Developing a Heart of Gratitude- Character of The Holy Spirit

By Sis Joke Kujenya

The heart of gratitude is a virtue every one of us must develop. But to learn how to develop a heart of gratitude, we first need to have the understanding of the word: ‘Gratitude’. As defined by the online dictionary: “Gratitude” is a noun word used to express the quality or feeling of being grateful or thankful”. It has its origin in the ‘late Middle English’ and ‘Medieval Latin’. In the British parlance, Gratitude a feeling of thankfulness or appreciation, as for gifts or favours. As we can thus establish, it is a word we all use in almost all of our daily dealings either at home, churches to GOD, offices, schools, markets or any other place its use become necessary. But then, we need not take it for granted that because we use the word does not necessarily mean we have the heart of gratitude. Overtime, many people have used the word just so they might not be looked upon as being ‘carefree’, ‘as ingrates’ or out-rightly ‘ungrateful’. For such, their saying: “I am grateful” does not essentially mean they have a heart of gratitude. However, saying it at will also does not signify we have the heart of gratitude. It is needful for us all to acknowledge that we each have diverse personalities. And once we come to our LORD JESUS CHRIST and accept HIM as our Saviour and HE eventually becomes our LORD, One that rules our lives, we must all, by HIS grace, become harmonized into a divine nature, one of which its attributes – is a heart of gratitude. How then do I DEVELOP – A verb meaning: •To bring out the capabilities or possibilities of; bring to a more advanced or effective state •To cause to grow or expand •To elaborate or expand in detail •To bring into being or activity; generate; evolve •Drafting: to transfer the details of (a more or less two-dimensional design, pattern, or the like) from one surface, especially one that is prismatic or cylindrical, onto another, usually planar, in such a way that the distances between points remain the same. In Biology, to develop is: •To cause to go through the process of natural evolution from a previous and lower stage. •To cause to progress from an embryonic (baby form) to an adult form With this understanding of develop, we can see that it is a process and a gradual progression which goes beyond merely mouthing the word –gratitude. This then, I believe should begin to arouse in each of us the question: “how do I develop a heart of gratitude”? –which is very essential for each of us as we witnessed in the life, attitude and disposition of our Perfect example JESUS CHRIST. For everything HE did in the New Testament, as it was repeatedly recorded of JESUS in -Matthew 14:19-21; Matthew 15: 36-38; Mark 14: 22-23, Luke 24: 30-31 and John 11: 41-42 –JESUS gave thanks for food, pleasant and unpleasant situations as the death of Lazarus for that matter. JESUS gave thanks for basic, simple and sometimes apparently inadequate resources out of knowing Who HE is and having confidence in HIS relationship with the FATHER. For the fact that our being in CHRIST is to eventually become like HIM, we must live a daily life of thanksgiving with a true heart of gratitude. Again, how do I develop a heart of gratitude to live a daily life of gratitude? Let us look at these steps – I develop some and borrowed some from other writers. However, when faithfully adhered to with a true heart, we will witness a change of heart which we know can only come from heaven. 1.Once you wake up every morning, appreciate GOD with gratitude for the grace to be alive, to be able to move out from your bed, to lift up your hands, legs, open your eyes, appetite to eat good food, for your biological family and more. No one of us must take it for granted that our being alive each day is by our smartness or shrewdness. 2.Two, we must have a daily heart of gratitude for our Salvation as well as our Church family. There are countless ways to look for gratitude in the line of our salvation and everyday life Church life as Colossians 3:17 exhorts: “And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him”. When we are able to do this, we see more to be thankful for than to complain about. 3.In our REGULAR RELATIONSHIPS, as a writer notes, “gratitude is the key to turn what we have into enough and even more, to turn denials into acceptance, chaos to order and confusion into clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend”. This shows us that it is very essential to be thankful to GOD for the people in our lives, rather than complain about their imperfections as we often find in Christianity. Surprisingly, home is often the last place to show gratitude. Why? It is important we ask ourselves. The three points above largely capture every aspect of our lives. However, Galatians 6:10 says, “As we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” We must add to our hearts of gratitude, thoughtful actions of encouragements towards our