Walk in the Word

Scripture Declarations

A Habit of Thankfulness

October 2019

We hear a lot about gratitude at this time of year. At Thanksgiving gatherings, you might go around the circle and have everyone in the family say something they're thankful for.

It's a great tradition, but gratitude goes so much deeper than that! It needs to become daily habit.

What are some ways you can practice being thankful every day?

Start by bookending your day with praise. When you get up in the morning, say out loud three things you're thankful for. Then say another three things before you go to bed. Science is catching up to God's Word and finding out that gratitude is great for your brain, your sleep, and your health.

Another way to practice thankfulness is to keep a gratitude journal. The great thing about writing down what you're thankful for is that you can go back and read it on days you're feeling low. You'll build your faith by remembering what God has done for you in the past.

You can also express thankfulness to the people in your life. Write a letter, send a quick text, or go tell them in person what they mean to you!

But one of the best ways to stay in an attitude of thankfulness is to confess God's Word. Find verses about God's goodness and speak them out loud. Have you ever noticed that when you're talking, your focus zooms in? It's hard to think about anything else but what you're saying. Declaring God's promises out loud puts your attention back on His Word and helps you meditate on it.

To help you walk in gratitude every day, we made a special Walk in the Word verse collection for this month—and it's all about thankfulness. You can download it, print it out, and put it somewhere you'll always see it to remind you to speak words of gratitude. Your attitude will start to lift as you focus on who God is!

Sometimes being thankful might feel like a sacrifice—like nothing's going right and you don't have anything to be thankful for. But we challenge you: look for something. Even if it's small, thank God for it. The more little things you find to be thankful for, the more of them you'll start to notice.

The more little things you find to be thankful for, the more of them you'll start to notice.
One of this month's declarations comes from Psalm 100:4 (NLT): "Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name."

Click here to download your Walk in the Word collection and develop a habit of being thankful every day!

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