Gratefulness #9 – No Room for Discouragement

I read a legend of a man who found the barn where Satan kept his seeds ready to be sown in the human heart. On finding the seeds of discouragement more numerous than others, he learned that those seeds could be made to grow almost anywhere.

When Satan was questioned, he reluctantly admitted that there was one place in which he could never get them to thrive.

“And where is that?” asked the man.

Satan replied sadly, “In the heart of a grateful person.”

June Hunt illustrates how choosing to soak in the Scriptures – in this case, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 – enables us to rise above discouragement and live in gratefulness.

• “Rejoice always” (v.16). Choose to write down a list of all the positives in your life and continually focus on them.

• “Pray continually” (v.17). Choose to talk to God about everything.

• “Give thanks in all circumstances” (v.18). Choose to thank God for what you are learning right now.

• “Do not quench the Spirit” (v.19). Choose to change when God’s Spirit convicts you to change.

• “Do not treat prophecies with contempt” (v.20). Choose to take God’s words seriously.

• “But test them all” (v.21). Choose to ask, “Is this right in God’s sight?”

• “Hold on to what is good” (v.21). Choose to do right, even when you are tempted to do wrong.

• “Reject every kind of evil” (v.22). Choose to turn immediately from temptation.

• “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through” (v.23). Choose to see how God has set you apart (sanctified you) to be who he intended you to be.

• “May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless” (v.23). Choose to commit your whole being to doing what God created you to do.

• “The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it” (v.24). Choose to rely on God’s power to do what you are called to do.

In the soil of gratefulness, the seeds of discouragement have no room to grow.

Is there one area you need to focus on?

~ Pastor Dave