16 Be joyful always; 17 pray continually; 18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. 19 Do not put out the Spirit's fire.
57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
1 Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. 2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. 3 For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods.
15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.
6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
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 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.
“Reflect on your present blessings of which every man has many, not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.” Charles Dickens
“Patience in the moment only comes from gratefulness for the moment. .... ” Ann Voskamp
“But, grateful eyes truly do see grace and goodness, even in the most difficult and unattractive packages. The Gratitude Syndrome makes you desire what you already have rather than always needing to have what you think you desire. Gratitude makes life’s horizon bright and big rather than dark and distant. It turns what you have into more than enough.” Jennifer Rothschild
“The root of joy is gratefulness ... It is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful.” David Steindl-Rast
“Nothing taken for granted; everything received with gratitude; everything passed on with grace.” G.K. Chesterton
“Gratitude is not an option for believers who want to splash in waves of grace...God commands His followers to be thankful. Some spend a lot of time wondering about God's will for their lives. We can be absolutely certain of at least one aspect of His divine will: we are to be thankful! We are to give thanks! In all things!” Ellen Vaughn
“Gratitude is heaven itself.” William Blake
“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
“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
“I’ll never forget being prayed for by Ray, a friend whose world is one filled with material poverty, homelessness, setbacks and empty hands. Ray prayed strong and spontaneous – that I, the pastor of the big church from Nashville, Tennessee who writes books and has a blog and lives in a comfy house and has never been concerned about missing a meal and has always been able to pay his bills – would know the security of the Father’s care, the smile of the Father’s love, the freedom of the Father’s grace, the intimacy of the Father’s arms, the friendship of the Father’s family, and the abundance of the Father’s provision. Ray prayed as a man who, possessing close to nothing, possessed all things. He prayed as a man with empty hands but a full heart. He prayed as a man with abundant gratitude, as if he had a secret treasure stored up in a world that I had only heard and talked about, but perhaps had not yet seen. In that moment, I began to wonder which of us was really living large and which was living in scarcity. I began to wonder which of us was running with two legs and which of us was running with one. I began to wonder which of us was carrying the aces and which of us was carrying an empty hand. As Luther aptly said, ‘We are all beggars, this is true.’” Scott Sauls