Count Your Blessings - Clover Sites



Count Your Blessings!Psalm 103:1-3IntroEntitlement Mindset Produces IngratitudeThe bigger our sense of entitlement the smaller our sense of gratitude. Entitlement simply means that a person feels they have a claim or right to something. This entitlement mindset has led to a proliferation of lawsuits: when someone doesn’t get something they really want, they sue somebody.For example, the San Francisco Giants were once sued for passing out Father's Day gifts to men only. A psychology professor sued for sexual harassment because of the presence of mistletoe at a Christmas party. A psychic was awarded $986,000 when a doctor's CAT scan impaired her psychic abilities. You have to wonder about this third one: If she really was a psychic, shouldn't she have known not to go to that doctor in the first place? (Source: Dan Baker and Cameroun Stauth,?What Happy People Know 2004, pg. 161)People with this attitude of entitlement are often the most ungrateful people. They often feel that the world owns them something. This leads to another attitude – the attitude of complaining and grumbling. Have you found that people who do a lot of complaining are not appreciative? Also there are those who take things in life for granted and don’t appreciate what they have.There are many, many blessings that we take for granted…ExamplesDid you know that the average person takes approximately 23,000 breaths every day, but when was the last time you thanked God for one of them? The process of inhaling oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide is a complicated respiratory task that requires physiological precision. We tend to thank God for the things that take our breath away. And that's fine. But maybe we should thank him for every other breath too!We need to count our blessings! If you woke up this morning with more health than illness...you are more blessed than the 6 million in the world who will not survive this week.If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation...you are better off than 500 million people in the world.If you can attend a public meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death...you are more blessed than 3 billion people in the world who live in fear.If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over your head, and a place to sleep...you are richer than 75% of this world.If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change...you are among the top 8% of the worlds wealthy. (Source, Canadian Red Cross, PDF Library, Lucky Ones).The secret of a happy life is not to get what you want but to live content with what you’ve got. Most of us spend our lives concentrating on what we don’t have instead of thanking God for what we do have. When we focus on what we don’t have we tend to complain and have an attitude of entitlement.Avoid ComplainingDr. Dale Robbins writes, “I used to think people complained because they had a lot of problems. But I have come to realize that they have problems because they complain. Complaining doesn’t change anything or make situations better. It amplifies frustration, spreads discontent and discord, and it can invoke an invitation for the devil to cause havoc with our lives.”Complaining makes us miserable. Psalm 77:3 says, “I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed” (KJV).Complaining is the archenemy of praise and thanksgiving. The two cannot co-exist in the same heart. And so I challenge you to try to quit complaining for a whole month. Just try it. When you feel tempted to complain, instead of filing your complaint, starting praising God.This is what King David did throughout many of the psalms he composed. He praised and thanked the Lord often – he counted his blessings. Psalm 103 is one of his classics.Psalm 103This Psalm is called David’s “Hallelujah Chorus.” Any time we lack adequate words to express our praise and gratitude to God we should turn to this Psalm, get in His presence and recite back to Him.Psalm 103:1 “Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.” Many times we need to talk directly to our inner person – our soul. What you say to yourself determines what you are and do. Words are powerful because behind them are concepts that effect our lives. You cannot lie to yourself. You only tell yourself the truth. When you say “Praise the Lord, O my soul,” you know if your heart means what your words say you are doing. This puts you in the right frame of mind and soul.The next thing David says is that I must praise the Lord with every part of my being, i.e., “All my inmost being” or as the King James Version says, “All that is within me.” All of MeMay my lips praise the Lord. Let no evil word cross my lips, but let me praise Him with my mouth.May my eyes praise the Lord. May my eyes never look on evil, but may my eyes be always lifted up toward heaven, and always looking to Him in praise.May my “feelings” praise the Lord. Let me not give into the feeling of temptation and, but may my emotions always express all my love, passion, and the depth of heart to God. Let me bless the Lord with the depth of emotions.May my “mind” praise the Lord. Let me not think of wickedness or evil, but may I bless the Lord with all of my memory, my reason, my insight, and my logic. Let my intellect always bless the Lord. May I always choose to bless the Lord, may I always decide to make Him first, may my will always be His will, and may I always pray like Jesus, “Not my will but yours be done.”May my spirit praise the Lord. May my spirit never get discouraged or downcast. May I always bless the Lord with my spirit.May my eternal soul praise the Lord. Let me bless the Lord with all of my spiritual energies, with all of my spiritual insight, and all of my spiritual drives. May I bless the Lord from the depths of my being.May my body praise the Lord. Let me never sin with any part of my physical frame. May every part of my body, its moves, its reactions, its strength and its weakness, may all my body praise the Lord.God’s Holy NameThe last part of verse 1 teaches us to, “Praise his holy name.” Did you know that there are many different names for God? Each name tells us about a different action God does, or a different aspect of His nature. God has so many names because He does so many things.Each of my different titles tells different things about me and what I do. I’m a pastor, a preacher. I’ve been called a Reverend, sometimes a Padre or priest, and a worship leader. I’m a husband, father, a grandfather, an uncle, and as a boy, I was a son. These different names and titles describe who I am and what I do or have done. It is the same with God.First we must praise his name because he is holy. It means that the Lord is absolutely perfect, without any moral blemish or imperfection.We praise the Lord because he is our Creator. At Thanksgiving, we praise God because he has created food for our strength and enjoyment. We praise His name because He feeds us and provides for our needs.We praise His holy name as Jehovah, for He is Lord. He is the Self-existing One who loves us, protects us, guides us and looks after us. We praise the Lord for who He is.We praise his holy name as Shepherd, because “The Lord is our Shepherd.” He is the one who guides us