How to Have a Grateful, Positive, and Thankful Mind and Heart: Rejoice Always

A lot is said these days about being grateful. There are gratitude journals for sale, and everywhere we turn we hear that we should be grateful for whatever small things we have.

I happen to agree with this.

Did you know gratitude isn’t mentioned very much in the Bible? But its counterparts, thankfulness and rejoicing are mentioned over and over again.

I looked up the difference between the definition of gratitude and thankfulness, and I found an interesting observation from The Wisdom Post: Gratitude is a feeling. Thankfulness is an action or actions (as is rejoicing).

We can go through our lives feeling gratitude, and yes, this is good! But is there action there? God wants us to actively thank and rejoice in Him by praising, singing, praying all the time, releasing our worries to Him, trusting Him with our fears, and acknowledging Him as our savior.

I read a secular article recently about ways to be grateful. It was nice. But there was no deeper meaning or reason for being grateful…other than that it helps us feel a little better, if we can reach that condition of feeling gratitude.

But action?

Now action teaches the cells of our bodies who and what is important. Consider some of the actions Jesus, our best role model, took to show us what it looks like to rejoice and be thankful in the Lord. No matter that He knew He would be sacrificed, still, He lived in joy.

Here are some of the ways Jesus shows us how to be thankful and full of joy, all the time:

1) Helping and Serving Others:

Jesus is the perfect example of a servant leader. When we help others, especially those in need, we ourselves are left with a feeling of joy. We have done what Jesus would have done. Giving to others, serving others, helping others…these are things Jesus did. And He found great joy in being able to give to us all. What a role model He is for us!

The greatest sacrifice of His life in exchange for ours, was the ultimate gift of all. Shouldn’t we also rejoice in helping others?

“For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, the the statement, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Galatians 5:13-14

2) The Joy That Comes in Knowing Whose You Are:

Jesus’ faith never wavered. When our faith can be this strong all the time, never wavering, never forgetting, we will have no choice but to be in a constant state of joy. Of singing, praising, serving, and praying.

In Ephesians 1, we are given a long list of who we are in Jesus. I love reading through this list, and really, I should do it every day. Here’s this amazing list:

I am blessed.

I am chosen.

I am blameless

I am His child.

I am beloved.

I am accepted.

I am forgiven.

I am His heir.

I am sealed with the Holy Spirit

I am alive.

I am loved.

I am saved by grace.

I am held close.

I am redeemed.

All found in Ephesians 1:1-16.

Isn’t this list something to rejoice and give constant thanks for?

As we go about our daily lives, it’s easy to forget all these wonderful things that make up our identity in Christ. I know I sure do. But I think these words need to be engraved on our minds and hearts so we can always find the joy, even in adversities.

I think the action here can simply be: remembering.

3) Rejoice and Trust in God’s Timing for Us:

Jesus always trusted in God’s perfect timing for the things that took place.

I know when I forget and become impatient because I want something “NOW,” and I know waiting is the best thing, the joy is sometimes just sucked right out of me. I wish I knew back then what I know now. I know this is a trite phrase, but really. It’s true.

If I had had patience and trusted in God (actually, if I had simply even known to trust God—-because for years of my life I had no concept of this), my joy wouldn’t have been such a hard thing to come by. When we put our trust in God’s timing, we know things will be right when it’s the right time. We don’t need to do anything.

“Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God.” John 13:3

All we need to do is keep on rejoicing in all the times, no matter if we lack understanding. God does all things for good.

“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28

4) Jesus Rejoiced Because He Had an Eternal Perspective.

Jesus knew that the world would fall away, and that eternity would be spent with the Father. This is certainly a reason for joy, gratitude, and active thankfulness.

Many of us go through some really hard times in our lives. Illness, death, bankruptcy, divorce, failures, and we are often dealing with comparisons with others.

The thing is, if we stop, take a moment to remember that this world is truly not our home, then it’s much easier to let those sadnesses, fears, disappointments, and jealousies just….GO. Jesus showed us how to take an eternal perspective and view.

Let’s actively remember this and rejoice constantly too!

“These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” 1 John 5:13-14.

We may not get what we want. We will have troubles. We will certainly have disappointments.

But, we can still have joy. We can still rejoice.

Final Reflections:

Do you know what?

I think gratitude journals are just fine. Also, I love to look around at my life and recognize the many things for which I’m grateful, even among the few things I am SO sad about, those terrible things that won’t leave me. I miss my children and my grandchildren terribly….and they are all so busy during these times. My missing them is like a dark hole in my heart.

So I remind myself: I have to remember all of the above things….and pray in joy and thankfulness for all the Lord has done for me. And there is SO much.

Here’s the short list of ways to be grateful from the secular article I read earlier… I can’t remember what it was, or I’d link, but I found it on Pinterest:

Keep a gratitude journal.

Help and serve others.

Say “Thank you” all the time, even in your mind.

Love the people in your life, and those who aren’t as well.

Reframe negative events.

Do you know what? This is a good list. Much of it aligns with what Jesus showed us to do, too. But I believe that when we have God in our corner, and we are actively praising Him, our lives are going to be so much richer. So full of joy.

I often wonder if a great deal of depression in our society is perhaps caused by people not knowing God. Back in the day, about three decades ago, a doctor put me on Prozac for clinical depression.

That lasted about three weeks because I didn’t like how it deadened my emotions. I missed laughing with my little children.

I didn’t know to reach out to God back then. I thought going to church once a week was fine (and I wasn’t even doing that consistently). How wrong I was.

Looking back, I’m so very grateful for the influences that brought me to this point in my understanding of what Jesus did for us. I’m so very grateful for the knowledge of God’s word I’ve finally begun to know. I do wish I had developed much earlier, but I’m on my way.

I am SO very grateful that I now know what I know. And now that I understand the difference between gratitude and rejoicing in thankfulness (actions), I am looking for ward to putting even more oomph into my praises!

You know what? It’s important to keep a heart of gratitude. It’s equally important to actively rejoice and thank God all the time for what we are grateful for. Speaking actively of all these rejoicings to whoever we meet is simply a testimony to the love God has for us all. And maybe we’ll plant a little seed.

I hope this wasn’t just a big ramble for you, and that you realize we need a little more than a gratitude journal.

Hugs, Peace, and Light,

Heidi

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