Be Grateful
Gratitude isn’t just a nice idea, it’s a biblical mandate, a spiritual weapon, and a scientifically backed pathway to peace. The Bible mentions gratitude 157 times and “thanks” or “thanksgiving” another 72. Clearly, God has a lot to say about the posture of our hearts. And here’s the truth: the distance between what we have and happiness is gratefulness.
Anxiety is one of the greatest challenges in our world today. If you’ve ever wrestled with it, you’re not alone. Anxiety is defined as “excessive worry,” and it often spirals because our minds fixate on everything that could go wrong. But here’s what science tells us: there’s a direct relationship between anxiety and gratitude.
Research shows that gratitude actually reduces anxiety through several mechanisms. It shifts the brain’s focus, rewires neural pathways, and calms the nervous system. A consistent practice of gratitude can lower cortisol, the stress hormone, and increase dopamine and serotonin—the neurotransmitters that help you feel calm, steady, and hopeful. Gratitude even helps regulate your breathing, slow your heart rate, and improve your sleep. So instead of reaching for cortisol blockers, maybe we need gratitude enhancers.
When someone comes to me struggling with anxiety, I give the same simple but powerful advice: practice gratitude. Write three thank-you notes. Keep a gratitude journal. Shift your focus from worry to worship. Because where anxiety magnifies problems, gratitude magnifies God.
Scripture warns us about drifting away from gratefulness. In 2 Timothy 3:1–2, Paul describes the culture of the last days—lovers of themselves, boastful, proud, disobedient, ungrateful. Ungratefulness isn’t just a bad habit; it is spiritually dangerous. It blinds us to God’s goodness and inflates our sense of self-reliance.
Here’s the truth: it’s incredibly hard to sin while you are being grateful. It’s hard to be bitter, resentful, jealous, or fearful when your heart is overflowing with thanks. When you recount the goodness of God, it becomes nearly impossible to doubt His faithfulness for your future.
So let me ask you: do you practice gratitude or attitude?
If you woke up tomorrow with only what you thanked God for today, what exactly would you wake up to?
For some of us… that’s a sobering thought.
We often complain about the very things we once prayed for.
We asked God for a husband, then we complain about him.
We prayed for children, then we complain about them too.
We asked for the house we don’t want to clean, the car we don’t want to wash, the job we don’t want to get up for.
Meanwhile, someone else is praying for the very thing we’re complaining about.
But others would wake up with more than what you have right now—because you’ve made gratitude a lifestyle. You thank God not only for what you have, but for what He’s promised. You’re thanking Him that your sons and daughters are coming home, thanking Him for provision you haven’t seen yet, thanking Him because you know His character, His nature, and His Word.
As you reflect today, take a simple Personal Gratitude Survey:
Am I obedient to God or am I trying to negotiating with God?
Am I trying to perform instead of receive?
Am I rehearsing problems or promises?
Am I thanking God for what I have and what He’s promised?
Am I walking in revelation or in religion?
Gratitude isn’t just a feeling, it’s a choice. And it’s one that changes everything.