through the dark valley of death, He guides us through the dangers, He guides us to the mountain tops of spiritual blessing, and He guides us through the valleys of life.We praise his holy name as Father, for he is our Spiritual Father. We have been born into his family and adopted as his sons and daughters. We are his children. As a father, he cares for us, he teaches us, he provides for us, and he guides us. We praise his holy name, Father.These are only a few of the Lord’s names and titles. There are so many more.Psalm 103:2 “Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.”David again repeats the first phrase of verse 1 as to say that he needs to be reminded – reminded not to forget all the blessings and benefits that the Lord has bestowed on him.Sometimes our mind plays tricks on us and it does not remember as it should. Sometimes we dwell on the bad and forget the good.StoryThe story is told of a poor man who was given a loaf of bread. He thanked the baker, but the baker said, “Don’t thank me. Thank the miller who made the flour.” So he thanked the miller, but the miller said, “Don’t thank me. Thank the farmer who planted the wheat.” So he thanked the farmer. But the farmer said, “Don’t thank me. Thank the Lord. He gave the sunshine and rain and fertility to the soil, and that’s why you have bread to eat.” Everything we have, we ultimately received from God and we owe him thanks.Psalm 103:3 “who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.”God Forgives – what a blessing! I came across a story about a fellow who dropped in the pastor’s office with a book he was studying for a course. He said to the pastor, “This book says that in certain places the sea is 5 miles deep!” “Yes, that’s right,” said the pastor. “What of it?” The fellow answered, “Why the Bible says that my sins have been cast into the depth of the sea, and if it’s that deep, I’m not afraid of their coming up again. The pressure of the water is so great there that if the largest battleship could be sunk to that depth, it would be crushed like an egg shell” Micah 7:19, “You will again have compassion on us;?you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities?into the depths of the sea.”How true! When we confess and repent of our sin God forgives and he doesn’t hold our sin against us. Hallelujah!God HealsAnother name for God is Jehovah-Rapha which means “The Lord heals.” The last part of verse 3 says, “and heals all your diseases.” This verse has often been interpreted as physical healing but we need to pay close attention to who David is addressing. In verse 1 he is talking about his soul. That is evident from the grammatical construction of the sentence that flows from verse 1 into verse 2. The pronoun “your” stands for the noun “soul.” Notice what David is saying, “Bless the Lord, O my soul…who heals all your [soul] diseases.” The soul does have diseases just like the body. There is fear, guilt, depression, lust, hate, greed, jealousy, envy, etc. Psychologists and doctors tell us that there is a strong correlation and link between the mind, soul and the body.Don’t get me wrong – God does heal physically but often the physical symptoms and diseases are caused by spiritual and emotionally problems. For instance…ten years of research has tied an attitude of gratitude with a number of positive emotional and physical health benefits. A November 2010 article in?The Wall Street Journal?summarized the research:“Adults who frequently feel grateful have more energy, more optimism, more social connections and more happiness than those who do not, according to studies conducted over the past decade. They're also less likely to be depressed, envious, greedy, or alcoholics. They earn more money, sleep more soundly, exercise more regularly, and have greater resistance to viral infections.Now, researchers are finding that gratitude brings similar benefits in children and adolescents. Studies also show that kids who feel and act grateful tend to be less materialistic, get better grades, set higher goals, complain of fewer headaches and stomach aches, and feel more satisfied with their friends, families, and schools than those who don't.”The researchers concluded, “A lot of these findings are things we learned in kindergarten or our grandmothers told us, but now we have scientific evidence to prove them …. The key is not to leave it on the Thanksgiving table." (Source: Melinda Beck, "Thank You. No, Thank You,"?The Wall Street Journal, Nov. 23, 2010).ConclusionWe don’t have time to expound the whole Psalm today but I would encourage you to read it through especially during this Thanksgiving season.In these few verses David has recounted his indebtedness to God for all his mercies and blessings that have been granted to him. He shows us how to be thankful not only in a general way, but to take the time to review the specific benefits we receive from God. David expressed his thanksgiving by calling upon his soul to praise the name of the Lord, who forgives, who heals, who preserves, who provides and who satisfies. May David’s example of addressing his own soul be followed by us. Psalm 103 ends just as it began with a call to give praise to the Lord with every fiber of our being. “Praise the Lord, O my soul.” Three BlessingsTo conclude I would like you to consider an exercise called?Three Blessings by psychologist Dr. Martin Seligman. This simple technique has been shown to have a positive effect on reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety. The participants that did this exercise for one week decreased depressive symptoms for about six months.The exercise is simple. The objective is to develop a routine whereby at the end of the day you:Think about three things that happened during the day that you are most grateful for, andWhy you believe they happened.Seligman has conducted extensive research and based on his findings, he recommends that you need to be specific about the things you are grateful for. For example, rather than saying, “I’m grateful for my health”, focus the intent with, “I’m grateful I was able to run around with my kids today”. (Source, Flourish: A New Visionary Understanding of Happiness and Well-being by Dr. Martin Seligman, 2012).Actually his idea is really based on a biblical principle that has been there for many centuries. Scripture teaches us to give thanks. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, “Be joyful always,?17?pray continually,?18?give thanks in all circumstances;?for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”Right now I would like to share with you 3 blessings I had yesterday…Questions for ReflectionI found this list of questions you can ask to test whether you are a grateful person or not?Which do you tend to talk about more – your blessings, or your disappointments? Are you a complainer, always grumbling, always finding fault with your circumstances?Are you content with what you have, or always dissatisfied and wanting more?Do you find it easier to count your blessings, or is it easier to count your afflictions?Do you express thanks to others when they help you, or do you just take it as your due?Would others say that you are a thankful person? ................
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