Last week I shared the message: Where are the other nine? And I spoke about gratitude.
The message was based on the text of Luke 17 where Jesus healed ten lepers but only one returned to thank Him and only one was saved and was remembered for his gratitude.
It is very sad to realise that although 9 were healed, we never heard of their return and they are completely left out of the story.
They received a blessing and went on their way. They were blessed but they don’t hear of their story because they were not grateful.
Unfortunately, ingratitude is a reality in the lives of many people. How many people come to this church with needs, they are helped, cared for, we serve them, bless them, we invest our time but after the doors open up for them, they do exactly what the 9 lepers did!
A thankful heart is one of the primary identifying characteristics of a believer. A broken and grateful heart destroys pride, selfishness and worry. And it helps to fortify the believer’s trust in the Lord and confidence in His provision, even in the most difficult times.
Gratitude is a necessary quality in the lives of all Jesus’ followers. We must honour and thank our Lord but we should also be grateful to those who helped and invested in our lives.
Be thankful. God has commanded it – for our own good and for His glory
Remember that gratitude opens doors to miracles. Today I will be talking about gratitude in the midst of suffering.
Today’s message: Gratitude opens the doors to miracles!
Showing gratitude when all is well can be a challenge for some, but it’s pretty easy!
But there are times in our lives that when it is very hard to thank and praise God! There are times when even hard to hold on to hope!
““At least there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail.” Job 14:7 NIV
But there is hope even for a tree. If it is cut down, it will sprout up again and new shoots will not fail.
Sometimes it feels like we are cut down in life. We think this might be the end. This is not true. God can change things. He can bring new life. He can bring, as the scripture says: beauty out of ashes.
Do you remember Job’s story? Do you remember what happened to him?
When that horrific news came to him that his children had died.
Listen: Seven sons and three daughters, all dead. Can you imagine the pain and suffering? What did Job do?
“Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped” Job 1:20 NKJV
What? He fell to the ground to worship?
Yes, but Marcio this is the story of Job. God blesses him in the end. He got everything that he lost back.
Wait a second. Job had never read the book of Job. He didn’t know what was going to happen. He a godly man. So much so that the Lord was bragging about Him in heaven. But he was just a man.
God said, “He is a perfect and an upright man. One that fears God and avoids evil”. Job 1:8
But Job didn’t know that narrative. He didn’t know that the Lord had given permission for the devil to bring calamity into his life.
All that Job knew was one day he woke up and everything that could go wrong in his life went wrong. Yet when he heard the news, he bowed down and he worshiped.
If we had read that he fell to the ground and cried and gave out, it would have made sense.
If we had read that he fell to the ground feeling angry at God it would have even made sense.
But we read that he fell to the ground and he worshipped. Why?
Because he was a godly man, he was God-fearing and he trusted in God.
What came out of Job’s mouth after the terrible news? Worship!
What comes out of your mouth when you are facing difficulties?
“For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” Matthew 12:34 NIV
Out of the abundance of a heart a man will speak. When you are a godly man or woman and you are pressed by life, prayer and adoration will come out of you.
When someone says, “I lost my faith in this crisis” my response to this person is: Get rid of that faith. That faith is not worth a single penny.
Anybody can praise God when the sky is blue and the sun is shining.
But if you can praise God when things go wrong that tells me one thing: You are a true follower of Jesus Christ.
“When Job heard this, he got up, tore his clothes, and shaved his head to show his sadness. Then he fell to the ground to bow down before God Even after all this, Job did not sin. He did not accuse God of doing anything wrong.”
Job 1:20, 22 ERV
That is called the sacrifice of praise. When we worship even when we don’t feel like it.
We worship Him even when we are hurting. We worship because God is deserving of our praise. The Bible repeatedly urges us to worship no matter what.
“Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise – the fruit of lips that openly profess His name.” Hebrews 13:15 NIV
Sometimes it feels like a sacrifice to praise. Sometimes I am not in the mood. I do it anyway because God is worthy of my praise.
Notice it says, “The fruit of my lips”. That means I must verbalise it.
Job was offering his sacrifice of praise to God. He had an attitude of gratitude. Gratitude opens the doors to miracles!
