The Power of Being Thankful: 365 Devotions for Discovering the Strength of Gratitude (58 page)

In 1 Corinthians 2:16, we are told we have the mind of Christ. This statement overwhelms many people. If these were not the words of the Bible, they wouldn’t believe it. But Paul was not saying we’re perfect or we’ll never fail. He was telling us that we can think spiritual thoughts because Christ is alive within us. Thankfully, we no longer have to think the way we once did; we can begin to think as He does.

Another way to look at this is to point to the promise God spoke through Ezekiel: “A new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you” (Ezekiel 36:26–27).

Your mind, heart, and spirit are new in Christ. You are growing spiritually and becoming more like Him each day—that’s something to be thankful for!

Thank You, Father, that You have given me the mind of Christ. I no longer have to dwell on anxious, fearful, insecure thoughts. Because of Jesus, my mind is renewed and I can think positive, joyful, faith-filled thoughts about my life.

Feelings are very fickle. They are always changing; they come and go like the waves in the ocean. They are up, then down, and seem to be controlled by some unseen force that we don’t understand. If we are wise, we don’t go sailing in the ocean when it is wild with waves that appear dangerous, and neither should we follow our emotions when they are wildly changing.

Thankfully, we don’t have to be controlled by our feelings. We can live submitted to the Word of God instead. The best thing to do when you’re feeling overly emotional is wait for your feelings to settle before taking any action. Take the helm and sail your own ship. Don’t just get into the boat with nobody at the helm and merely hope that the waves of life take you somewhere good. Instead of following feelings, trust God and follow His Word if you really want to experience a joyful life.

Father, I thank You for the gift of Your Word. I am grateful that I don’t have to live controlled by my feelings. I choose instead to live according to the promises and instruction in the Word of God.

There is an important difference between condemnation (guilt) and true conviction from God.

Condemnation manifests as a heavy burden that requires us to pay for our faults and mistakes and pushes us down. Conviction is the work of the Holy Spirit, who is showing us that we have sinned and inviting us to confess our sins, to receive forgiveness and God’s help to improve our behavior in the future. Condemnation makes the problem worse; conviction is intended to lift us out of the problem.

If you feel conviction, simply thank God for speaking to you, confess your sin to Him, and turn away from that sin. Then… receive God’s forgiveness and let go of it! God forgives and forgets, and if you want to experience the joy of redemption that God wants us all to experience, you’ll need to let go of it too.

Thank You, Father, that there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus. When You convict me of sin, help me to bring it to You in repentance without feeling burdened by guilt and condemnation. You have forgiven me, so I choose today to forgive myself as well.

When we receive Jesus as our Savior, He takes our sin and gives us His righteousness (see 2 Corinthians 5:21). I doubt that many of us understand the full impact of that. At no cost to us, we are made right with God. We can feel right instead of wrong!

Why not take a step of faith today and try saying or thinking something good about yourself. I am not encouraging a wrong kind of pride, but I am encouraging you to be bold enough to believe you are the wonderful person God says you are.

In Psalm 139, David confessed that he knew God had made him, and then he said, “Wonderful are Your works, and that my inner self knows right well” (v. 14). David was thankful that he had been created by God in a wonderful way—you have been too! Be bold enough to believe that today.

Father, help me to experience the joy of knowing who I am in Christ. You have created me uniquely and saved me completely. I thank You that I am beautiful in Your sight.

To pray at all times is to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17 NKJV), but how do we do that? We do it by keeping an attitude of thanksgiving and total dependence upon God as we go about our everyday lives, turning our thoughts toward Him in the midst of doing all the things we have to do.

I believe that God really wants us to live a lifestyle of prayer and that He wants to help us stop thinking about prayer as an event and begin to see it as a way of life, as an internal activity that undergirds everything else we do. He wants us to talk to Him and listen to Him continually—to pray our way through every day with our hearts connected to His.

Father, I am so grateful that You are always available. I can call on You in prayer all throughout the day, and I will never get a “busy” signal. Help me grow in prayer and let it be one of the greatest enjoyments in my life.