GRATEFUL HEART
BREAD
1 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. 2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. 3 Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. 5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. Psalms 100:1-5 (NIV)
8 Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. 9 Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. 10 Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice. 11 Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always. 1 Chronicles 16:8-11 (NIV)
34 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. 1 Chronicles 16:34 (NIV)
1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever. 2 Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever. 3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords: His love endures forever. 4 to him who alone does great wonders, His love endures forever. Psalms 136:1-4 (NIV)
1 O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. 2 From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. 3 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? 5 You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: 7 all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, 8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. 9 O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! Psalms 8:1-9 (NIV)
14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. 15 For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? 2 Corinthians 2:14-16 (NIV)
16 Be joyful always; 17 pray continually; 18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NIV)
BUTTER
“Martin Luther wrote in his book, Table Talk: ‘The greater God’s gifts and works, the less they are regarded.’ We tend to exhibit a degree of thanksgiving in reverse proportion to the amount of blessings we’ve received. A hungry man is more thankful for his morsel than a rich man for his heavily-laden table. A lonely woman in a nursing home will appreciate a visit more than a popular woman with a party thrown in her honor. If the birds only burst into song once a year, we’d all pay close attention. But because they are singing every morning, we scarcely bother to listen.” Robert J. Morgan
“When it’s over, I want to say: all my life I was a bride married to amazement, vowed to Awe Himself, covenanted to Christ – and I took the whole of everything He gave in this gloried world into my open arms with thanks. Because really? Yeah, I guess so — Anybody can be a cynic. Cynicism is laziness in every way. The real heroes are the ones who never stop looking for the possibility of joy.” Ann Voskamp
“The gratitude breaks forth before the bounty has arrived, in the assurance that it is certainly on the way. The song of victory is sung before the battle has been fought. It is the sower who is singing the song of the harvest home. It is thanksgiving before the miracle! Praise is really the most vital preparatory ministry to the working of the miracles. Miracles are wrought by spiritual power. Spiritual power is always proportioned to our faith.” Dr. Jowett
“Prayer, praise and thanksgiving all go together. A close relationship exists among them. The Scriptures join these three things together. Psalms is filled with many songs of praise and hymns of thanksgiving, all pointing back to the results of prayer. Thanksgiving includes gratitude. In fact, thanksgiving is the expression of an inward, conscious gratitude to God for mercies received. Gratitude is an inward emotion of the soul, involuntarily arising therein, while thanksgiving is the voluntary expression of gratitude.” E.M. Bounds
“Thanksgiving in all things accepts the deep mystery of God through everything.” Ann Voskamp
“He who can give thanks for a little will always find he has enough.” Anonymous
“The disease of not-enough… is cured when you give thanks for more than enough grace. ‘He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all — how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?’ If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing Himself to the worst by sending His own Son — is there anything else He wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us?” (Romans 8:32, NIV, MSG) If God already gave us the extraordinary extravagance of Jesus — He will give the ordinary enough of right now. It’s always our relentless desire for more — that destroys more and more of us. The more you want —- the more you will be destroyed.” Ann Voskamp
HEART SAVOR
• The Lord is more than worthy of my praise and thanksgiving. Every good and perfect gift is from above.
• Contentment and thanksgiving – learned secrets – are the antidote for the disease of not-enough. I can do everything through Him Who gives me strength.
• God always leads me in triumphal procession in Christ. The One Who gives the power gets the glory.
Beth Yoe's Sharing Bread 