“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
1 Thessalonians 5:18 NIV
That doesn’t mean you have to thank Him for everything that is bad. You don’t have be thankful FOR that bad day. Or thank Him for an illness. Or thank Him for the death of a loved one. No!
You should not give thanks FOR the difficulties, but rather give thanks DESPITE the difficulties. This is a very important distinction, and one I think we often don’t understand.
Giving thanks IN everything shows that you know in your heart that God is greater than any struggle and that He can use all difficulties if you approach Him with a broken and humble heart.
Daniel was another man of God who went through hard times and experienced miracles. He was man of prayer who was an advisor to the king.
Some of Daniel’s enemies said “Let’s pass a law that no one can pray to any God except to the king”. They brought that to the king and He signed it into law not realising he was condemning his friend Daniel to death.
Then we read this in Daniel 6:10.
“Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.” Daniel 6:10 NIV
Daniel had an attitude of gratitude. I love verse 10. “Just as he had done before”. This is what he had always done.
Here was the problem with Daniel. He had never read the book of Daniel. Just like Job hadn’t read Job, Daniel had no idea how his story would end.
He didn’t know he would be thrown into a den of lions. He didn’t know he would be delivered from the lions. He didn’t know any of this. But he got down on his knees and prayed and thanked God.
Job was tested and approved, Daniel was tested and approved, but many believers are tested and fail.
If you want to be used by God, you need to be treated, your heart needs to be broken and you need to be tested!
When you are tested, you manifest what you have in your heart!
Job only had His experience with God after all the great suffering he went through, and it had been God who allowed his suffering!
“I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes. Job 42:5
Most people do not have experiences with God, because they fail and they give up in the middle of the test!
They start complaining, giving out, they stop coming to church, become weak in faith, stop seeking God or become unbelieving!
Remember that Israel had to stay 40 years in the wilderness because of their heart!
Many Christians lose the best of God because of ungratefulness or because of complaint and murmuring!
Testimony: Years ago, in 2011 I went through a terrible moment, which many of you know and I had an experience of being visited by an angel.
I was in the midst of a great storm, suffering and anguished.
My family and I were sent to Ireland as missionaries. After 2 years of being in the country we legalised the church and made an application for visas as the pastors of this Irish church.
After some months I received a letter from the government , they had denied my visa request and demanded me to leave the country within 120 days!
It was tough! I was at home, I went to God, I kneeled crying and told God, I trust you and I adore you! After 40 minutes of worship, suddenly I see an angel that comes, it stops in the air in front of me, smiles at me and shows me 2 red passports.
From that day on my situation changed and today I have the passports the Angel showed me.
Job, Daniel, Paul and Silas, only had a real experience with God after great suffering and God allowed their suffering!
I want to finish off by giving you some practical advices.
1- Learn to appreciate the small things and give thanks to God in all circumstances.
If you’re going to wait to feel grateful and happy when good things happen such as a job promotion or buying a new house, you’ll not experience the power of gratitude in your life.
To enjoy the benefits of gratitude, you need to appreciate what you have, especially the little things. Gratitude opens the doors to miracles!
2- Express your gratitude
In addition to feeling gratitude, it is important that you express it through your attitudes and words. You have to give thanks to God, but also tell people how grateful you are for their presence in your life, show to them how important someone’s help was to you. Share and express gratitude and you will have a great life.
3- Replace complaints with gratitude
Recognise that God is taking care of you and that you trust Him in every situation. Try to see the good side of every situation.
For example, if you find yourself feeling down because it’s cold or raining and you need to get up for work, you’ll soon remember that at least you have a job and many people don’t.
Replace complaints with gratitude and you will see God working many miracles in your life.
Have you thanked God today for simply being alive and breathing?
Because there are many people who struggle to even breathe!
Have you thanked Him for your health? There are so many people sick fighting for their lives. Do you always thank God before eating your meals? Because there are many people who don’t have anything to eat.
Are you grateful for your family, your spouse, your children, even if they are not perfect? We should be thankful because many no longer have their family members alive.
Are you thankful to God for your church, brothers and sisters, your leaders, and for the freedom to be in church Services and meetings?
Because in many countries they want to worship but can’t, they can be arrested because they don’t have religious freedom.
Stop complaining and express your gratitude because Gratitude opens doors to miracles!
Where are the other nine? Where are the grateful people?
May the Lord bless you and help you to live in gratitude!