Pastors, Parents, Children, Friends and Colleagues and especially to those serving behind-the-scenes in our Churches and other areas of life. We must consciously remember what the Bible says in 1st Thessalonians 5:11 to always “encourage one another and build each other up…” I have personally wondered why it has seemed hard for people to specifically tell others what they mean to their lives to build up their spirit. Often, we could go a step further to buttress our gratitude tangibly by buying a gift, however small, but presenting it from our heart as an encouraging measure. One of the famous quotes of President John F. Kennedy of USA is: “Take the time to show your gratitude to people in your life. As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” It is only rather sad that many of us barely look for the silver lining in life’s trials. That is why we often, during difficult times, focus more on the negative. Whereas, it is during these moments, we ought to develop positive perspectives that will help change our attitude to that of gratitude instead of grumbling. We must make gratitude a way of life in our Christian walk. Character of The Holy Spirit Once we begin to live with a conscious heart of gratitude, without us being aware of it, it leads us into asking ourselves – how do I become more like my LORD JESUS CHRIST? Asking this question is what would lead us into developing authentic Christian character. This authentic Christian character is nothing else than the ‘Character of The Holy Spirit’-which leads us to living a life of Godly virtue, as growing a heart of gratitude helps us discipline our mind. 1st Thessalonians 5: 18; Ephesians 5: 20; Philippians 4: 6; Colossians 33: 17 –all show us that no matter what limitations befall us, we have made up our mind up to remains grateful with hearts of gratitude to change our attitude to that which is Christlike. But with all these, developing the ‘Character of The Holy Spirit’ is still a lot more challenging because of HIS Holy nature which we cannot just adopt overnight. To develop this divine character is very complex because the Personality of the Holy Spirit is multi-faceted and multi-dimensional. So, we have a whole lot of job to do in this wise. Please, let us start. As the GOD-Person Who indwells each of us, we must be daily conscious of HIS Presence to begin to learn about HIS Character from HIM. Many years back during one of our Sunday Schools sessions, we were taught that the Holy Spirit has 1.Knowledge – Nehemiah 9:20 & 1st Corinthians 2:10-11 2. Will- 1st Corinthians 12: 11 3. Mind- Romans 8: 27 4. Love (Feelings)- Romans 15: 30 5. Grief (HE feels)- Ephesians 4: 30 and many others … As such, our comprehension of these facts in our Christian race must motivate us to live a holy life and walk carefully as 2nd Peter 1: 10 admonish us. We must live like the One who dwells in our hearts as believers in CHRIST. Therefore, from the point of our Salvation in CHRIST, we must ensure that the full Sovereignty of GOD with respect to the work of the Holy Spirit is maintained in the Church, the Body of the LORD, Whose we are –vEphesians 2: 10 & Hebrews 3: 6. With this, we must understand well the teaching of – Galatians 5:25 – “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit”. This suggests that as we live daily, we must also manifest the life of CHRIST in us. Now, this is not just about “working out own salvation with fear and trembling…” It is about our learning to demonstrate the nurturing, teaching and intellectual actions of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it must be impressed upon our lives that the benevolence of the Presence of the Holy Spirit of CHRIST and the experience of HIS work within us requires our response in the way of faithfulness. We must intentionally do away with – Ephesians 5: 19 – “the works of the flesh”. We each, must strongly condemn -as the Word of GOD every vain attitude that does not glorify HIS Name and Holy Spirit. As Christians, the Life of the Holy Spirit must be evident in us to showcase HIS Character and seek to walk in that proper way. Our lives must showcase HIS Light as others seek to serve HIM through what they see displayed in us. We must be loving, forgiving, empathic, grateful, appreciative, be respective and honouring other children of GOD as well as non-believers so as to win them over to CHRIST among others. These scriptures – Acts 2: 4; Philippians 1: 19 and Romans 8: 26 –all show us that GOD, through the power of the Holy Spirit, is available to help us if we apply our hearts to HIM. To showcase the character of the Holy Spirit, we must, also with our changed character, witness and testify of HIS works in us as the Bible teaches us in: Romans 8.16. Without doubt, this is a subject that is so wide in scope than I can ever attempt to pen here. I, however, pray with all my heart that the LORD JESUS CHRIST, will beyond these short scripts, expand this knowledge into each of our lives, Amen!