or manipulate that person. Satan is defeated when we have a thankful heart because thankfulness during difficulty is a sacrifice pleasing to God.

Giving thanks has the power to anchor us to something that will last forever.

The Bible declares that God’s love is from everlasting to everlasting: the one thing Christ followers can never lose. We were meant to live forever. That was God’s original design for humanity. And even now, after millennia of living under the curse that sin brought upon us, we still long for immortality. Our souls will keep on craving the eternal. We know there’s something wrong about death because we were made for eternity, and we innately long for this eternity with God to whom we are thankful.

Truly, there is power in giving thanks to God in everything.

THANK YOU, GOD!!!