Encouraging yourself on the Lord Pt. 3

Alright, last week we talked about how we can sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs in order to encourage ourselves in the Lord.  Let’s add another tool to our kit for encouraging ourselves.  It comes out of the same passage of Scripture that we looked at last week.  (Eph. 5:18-21). “And be not drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God.”
The next thing that we can do is, ‘giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ’.  It’s giving thanks.  It gives the Lord joy to hear us thank Him for all of the great things that He’s done for us.  However, repeating them also encourages us.  When we hear ourselves repeat all the acts of His goodness to us from our very own mouths, our hearts are also uplifted.  In addition to this, who knows how the Lord will respond back to us as we speak out His constant acts of goodness to us and then thanking him for it, especially when we’re in a difficult time?  What might He respond back to us with as we respond that way to Him?
It was Kagua, the Christian advisor to Emperor Hirohito, who said, ‘The doorway to joy is thanksgiving.  Let thanksgiving flow’.  And, so we should let it flow.  However, it is not normally our first response to give thanks when difficult circumstances overcome us.  We’re more likely to cower in self-pity.  The easiest way to ensure this response is to create the habit before the hard times come.  When things are going well, let’s create the habit of remembering all that God has done for us and thanking Him daily for it.  Then, when trials come, the habit has been set.  The thanksgiving will flow, and the joy will come.  Of course, the principle of using it in good times and hard ones applies to all of the tools that we’ll share.
Another practical idea is to actually start to keep a list of all the things He’s done for you.  Again, it’s good to do this in easier times, when all this is easier to remember.  Write this stuff down.  Make a list.  Pin it to the refrigerator.  Put one in your Bible.  Keep a list on your phone or wherever it works for you to find it quickly when you need to remind yourself and move into thanksgiving mode.
Make the list.  Create the habit.  Keep the list where you can find it.  Use it often.  Use it in good times and in hard times.  Press through.  Don’t just take the proverbial stab at it and hope for the best.  Keep your thanksgiving flowing until the doorway to joy opens.
Next week we’ll be here to share yet another tool for encouraging yourself in the Lord.  Check in.