Shalom,

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We need to keep a grateful, thankful heart at ALL times in order to walk in the fullness of the Word of God and all that He has promised us. The word thankful appears 3 times in the King James translation of the Bible. We will look at those three Scriptures today. First we have:

Rom 1:21 (KJV)
21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

One of the results of NOT keeping a grateful, thankful attitude is that we are in danger of becoming like the people mentioned here. In fact, it is even more graphic in the Amplified Bible:

Rom 1:21 (AMP)
21 Because when they knew and recognized Him as God, they did not honor and glorify Him as God or give Him thanks. But instead they became futile and godless in their thinking [with vain imaginings, foolish reasoning, and stupid speculations] and their senseless minds were darkened.

I certainly don't want to end up in that frame of mind! Another verse in the New Testament that mentions the word "thankful" is found in the book of Colossians:

Col 3:15 (KJV)
15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.

The Amplified Bible is a little more clear in this verse, too:

Col 3:15 (AMP)
15 And let the peace (soul harmony which comes) from Christ rule (act as umpire continually) in your hearts [deciding and settling with finality all questions that arise in your minds, in that peaceful state] to which as [members of Christ's] one body you were also called [to live]. And be thankful (appreciative), [giving praise to God always].

The word "thankful" here is the Greek word, eucharistos, which means: well favored, grateful, mindful of favors, thankful. If we are "mindful of favors" we will have always in our mind the things that God has done for us. We need to remind ourselves daily of who we are as believers (in Christ, in Him, in Jesus) so that we continually appreciate this blessed life we have and so that we never take for granted the wonderful Giver of that Life! Keeping a thankful heart will also keep our hearts AND minds tender and open to the things of God and help us to be more sensitive to the Holy Spirit as He leads and guides us. This last "thankful" verse, found in Psalms, tells us how to do it:

Ps 100:4 (KJV)
4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

Again, the Amplified Bible gives us a clearer understanding:

Ps 100:4 (AMP)
4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and a thank offering and into His courts with praise! Be thankful and say so to Him, bless and affectionately praise His name!

The word "thankful" here is the Hebrew word, yadah, which means: to use the hand, to revere, to worship with extended hands, intensively, to laud (where we get the word, applaud!), to praise, to give thanks. And the next verse tells us why we should have this attitude and be doing this Word:

Ps 100:5 (AMP)
5 For the Lord is good; His mercy and loving-kindness are everlasting, His faithfulness and truth endure to all generations.

BECAUSE He IS good, we should always be in an "attitude of gratitude"! Nothing should be able to get us down or depressed! All we should have to do is to remember where we came from, who we are in Him, why we're here, where we're going when we leave this earth, and what God wants us to be doing right now! Then be about our Father's business! We WILL be most blessed!

Shalom in Him!