Count Your Blessings

Recently I've been thinking about how I can go throughout the entire day and not think much about God's blessings to me.  Though I thank God for some things, I take so much for granted.  Maybe you can relate?  Consider these everyday blessings: God grants us the ability to wake up, to see our families, water, gas, and electricity flows through our homes, we have food to eat, clothes to wear, cars to drive, a place to call home, and beds to sleep in.  Those are just some of the physical and material blessings we have.  Beyond these, God has also blessed us with untold spiritual blessings such as His favor, forgiveness, reassurance, peace, and joy.  Ephesians 1:3 says, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ."

Gratitude is a mark of the Holy Spirit in us.  In Ephesians 5, it says, "be filled with the Spirit . . . always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."  This in no way implies that life is easy and we are to ignore its hardships.  All of us go through seasons of need, loss, sadness, and uncertainty.  But as Christ followers, we are told to give thanks and recount what God has done and is doing in our lives.  This reminds me of the well-known hymn "Count Your Blessings" that speaks of the difficulty as well as the blessings we have to be thankful for.  Part of the song says:

When upon life's billows you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
Count your many blessings, money cannot buy
Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high.

Count your blessings, name them one by one;

Count your blessings, see what God hath done;
Count your blessings, name them one by one;

Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.

So, amid the conflict, whether great or small,
Do not be discouraged, God is over all;
Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey's end.

God bless, 

Pastor Darren