Have you ever had a bad day? Did you ever wake up worrying about all of your problems? Well welcome to the club – we all have. No matter who you are we all have issues, problems, and trials in our daily lives. The question is how can we deal with them without getting discouraged and have the issues of life affect our health and well-being. May I suggest to you a practice I have implemented in my life that I believe can work wonders in your life.
Whenever I get inundated with trials and problems I try to go into what I call blessing mode. Blessing mode calls for a time-out to step back from our problems and reflect on the blessings we have. I believe if you do this you will take your focus off your problems and place it on where it should always be – and that is on thanking God for the blessings He has showered you with. (I Thessalonians 5:18) says: “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” This verse is not just good advice but it is God’s will for your life.
If we don’t give thanks to God, even in our trials, we are stepping out of God’s will for our lives. I believe that God wants us to always be thankful because He knows that a thankful heart is the best medicine known to man. (Romans 8:28) tells us: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
This means that God will work even our trials for a positive purpose and outcome. Even when we are down in the dumps praise and thanksgiving are the keys to pulling us though for (Isaiah 61:3) tells us to put on: “…the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness…” It may sound counter-intuitive but when things are not going well we need to praise God for the blessings in our lives as well as those blessings He will generate even from the most difficult of circumstances.
When we don’t thank God, even in our difficult circumstances, we are basically telling Him that He has made a mistake in allowing what is happening to us. But God doesn’t make mistakes. Often during our dark times God is working something beautiful if we just hang on. Remember Jesus loves you and will never leave you or forsake you. Too often we want explanations for every trial from God and the reality is He oftentimes won’t give us any explanation. One of the great secrets I have learned in my Christian walk is that God doesn’t want to be analyzed to death but just wants us to love and trust Him.
So, the next time trials come your way remember that God has a plan for them and will get you through them. Take the focus off the negative and place it on the great storehouse of blessings that our great God has blessed us with. For example, thank God for good health, for your salvation, for eyesight, for food, for living in the USA – and I could go on and on. We in America have so many blessings that we rob ourselves of the joy of the Lord when we refuse to mediate on them.
One final suggestion that I have adopted myself is to keep a daily thanksgiving log. Every day I type five things that I am thankful for. It keeps me more focused on the blessings rather than the problems. For example, here is an entry in my log from a day in June:
June 11, 2020
- Thank you Lord for the book of Deuteronomy.
- Thank you Lord for my mother and father.
- Thank you Lord for glasses.
- Thank you Lord for a sound mind.
- Thank you Lord for Jesus Christ.
I challenge you to do a study on and implement the three verses I have shared in this devotion and watch them revolutionize your life:
(I Thessalonians 5:18) says: “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
(Romans 8:28) tells us: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
(Isaiah 61:3) tells us to put on: “…the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness…”