LOVE WORLD

Psalm 34:1, "...I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth."

Everything in life requires time. You need time to murmur and complain, but when you decide to use all your time to bless the Lord, you would have no time left for murmuring and complaining. Time is innocent, time is harmless, it is what we do with time that defines the outcome. The Psalmist said, "I will bless the Lord at all times." All, excluding none. Blessing the Lord at all times is the key to continuous blessings because when you keep blessing Him, He also will keep blessing you.

"...And His praise shall continually be in my mouth." This is the Old Testament version of 1 Thessalonians 5:18 which says, "In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." So, every circumstance should meet you in thanksgiving and leaves you in thanksgiving. There is no time to murmur.

Again, Ephesians 5:20 says, "...Giving thanks unto God always." Thanksgiving is not just what you do, it is the life you live; you live out your thanks to God. If you stop at voicing out your thanks to God, it is incomplete because your voice is only a part of you. Genuine thanksgiving must involve your entire being and your whole life -- your utterances, thoughts, attitude, actions, everything!

Thanksgiving is an attitude that must be cultivated and expressed habitually. It is not what you do when things are working, it is a state you assume, come sun, come rain. Thanksgiving should not be conditional or occasional, it should be constant and perpetual. You know why you must be a habitual thanks giver? There are certain things God wants to do in your life but satan will keep looking for ways to push you to complain and murmur so that you can miss them.

"...I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord..." (Psalm 34:2). Those who thank God are invariably making their boast in God. When you thank God, you are simply telling Him, "I know this situation before me is a cheap possibility with you."

At the tomb of Lazarus Jesus said, "Father, thank you because you hear me always." In other words, "I know you will do it." And God did it. When you offer thanks, you are making your boast in the Lord and as you boast in the Lord, He begins to boost your destiny. It is my prayer that thanksgiving would become your lifestyle.

Meditate On These: - 1 Thess. 5:18, Hebrews 10:38

People are stressed up not necessarily because of problems of life, but because of poor attitude; attitude of murmuring and complaining. And often times, they complain because of covetousness and greed. But the Bible says, "And having food and raiment let us be therewith content" (1 Tim 6:8).

At the root of thanksgiving is contentment. Contentment does not connote acceptance of the status quo, it is rather appreciation of the present in anticipation of the future that you see ahead.

There is a difference between acceptance and appreciation. To accept your situation means, "I know I will never leave this position, I can never get anything better than this in life." But appreciating it simply implies that you value the process of development and growth in your life. Appreciation is an expression of value. "I value where I am, I know it is not a mistake for me to be here, it is only a process of life and I thank God I am passing through it." That is appreciation and at the root of it is contentment.

One day, Jesus was surrounded by over 5,000 hungry men and all the food His disciples could find were five loaves of bread and two fishes. And one of them said, "What are these among so many?"(John 6:9). But Jesus said, "Lets have it here." He took the loaves and gave thanks. That is a sense of value. He had value for what was available at that time and it became more than enough to meet the need.

What somebody else disdained and said, "What can these do?" Another person picked it up with a sense of value and there was multiplication. You never can tell what you could become in life until you begin to appreciate where you are now. You never can tell what you could possess until you begin to appreciate the little that you have now.

Appreciation is born out of contentment; being happy with where you are, having a sense of value for what is available per time in view of what you believe is coming your way.

God gave the Israelites manna in the wilderness and rather than appreciate it they murmured, so He destroyed them (1 Cor 10:10). Murmuring is the process for stagnation but thanksgiving is the process for multiplication. The choice is yours!

Meditate On These: - Malachi 2:1-2, Psalm 92:1