"Thank you" is a phrase made up of only two words, but it is full of power. Most of us do not recognise the power that these two words hold, not only in the natural, but also in the supernatural. We have to learn how to say these words with our full understanding to be able to live in an attitude that is really grateful.

Good gifts

The Bible says that every good and perfect gift comes from the Father of lights, with whom there is no shadow of turning (see James 1:17). This simply means that all the good things that are in our possession, even if we are the ones who worked hard to earn them and purchase them, are from God Himself. Think about it.

God gave us the power to produce wealth (see Deuteronomy 8:18). He causes the sun to rise and the rain to fall on all of us, giving us just enough warmth and coolness that we need to live (Matthew 5:45). He gives us little mercies, including our jobs, our coworkers who help us, and any bonus that comes with our salaries.

God allowed us to live another day, just so that we could get to know Him and be transformed into the image of His Son (see Romans 8:29). The breath that we breathe comes from Him (see Genesis 2:7). The land that we set our foot on; the water we drink, even if it comes bottled – all of these are from Him and for His purposes (see John 1:3; Colossians 1:16).

Simply put, brothers and sisters, all that we have comes from the Lord. Yes, including the lessons from the bad times, although the bad times aren't actually from God (see Genesis 50:20; Romans 8:28; James 1:13).

Thankfulness and gratefulness

So what do we do in response? We live in gratefulness to His goodness. God is really good and kind to us in all that He does. Despite our unworthy and undeserving status because of our sinfulness, He gave His one and only begotten Son just so that we may experience the fullness of His goodness and love (see John 3:16; Romans 5:8; 1 John 3:1; Romans 8:31-39).

He's just so good, isn't He?

I urge you, friend, let's learn to recognise that every good thing that we have is a gift from the Lord. Let's learn to be grateful to Him for all His mercies that are new every morning (see Lamentations 3:22-23). Let's learn to praise Him when bad times happen because through these we are transformed from glory to glory into the likeness of Christ (see Job 13:15).

Let's learn to say to God, "Thank You." Let's learn to make our lives a "thank you" message to God for His goodness. That's all we should do. After all, He has loved us more than we will ever deserve.