Are you a grateful person? Are you grateful to God, grateful to your friends, grateful to your family and are you always saying thank you and showing appreciation even for the little things?
Many people are very unthankful, sometimes even those who have been gracefully saved by God.
Illustration:
- We are like the little boy who was given an orange by a man. The boy’s mother asked, “What do you say to the nice man?” The little boy handed the orange back and said, “Peel it.” As Christians, we need to cultivate the virtue of thankfulness in our lives.
Today’s message: WHERE ARE THE OTHER NINE?
“As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem, he reached the border between Galilee and Samaria. As he entered a village there, ten men with leprosy stood at a distance, crying out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” He looked at them and said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy. One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, “Praise God!” He fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, “Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” And Jesus said to the man, “Stand up and go. Your faith has healed you.” Luke 17:11-19 NLT
How did these lepers respond? Out of the ten people who were healed, only one of them went back to Jesus to thank and praise Him.
“So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten who were cleansed? But where are the other nine?”
Are not all of you here blessed? Where is the gratitude?
The sad thing about it is that nine of them, even though they had all been equally healed, they drop out of the story altogether, – we never hear of their return. They obtained a blessing and went their way. They were blessed but they don’t have a story because they were ungrateful.
This is my message: Where are the other nine? Where are the grateful people? Where are those that were helped and blessed? They just take their blessing and disappear!
Only 1 out of 10 lepers was grateful for their blessing from Jesus.
What a sad picture! Of all the many people in the church who receive blessings from Jesus, only so few return to thank to Him or others that have helped them.
Unfortunately, ungratefulness is a reality in many people’s lives. How many people came to this church with needs, needs that were met, how many were blessed, had doors opened, received the blessings and then did exactly what these 9 lepers did!
We do not help or bless anyone in order to hear them thank us or applaud us, however: Gratitude is such a trademark quality of followers of Jesus that all of us should work on it. We must honour and thank our Lord but we should also be grateful to those who help us.
If you want to be a happy, blessed and prosperous person, you must have this quality as part of your life.
Be thankful to God and be grateful to the people around you. Be thankful for everything that the people around you do for you.
Let’s don’t be like the lepers. Ten were healed and only one, only one came back. If we look at it a percentage, we could say that only 10% of people are grateful and 90% are ungrateful, spoiled children who always take things for granted.
“Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18 NIV
Are you a grateful person? Are you a person who is always giving thanks for all that you have? Or are you always complaining about what you don’t have?
Gratitude is a tremendous Biblical principle and it is also a Biblical ordinance. If you want to please God and bring God’s blessings into your life, you need to renew your mind and change your words.
Gratitude attracts the blessings of God but complaints attract curses on our lives!
“And don’t complain as some of them did. Because they complained, they were killed by the angel that destroys. The things that happened to those people are examples. They were written to be warnings for us. We live in the time that all those past histories were pointing to.” 1 Corinthians 10:10-11
In the same way that Gratitude attracts God’s blessings, complaints attract curses on our lives.
Gratitude is a heavenly language that attracts the presence of God. Complaining is an evil language that attracts demons.
The text we read talks about the people of Israel. They were had been freed from Egypt and were passing through the wilderness. It was their first obstacle and they started to complain about all that they did not have. Thanks to their attitude they remained in the desert for 40 years and did not enter the promised land.
That’s why I said that this message is a very serious and very important message, as it can transform your future.
Let’s now read John 6:10-11, that is about the Power of Gratitude in Jesus’ life.
You all know the story of the multiplication of loaves and fish. Jesus was teaching a large crowd and these people had been with him from morning until evening and they were hungry.
Jesus asks his disciples: What do we have to eat? There were only have 5 loaves and 2 fish. Let’s see what Jesus then does.
“Jesus said, “Tell everyone to sit down.” This was a place with a lot of grass, and about 5000 men sat down there. Jesus took the loaves of bread and gave thanks for them. Then he gave them to the people who were waiting to eat. He did the same with the fish. He gave them as much as they wanted.” John 6:10-11 ERV
Jesus did not complain that there was not enough food, He took the loaves, with a heart full of gratitude, He gave thanks and the miracle happened.
Here you see the power of Gratitude in Action!
What was not enough, through gratefulness became more than enough.
When you are grateful to God for what you have, you move God’s favour on your behalf and God opens new doors for you.
I challenge you, please stop complaining about what you have or don’t have and thank God for what you do have. Stop complaining about your job, your salary, your church, your leaders, your family and thank God for what He has given you, and you will see the hand of God moving over your life.
“Then Jesus said to her, “Remember what I told you? I said that if you believed, you would see God’s divine greatness.” So they moved the stone away from the entrance. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you heard me.” John 11:40-41
John Chapter 11 talks about the death of Jesus’ friend, Lazarus. His sisters called on Jesus because Lazarus was sick. But Jesus took too long to get there and Lazarus died.
What did Jesus do when faced with the situation of death? Again He looked to Heaven and thanked God! Jesus didn’t even pray for Lazarus, He just thanked God and the miracle happened.
I know there are circumstances that make it very difficult to thank God. We may lose our peace, get sick, we may lose our jobs, break financially, we may suffer losses.
But when we recognise that God is God above all circumstances and give Him the glory He deserves, you open the door for miracles in your life!
Jesus’ gratitude resurrected Lazarus. Your gratitude can bring many things back to life as well!
Let’s now look at the power of gratitude at work in the life of the Apostle Paul and Silas.
“They were beaten severely and thrown into jail. The officials told the jailer, “Guard them very carefully!” About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing songs to God. The other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was an earthquake so strong that it shook the foundation of the jail. All the doors of the jail opened, and the chains on all the prisoners fell off.” Acts 16:23, 25-26
Here we see that Paul and Silas were unjustly imprisoned for preaching the gospel. They had every reason to be complaining.
They could be saying:
God, why did you allow this to happen? God, why didn’t you protect us? God, we are suffering unjustly and You won’t do anything to save us.
No, they didn’t say any of that. They were arrested, they were whipped, they were hurting all over, but around midnight they started praying and singing praises to God and all the prisoners could hear them!
What are people listening from you? Complaints or gratitude?
It’s so sad to see Christians who claim to love God complaining all the time!
If the weather gets cold, they complain because it’s too cold. If it gets warm, they complain because it’s too hot. If you have work, you complain that you are tired. If you don’t have a job, you complain you don’t have any money.
Christians, please stop complaining, as complaining attracts curses and demons into your life!
Be grateful, for what you have, be grateful for the people around you and stop complaining.
Paul and Silas were unjustly put in prison but because of their gratitude and for not complaining, God caused an earthquake that shook the prison doors open and even the jailer was converted and born again.
Your gratitude can transform your life!
We need to repent of this sin, the sin of complaining!
Beloved ones, God has many promises for you, but because of your ungrateful attitude you can miss out on the best from God.
God delivered the people of Israel from Egypt, but they were people who would never stop complaining, and that’s why Israel spent 40 years in the wilderness and they died without entering the promised land.
Where are the other nine? Where are the grateful people?
Your attitude can determine your future. Get this sin out of your life!
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 only 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.
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 struggling to even breathe!
Have you thanked you 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, your community, and for the freedom to be in church’s 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!
Where are the other nine? Where are the grateful people?
May the Lord bless you and help you to live in gratitude!