Check out how your lifestyle of gratitude today could become a blessing to future generations that haven’t even been born yet! It all starts with just two simple words.
If you’ve missed any of the messages in our Be Thankful series, you can find them all here.
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(upbeat music) - Welcome to the Craig T. Owens audio blog with Craig's blog posts in audio format to go. Craig's new book, "When Sheep Bite," is available now at CraigTowens.com. - Gratitude that reverberates through the ages. Last week, we learned how our gratitude helps strengthen other saints. I mentioned that one of the saints that may be helped, is yourself, like when King David took care of Mephibosheph for the sake of your father, Jonathan. Second Samuel chapter nine, verse seven. But this isn't quid pro quo. We aren't grateful people just so we can get something back for ourselves. We should be grateful people because one, God is good all the time. And so we should be thankful to him continually. 1 Thessalonians chapter five, verse 18. Two, Jesus was grateful. 1 Peter chapter two, verse 23. And Hebrews chapter 12, verse two. Three, God blesses thankful people. 1 Peter chapter three, verse nine. And Luke chapter six, verse 33. And four, your thankfulness can benefit people you haven't even met. Near the end of his life, David wrote a hymn of Thanksgiving, which he taught to Asaph, his worship leader, who then taught it to all the citizens. 1 Chronicles chapter 16, verses seven through 35. Throughout this song, notice how many times David sang about not only giving thanks, but sharing our thankfulness with those around us. In difficult times, people search for what delivered others in the past. A good example is Psalm chapter 106, where the psalmist warns his readers about the dangers of forgetting to be thankful for God's blessings. This psalm begins and ends with words taken right from David's hymn of Thanksgiving as an added reminder of what our gratitude should sound like. See verses one, 47 and 48. 100 years after David wrote this song, King Asa needed to look back to it. His father, Abajiah, had been evil throughout his reign as king. So had his grandfather, Rehoboam. His great grandfather, Solomon, started off well, but turned away from God near the end of his life. So Asa looked all the way back to the thankful heart of his great, great grandfather, David. First Kings chapter 15, verse 11. Jehassafat needed this same song 100 years after Asa, 200 years after David wrote it, in Second Chronicles chapter 20. Enemies had surrounded Judah, and Jehassafat called the people to prayer. Jehaziel, a direct descendant of David's worship leader, Asa, calls the people to trust God to fight the battle for them. As the army marches out the next morning, they put the worship team at the front, who sang David's 200 year old song of Thanksgiving, and God used that to ambush their enemies. Your lifestyle of gratitude today, your songs of Thanksgiving could be a blessing to future generations that haven't even been born yet. We would do well to learn the lessons of the past, and make sure we are always quickly turning our grumbling into a song of thankfulness. As you do, you are emulating the lifestyle of Jesus, banking up blessings from God, ambushing the enemy, bringing a testimony to non-believers, and establishing a standard for future generations. We bless God and bless others by employing two words. Be thankful. If you've missed any of the other messages in our Be Thankful series, I've shared links to all of those messages in the show notes. Craig's new book, When Sheep Bite, is available now at CraigTowens.com, which is also where you can get in touch with Craig. Read more posts and access the huge library of resources he's gathered. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (gentle music)
