Good morning ☺☺☺☺
How are you doing?
How have you been?
How has your month been?
The second last month of 2021. We are now technically just 32 days to 2022. How awesome is that? God has kept us from January all the way to November and we are basically wrapping up the year.
Can you just take a moment and tell God thank you for getting you this far. When the month was starting, I said I would want to 21 Days of gratitude and guess what, it is time for that. I have timed it such that by the time I get to the 21st Day, it’s gonna be my birthday yaaaay!!!! ☺☺☺
What better timing to do that than now. I’m sentimental like that - I attach sentiments to such things, the counting down to my birthday and all that. Thing is, I’d like you to join me in this journey - #21DaysOfGratitude.
My anchor scripture for these 21 days of gratitude Challenge is Psalms 105:1-5 {The Passion Translation} Go ahead and give God thanks for all the glorious things He has done! Go ahead and worship Him! Tell everyone about His wonders! Let's sing His praises! Sing, and put all of His miracles to music! Shine and make your joyful boast in Him, you lovers of God. Let's be happy and keep rejoicing no matter what. Seek more of His strength! Seek more of Him! Let's always be seeking the light of His face. Don't you ever forget His miracles and marvels. Hold to your heart every judgment He has decreed.
As we start the 21 days of
gratitude, I’d just like you to look back. Look back at 2021, 2020, three years
ago, five ago....just have an introspection of your life and find something to
be grateful for. Even before we get into the gratitude mode, how about I share
with you a couple of things which I have learnt gratitude triggers. I used to
be very skeptical - like why should I be grateful especially when things are
seemingly going wrong and nothing seems to be working? Well, take a seat, let
me share what I learnt.
Gratitude
births Joy: One of the things I have even experienced is - a thankful
heart is a tank full heart. The more you give thanks, the more your heart is
filled with joy. One of the biggest lessons for me on Joy has been - Joy is not
a derivative of the things I have or the things that God is doing or has done
for me but is rather a derivative of who God is, His loving kindness towards
you. Joy is also a fruit of the Holy Spirit. As you unlock joy though
gratitude, you are able to see the glass as half full as opposed to seeing the
glass half empty.
Gratitude births Hope: I love what Ecclesiastes says let me digress a bit here there’s a certain pastor who was like “pronouncing that book is hard so if you hear me say Eclairs, just know what I mean” moving on swiftly. Ecclesiastes 9:4 There is no exemption but whoever is joined with all the living, has hope; surely a live dog is better than a dead lion. As you learn and embrace gratitude, your hope is lifted. And what hope does in turn - it renews your strength. Isaiah 40:31 "but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will rung and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. You are able to have peace in your heart knowing that even if things have not worked out today, they will work out eventually as long as you keep your eyes on Jesus.
Gratitude Births Humility: When you look back at your life and give thanks to God, you are in effect admitting that, "Father Lord, without you this would not have been possible. Acknowledging your total reliance on God and His guidance and provision fills you with so much humility.
Gratitude Lifts Faith: When you look back at the things that God has done and give thanks for them, you realize that once upon a time something that you looked at as impossible and too great a mountain to be moved - God did it. Trust me, you will have even more faith that whatever He is yet to do, He sure will do. I was having a conversation with a friend the other day and they were sharing on something that God has done for them recently. They had been in a place where they really needed God to come through and He did. Funny thing is, they have always been a person of faith that I have long admired their faith. They however tell me that with what God did, it has given them such a momentum and fire. They were even encouraging me and telling me that any mountain they confront, nothing will be impossible.
As we do the 21 Days of Gratitude, more than anything I pray that your perspective will shift and that you will get a new revelation. That joy will fill your heart, that hope will be ignited and your faith will be lifted. Hop on board, won't you?
Every single day of these 21 Days, I will be posting either a podcast and/or video to just share what I'm grateful for. By the time we are done, I pray that you will have a transformed heart, myself included. You will look at God in a different light with such an audacity of faith - like God, Me...I trust you come what may.
Onto my Day 1 Gratitude - I'm grateful for LIFE. This season that we have been in - the panoramic season has shown us that life is so fragile - one minute you are here and the next you are gone. Life is just but a vapor. James 4:14 "For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. I'm very alive to the fact that when I wake up every single day, it is a blessing. It is not a guarantee that when I get into bed at night that tomorrow morning I will be around. There is no guarantee that when I leave the house in the morning to go wherever it is I'm going that I will even get there. Or that when I'm going back home after a day that I will get back home. I look at myself and i'm very grateful that I'm alive - however my life is going. When I wake up and take a deep breath and feel the air making its way my lungs, I count it such a blessing. I'm not paying for Oxygen - the panoramic has people buying Oxygen and being assisted to breathe, they are on life support. Yaani, Father Lord, I'm grateful for life.
What are you grateful for on this Day One? Think about it and just have a conversation with God. Say it out loud - Dear heavenly Father, today I'm grateful for abcd.....
Let's pray. Almighty and everlasting Father thank you for bringing us to the end of November. It has been a good ride even as we come to the last month of 2021 - December. Thank you for keeping us from January all the way to November, we have done 11 months, one month to go. I'm grateful for the gift of life. I do not take it for granted that every single day I'm able to wake up and just go about my day's activities. I'm alive and well, not on a hospital bed somewhere ailing and that you have kept me. Lord even as I start these 21 Days of Gratitude, I commit this entire season into your hands. It is my desire that at the end of these 21 days, your name will be glorified. That ultimately, Christ will be revealed in out hearts and that Christ will be enthroned in our hearts. I'm not doing this challenge to beat my chest of how things are seemingly going well in my life. I'm just coming back like that one leper to you to say thank you. Lord I remember your goodness. I remember your grace. I remember your mercy and your favor over my life this far. Lord as Karsh, I'm grateful. I pray that even as I go through this Gratitude Challenge, may you illuminate the heart of anyone who joins and participates in it. That by the time we tick off Day 21, lives will be transformed. Hearts will be mended. Hope will rise. Faith will be lifted. Lord if there be anyone who's heart has grown cold because of disappointments and things not going right, may you replace those hearts of stone with hearts of flesh. As they open their mouths to say thank you, may you fill their mouths with your goodness. I pray for every individual who will take part in #21DaysOfGratitude, meet them at their point of faith. That Lord as we continually look to you, your presence would brood over us. May the Holy Spirit always remind us of everything you have graciously done. That your light will shine in our lives. Most importantly, we will be a light that will shine in darkness.
Father I bless you. Thank you. I commit this challenge into your hands, may it bring you glory. May Christ be enthroned in our hearts. May Christ be revealed through our lives. In Jesus Mighty name I pray.
Amen.
#21DaysOfGratitude
God Bless you. Shalom.
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