Voice Of Gratitude

‘Then Naaman and his entire party went back to find the man of God. They stood before him, and Naaman said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. So please accept a gift from your servant’ 2 kings 5:15

The final voice that Naaman experienced was the voice of gratitude. Many times we do not show gratitude to God. In fact, gratitude to God becomes a second thought. I have been guilty of this, I believe, in the past. I would pray to God for something major. I’d stay in the place of prayer for as long as it takes and trust God to bring it to pass. Then God does it and I am excited and happy. I call my wife we talk about it but I never really say thank you to God. Then God prompts me and I’d say a very short thank you and move on to the next thing. And I say to myself, was that how you prayed for this thing? You were persistent and now that God has done it why can’t you with same attitude give thanks? They say if you do not think you cannot thank God. Think about all the things God has done and let your heart overflow with gratitude. You will be amazed at what God will do because that is how God is. As you are thanking Him for one, He is adding another. So I resolved to having a week devoted to no requests but to giving thanks and dancing before God. God loves gratitude. And the greatest way we can express gratitude to God is to give Him our lives. ‘However, may the Lord pardon me in this one thing: When my master the king goes into the temple of the god Rimmon to worship there and leans on my arm, may the Lord pardon me when I bow, too’ 2 kings 5:18. This is the biggest mistake Naaman made even though Elisha ignored it and sent him away in peace. Naaman had a good heart but there was a better approach. He could have taken his testimony to the king as a witness for God. Yet many times we want God to deliver us so that we can continue to do just what we want to do. God wants your life because it’s the greatest gratitude you can give to God. What do you want really? Do you just want God to solve your problem? That is not a big deal for God. Or do you want to offer up your life to God? God can give you everything because He is God. Yet ‘what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and looses his own soul’.

Prayer [song]: Take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee. Take my moments and my days; let them flow in ceaseless praise. Take my hands, and let them move at the impulse of Thy love. Take my feet, and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee. Amen!