Change is HARD not impossible. We must invest some time here in personal examination. The victory of becoming a thankful, thoughtful person is possible if three things are true:

1. We are Converted Christians:

Change is possible if we are truly born again. As Jesus Himself said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God".(John 3:3) Jesus said if you are going to heaven "the kingdom of God" you must be born again. It is a second birth. You have been born physically now you must experience a spiritual birth. Salvation is a spiritual birth. Again Jesus said that we must come to Him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me. (John 14:6) The way to Christ is explained in the Scriptures "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved. . . ".(Acts 16:31) . What are we to believe?

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

The Bible says that we are sinners and that we ought to die for our sins, but instead Christ on the cross died in our place. He took our licken.

Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand,
By which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, (1 Corinthians 15:1-3)

On the cross God judged Jesus for our sins (past, present, and future). "He who knew no sin was made a sin offering for us" as stated in 2 Corinthians 5:21. Because of Jesus' work on the cross the Bible says:

And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)

Jesus is the only savior. You can't save yourself. Visualize it like this. We are all in a boat which is sinking. We have no life preservers. We all will die. You cry out to me or some other, "Help me!" The response is the same from everyone, "How can I help you, I am drowning too!." There is one not in the sinking boat. He is safe for He is the Son of God. He is in a floating vessel. He comes to our rescue seeking to pull us out of the brink. He is reaching out to us. We must grab hold of His hand in order to be rescued.
When we trust in Christ for salvation we are receiving Him as well. The Word of God tells us to receive Jesus as our own personal savior, "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name. (John 1:12)

To receive Jesus we must believe in His name. To believe in His name means that we are trusting in what His name represents. You see "His name" is equal to the idea "His reputation". The Lord's reputation is that He went to the cross. He is our substitute and our sin-bearer. If we believe this, if we trust what the Bible says about Jesus, then we are to receive Christ as Savior.

Have you received Him? Take a moment and pray. Speak to God and pray:

Heavenly Father, I have sinned against you. I need a savior and right now I am accepting Jesus as my one and only Savior. Thank you for this salvation that you have given to me.

If you have prayed this prayer I would like you to do two things:

1. E-mail me that you have accepted Christ. Click here and write me.

2. Find a Church that believes the Bible is the infallible, inerrant Word of God and that believes that Jesus Christ is God, Savior, Lord of Lords and King of Kings. I would like to help you so please contact me. Until you find a church stay online and study the Bible. Remember these instructions:

Like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, (1 Peter 2:2)

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. 2 Peter 3:18

Change is hard but possible if we are Christians and we are convicted to change.

2. We are Convicted Christians:

We must understand that the Christian way of life is designed by God to work in fellowship with Him. We are to walk in the light as he is in the light (1 John 1:5-7) As we walk with Him He sustains us, "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me."(Philippians 4:13) But the major reason why we often fail is that there is no conviction that we have sinned.

In Part 1 of this study I mentioned the sin of omission and commission. When we are convicted by the Holy Spirit we will cry out to God and confess our sin. "Father, I have sinned. I have taken your many blessings for granted." "Father, I have sinned. I have grumbled and complained about this circumstance or that person. I have murmured against another believer. I have been grumbling about these circumstances." Why would we stand before God and state our sinfulness unless there is conviction from God the Holy Spirit and if no conviction there will be no commitment to change. Sadly, I must say, our hearts are in trouble if there is no eagerness to become the kind of people God wants us to be. We must become like David who said:

My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast;
I will sing, yes, I will sing praises! Psalm 57:7

David said, I am tired of taking you for granted. I am tired of complaining and growling at everyone. My heart is fixed. I have made up my mind to deal with this. I will change. I will put on the new man. I will sing praises to You. Thank you Lord for David who opened his heart to us in His Psalms and gave us an example to follow.

Tell your heavenly Father that you want to be like David. Tell your heavenly Father that you are tired of the old sinful ways of living. If you want to change follow these suggested steps

1. Confess to God what you have been doing wrong. Be specific. Look up Psalm 32, 57, and 1 John 1:9. Read and ponder these passages.

2. Ask God for help to obey and trust Him.

3. Commit you way unto the Lord. Commit yourself to do what is right.

Conviction must proceed commitment! This is not just a good idea, this is God's way. We must become like the Psalmist who said:

For I am ready to halt (decisive commitment), And my sorrow is continually before me.
For I confess my iniquity; I am full of anxiety because of my sin.
Psalm 38:17,18

We can become grateful, thankful people if we Christians, if there is a conviction to change, and lastly if we really want to change.

