This Thanksgiving Mindset Will Radically Improve Your Life | Apply His Will

With Thanksgiving upon us, I wanted to share something that I believe will transform your thinking and give you a better perspective on your life by the time you finish reading this article!

The message is quite simple. You’ve probably even heard it before, but my challenge to you is to actually think about it this time around… and I mean really think about it. Don’t just skim through it. Think about practical ways that you can start applying it to your life today – as in right now.

The message is simply this: imagine what your life would look like if you took the time to be grateful for what God has given you, instead of focusing on what you want to have.

It’s too easy for us to become dissatisfied with the way our life is going. It’s easy to focus on everything that is going wrong. It’s definitely easy to put our attention on what we don’t have. Dissatisfaction comes from the direct result of our attention and focus shifting from what we currently have (our current blessings) to what we are lacking (according to us).

One of the greatest example of this is found in Numbers 11: 1-6:

“Soon the people began to complain about their hardship, and the Lord heard everything they said. Then the Lord’s anger blazed against them, and he sent a fire to rage among them, and he destroyed some of the people in the outskirts of the camp. ² Then the people screamed to Moses for help, and when he prayed to the Lord, the fire stopped. ³ After that, the area was known as Taberah (which means “the place of burning”), because fire from the Lord had burned among them there. ⁴ Then the foreign rabble who were traveling with the Israelites began to crave the good things of Egypt. And the people of Israel also began to complain. “Oh, for some meat!” they exclaimed. ⁵ “We remember the fish we used to eat for free in Egypt. And we had all the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic we wanted. ⁶ But now our appetites are gone. All we ever see is this manna!”

Many of you probably know the story, but here’s a quick recap:

Soon after God rescued the Israelites from their slavery in Egypt, set them free, promised to make them a nation and give them a great new land – the people of Israel turned to complaining and being dissatisfied. Not only were they dissatisfied, but they even reminisced about how “good” they had it back when they were SLAVES in Egypt because they at least had better food back then. Now it’s easy to read that and think, “Are you kidding me? They’re so ungrateful and unappreciative of everything God gave them” but before you judge the Israelites, I urge you to stop and think: What occupies most of your thoughts? Is it your gratefulness and thankfulness to God for everything He has already given you, or are you struggling to find things to thank God for because you’re too focused on what you’d like to have?

One of the best things I started to do was keeping a gratefulness journal. Every day I write things I can be thankful to God for – from the smallest things like getting to eat my favorite meal to bigger things like being blessed with good health. If you’re struggling to think of reasons you can praise God or give thanks to Him, here’s just a few:

Thank God for His never failing, never ending love to you. No matter how bad you messed up today, God never stopped loving you any less. His love for you isn’t based on who you are or what you’ve done, it’s based on who He is.

Thank God for His forgiveness. From the moment we repent and ask God to forgive us, He does so immediately. He doesn’t hold you to your past mistakes. He gives you a fresh start, a new beginning.

Thank God for His mercy and patience. God is so merciful and patient with us. Time and time again we may feel like we really blew it this time. We may feel broken beyond repair or not worthy of even being in God’s presence, but God’s mercy towards us and His patience is beyond what we can imagine.

Thank God for being a just God. God sees everything that you have been going through and He knows what you are dealing with. We can be thankful that God provides justice. It may not come at the time we think it ought to, or in the way we want it to, but you can rest assured that God is always working behind the scenes and will bring justice when the time is right.

Finally, and most importantly, we can all be thankful for the greatest gift of all time – the free gift of salvation. This gift can’t be earned… otherwise, well it wouldn’t be a gift would it? There is nothing you can do to “earn” salvation (see https://applyhiswill.com/does-being-a-good-person-get-you-into-heaven-apply-his-will/). The gift of salvation comes when we accept that God sent His only son, Jesus, to die on the cross for our sins so that through believing in Him we can be saved. I don’t know about you but being saved and rescued from the fires of hell sounds like a pretty big thing to be grateful for!

In summary, no matter how difficult your life may seem right now, there is always something for which you can be grateful and praise God for. With that being said, I hope you found something you can be grateful for this Thanksgiving!