SHOWING APPRECIATION
SONG
We are grateful, O Lord
We are grateful, O Lord
For all you have done for us
Hallelujah, we are grateful, O Lord.
TEXT
"And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed." - Luke 17:13-17.
The word APPRECIATION simply means placing high value and regards on something. In other words, it's being thankful over something done unto you. Besides, thanksgiving amounts to giving glory to God.
I'm of the opinion that OUR GREAT AND AWESOME GOD deserves our sincere appreciation for all He has done for us over the years. He has shown us love, mercy, deliverance, compassion, and lots more.
I want you to sincerely look at where you are coming from and where you are today. Has GOD not been faithful? Has He not been loving, kind, helpful, protective? if I go on and on, I'm most likely to lose a count of all that God has been over the years to us. Are you talking about those we started the year 2022 with, and they are no more today? What about those, we passed through the same road together who did not return back alive, but we did.
From the ending of the Bible verses of today, we saw the pictures of the two different kinds of people we have in our society today: THE THANKFUL AND THE UNTHANKFUL.
These two sets of people made the same request to our Master; they all got the same response, but not all got the fullness of the response.
All the ten lepers were healed of their sicknesses but not all got their bodies made whole except the one that came back to say thanks to the Master.
"There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole." - Luke.17:18
Because the stranger came back, he was made whole; which is to say that he got back his missing toes, fingers and many other deficiencies resulting from the sickness. This wasn't so with the other nine who never came back to say thank you to the Master. They probably only got healed of the leprosy, but the thankful "stranger" was made whole. It's the question of APPRECIATION!
Taking a count of God's goodness in the past years and also in this very present year will amaze you as well as highlight the faithfulness of God towards you and your loved ones. A man who is grateful for the good shown him will be shown greater favor. If you appreciate God for your present position, you will more likely see a greater future. Failure to show appreciation attracts curses rather than blessings.
There are many different ways by which we can show appreciation to God. This can be done by the words of our mouths thanking Him for all He has done or by bringing Him offerings, showing our gratitude.
Appreciation is an uncommon gesture that generates uncommon rewards and favor. One of such can be by way of the multiplication of God's goodness in one's life. It may interest you to see Him increasing you in all areas.
In the nut shell, I encourage you to put on the attitude of THANKFULNESS from the very beginning of this year, down to its end. As you do so, you can be rest assured that in the end, you will have more reasons to THANK GOD. Hallelujah!
Have a blissful new year in Jesus name 🙏.
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, I'm short of words to express my profound gratitude to You for all Your faithfulness over the years towards me and my loved ones. All we say is thank you Lord!