3. We are Committed Christians

We may desire this with all our hearts, but how you feel won't cut it. There must be a conscious, earnest resolve in the life of the believer to change. We do not change by chance or accident, but by a decisive commitment. The calls to commitment are abundant:

Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, "Whoever is for the Lord, cometo me!"
And all the sons of Levi gathered together to him. Exodus 32:26;

Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.
And if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.Joshua 24:14,15

Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts,Romans 6:11,12

This passage indicate that we are dead to sin. In other words, we can die to the sin of complaining. We can die to the sin of taking God and others for granted. I read an illustration of this from somewhere and it goes like this: A man in the congregation was being taunted and made fun of by another in the congregation. This went on for a period of time. One day another man in the group came to him and ask, "Doesn't that guy make you angry? How can you keep your cool? Aren't you tempted to tell him to shut up?" The older man responded, "I have died to anger." The victory is ours. What we need to do is "consider ourselves dead to that sin".

See other passages which talk about commitment: Roman 12:1,2; Job 31:1; Deuteronomy 31:15-20; Luke 9:59-62; Luke 15:11-18; Acts 20:22-24; Acts 21:8-14.

Draw up a plan of action:

1. I will develop an appreciation list for God and others.

2. I will daily express my appreciation to God and others.

3. I will memorize passages that encourage me to expresses appreciation and I will place 3x5 cards of reminders around the house, in my car, in the bathroom, on the refrigerator, etc. David wrote:

I will sing to the Lord as long as I live (decisive commitment); I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.
Let my meditation be pleasing to Him; As for me, I shall be glad in the Lord. Psalm 104:33-34

Scripture memory and meditation are some of God's resources for change. A rifle in a battle is no use unless there are bullets. Spiritual warfare needs spiritual equipment. Arm yourself fully with the Word of God. This biblical principle needs to be developed, but I can only mention it here. What you think is extremely important. The old English word for thanks means "to know or to think." In fact, unthankful people are often characterized as thoughtless. There is a general understanding that there is a connection between thinking and thankfulness. The memorizing and meditating upon Scripture is part of the cure for ridding ourselves of the habit of grumbling or taking things for granted. The Psalmist described the truly happy man:

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.
And he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season,
And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers. Psalm 1:1-3

Paul explain how disciplined thinking is the cure for worry. But it is a cure for a great deal more:

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.
The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things; and the God of peace shall be with you. Philippians 4:8,9

Christians are not thankful because their minds are not focused on the right things. They fill their mind with false thinking, with speculations, with superstitious things, with imaginations, with dishonorable things, with unwholesome things, with unprofitable things, with foolish things, with flaws in other people, with impure things, critical things, unfair and unjust things, with disappointments, discouragements, their failures, their inadequacies, their insufficiencies, imperfections, and NO WONDER THEY ARE UNHAPPY, UNTHOUGHTFUL, FEARFUL people. They fret and brood on their trials, their problems, their hardships, and the unpleasant circumstances around them so that, as the saying goes, (GIGO) garbage in garbage out. It is impossible to rejoice or praise God unless we control what we put in our minds. Feed the mind with negative things you will think bad, feel bad ,and act bad.

So search the Scriptures, find verses that apply to the problems you are dealing with, memorize them and meditate upon them. When you are tempted to grumble, think about the passages that instruct you to put that problem in the Lord's hand and praise Him instead.

4. I will find someone to hold me accountable and responsible for expressing appreciation. Great principle used by Promise Keepers.

5. I will pray daily and ask the Holy Spirit to help me.

Spiritual growth means growing out of the old ways and growing into the new ones. Think of all the habits and patterns you possessed before you were saved. Were you a grumbler? Did you take things for granted? Salvation has not changed that; salvation just produces the potential for change and gives you the provisions and power to change. According to Romans 12:1,2; Colossians 3:3,10; and Ephesians 4:23; the Holy Spirit renews our minds as we take in God's Word and sinful ways of thinking are put off and new ways of thinking are replaced.

God's power comes through action. As we step out in faith trusting God to transform us into the likeness of His Son, His power produces that change in us.

6. I will at the end of every evening spent some time reviewing the activities of the day. Have you kept your covenant with God? If you have failed, ask His forgiveness and pray for His help. Don't forget to thank Him for being a compassionate and forgiving God. If you have a great day of victory thank Him for His help and guidance

May God bless you as you step out in faith and commit your way unto the Lord.
Pastor Dave