Transcript:
Hello, welcome to Walking in Step with God. I am Steve McDonald. Today we explore the topic “Practice Gratitude in Every Season” as the next installment of our series “Gratitude and Trusting God’s Plan”. In this series, we have explored the importance that gratitude plays in our day-to-day lives, walking in faith. One of the common themes we have been discussing throughout the series is the benefit of having a posture of thanks, regardless of our current circumstances.
Today, I’d like to explore the idea of practicing gratitude through different seasons of life. All of us have seasons in our lives that can be emotionally and spiritually all-consuming. We can find ourselves in a season where we must endure challenging circumstances. We can even find ourselves in a season of great abundance. In both scenarios, it can become very easy to forget the importance of maintaining a mindset of gratitude.
During a season of significant challenge and adversity, life’s stressors and hardships can overwhelm us, leaving little headspace for gratitude. In these times, it can be tempting to feel that there is nothing to be grateful for.
During a season of prosperity and growth, happiness and excitement may lead us down a path where we take our circumstances for granted. In these times, we can easily forget to be thankful and express gratitude. We may feel there is nothing to be thankful for if we have everything we need and abundantly more.
Let’s explore both scenarios and how we can maintain a posture of gratitude in every season of life.
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Welcome back. Let’s continue our discussion of how to practice gratitude in every season. Let’s examine three scenarios that most of us will encounter at some point in our lives.
Gratitude in God’s Timing
One aspect of learning how to walk in faith is learning how to be patient and wait on God’s timing. When we pray, we must keep in mind that a response may not arrive at the timing we feel is best.
An important part of trusting in God is trusting in His timing. God’s timing is not our timing. We may be in a season where there are constant pressures such as financial pressures, health conditions, or relationship challenges. These are all good examples of things that can make a season of life very stressful. When we pray to God and surrender these challenges to Him, we certainly may feel as though we need a resolution ASAP.
God knows what is best, and His timing in response to a prayer may not match what we think is necessary. In these times, it is important to maintain a posture of gratitude to God, knowing that He knows best in every circumstance.
We may pray to God, believing that we need a response in a matter of days. If many days, weeks or even months pass from our prayer, we must not lose heart. Keep praying, thanking God in advance for His response at the time of His choosing. Know that God has not forgotten you and hears every word of your prayer and is preparing a response for you at a time and manner that He knows is best for the situation.
Gratitude in Hardship
Similar to the practice of practicing gratitude while we wait on God to answer a prayer, we should also be in a posture of gratitude if the answer we receive is not what we had in mind.
When God answers a prayer differently than what we desired, it can be a difficult time in our faith. We may be tempted to think that God does not know what we really need. Rest assured that God knows exactly what you -need- and will not leave you or forsake you.
We may, for example, receive an answer to a prayer as ‘No’ or ‘Do nothing’,’ which results in circumstances where we experience hardship and struggle. In these times, we must learn to be in a posture of thanks for God’s presence amid the struggle. We can and should thank God for His response to our prayer, even if we don’t understand the reason.
God knows infinitely more about every nuance of our hardship and struggles. God works in ways that go far beyond what we can rationalize or understand. Amid your struggles, know that God’s will is the most important thing we can seek.
God’s will is perfect, even if His will is that your circumstances of hardship remain. In a season of hardship, God is with you at every step. God is watching over you. God is there to comfort you. In these times, express gratitude to God for His plans, whatever they may be, and continue to place your heart’s desire before Him.
As I reflect on my life and my seasons of hardship, I realize that admin the hardship, I did not think God was at work. In retrospect, when I look at those seasons as a whole, including when I was no longer in hardship, I realize God was orchestrating plans for me behind the scenes that would lead to a new season of life. A season of comfort, well-being and even prosperity.
If you are experiencing hardship in your life, trust God today with the plans He has in store for you, and remain in a posture of thanks as you await His plans to be revealed.
Gratitude Amid Abundance
Let’s conclude today’s message by exploring the importance of gratitude in seasons of abundance.
We have covered the importance of remaining grateful as we wait for God to reveal His answer to our prayers and the importance of gratitude in times of hardship. When we have seasons in our lives of blessing and abundance, it is also a very important time to remain in a posture of thanks to the One who helped to facilitate those blessings.
There are many things in this world that can bring us pleasure and can coexist with a life of faith. Wealth and prosperity can provide us with opportunities to purchase homes, cars, clothing, and many other material things we desire, such as travel and access to higher education.
Financial abundance can support family members and causes important to us.
Abundance can take the form of peace and joy as we move away from a season of conflict and strife.
In these scenarios, it’s easy to forget to give thanks. If we believe we haven’t a need for anything, we may think there is no need to give thanks. On the contrary, I believe times of abundance are an excellent time to remain in a posture of gratitude.
God is our provider. Yes, we can work hard, educate ourselves, and have lucrative careers to get abundance, but let us not forget the gifts God has planted within us to achieve such accomplishments.
In seasons of abundance, let us remember to be thankful to the God, who was instrumental in helping us to achieve success.
Let’s keep it real. If you were praying to God to help you in your time of hardship every day, I think it is equally important to continue offering prayers of gratitude every day. In this situation, I invite you to have the same intentionality of making sure God hears your thanks every day just as He heard your plea for help every day.
If you are in a season of abundance, make time each day to give thanks to God.
Wrap Up
In today’s message, we explored the importance of expressing gratitude for every season of life. We discussed the idea of giving thanks to God even as we wait for Him. We may be waiting for a response to a prayer or waiting for the response of a prayer to come into fruition. Either way, it can become difficult to remain in a place of gratitude the longer we wait.
We learned it is important to remain in a posture of gratitude toward God – even as we wait, for He has not left us or forsaken us. We do not know all the reasons for God’s timing but we can know God’s timing is perfect.
We discussed the importance of being grateful even in times of hardship. The challenges and stressors of hardship can be so overwhelming that it may become difficult to wrap our head around the idea of thanking God during this season. The truth is, God is with us at every moment of a season of hardship, ready to provide us with the comfort and peace that only His presence can bring. As we experience hardship, let us remember to thank God for the work He is doing in us, for us, and through us even if we cannot observe it on our own in the natural.
Lastly, we discussed the importance of expressing gratitude to God in times of abundance. When things are going good, even great, we may drift away from taking the time to give thanks to God. We may be so caught up in the fun, excitement, and happiness that abundance can bring that we don’t feel the need to give thanks to God in the same way we did when we were in a season of hardship. Seasons of abundance are opportunities to thank God for His blessings, guidance, and direction in achieving success and prosperity. We must not allow the pleasures in life that come from wealth to distance us from the One who equipped us and helped us to obtain it.
There isn’t a season that we don’t have opportunities to give our thanks to God. God loves us more than we can imagine. He has planted gifts within each of us and can do great works in us and through us.
Let us all learn how to be in a posture of gratitude every day with our Creator.
Are you interested in discovering more about the guidance offered in this message? Learn more in the companion article Going Deeper with the Word: Practice Gratitude in Every Season
