Signs of Thankfulness: Thankful Speech

Psalm 100

Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with jubilation; come before Him with rejoicing. Know that the Lord Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courtyards with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting and His faithfulness is to all generations.

Can you believe it is almost Thanksgiving? The older I get, it seems time is moving faster. I am sure that is not the case, but it sure seems that way. Here we are at the beginning of November, the season of Thanksgiving. And today, I am thinking about all for which I have to be thankful.

My list is probably like yours. I am thankful for my salvation, my wife, my children, and my grandchildren. I am thankful for my health, my work, and all of the blessings God has given me. Truthfully, I have been blessed with more than I could have ever imagined and certainly more than I deserve. Creating a Thanksgiving list is a great thing, and I encourage you to find some time today, just to stop and create a list of your blessings. The list for most of us is endless.

There is something however, I know I need to remember about giving thanks. I am to remember to express my thankfulness. In fact, there are some signs of thankfulness that come right out of Psalm 100. Today and over the next few weeks, I hope you will join me and consider how you are demonstrating thankfulness in your life.

Psalm 100:4 says, “Enter his gates with thanksgiving.” Simply put, we are to enter the presence of God with a thankful heart. Prayer involves many things. For example, it involves bringing our requests to God knowing that He hears us and answers according to His divine purpose and will. Prayer involves confession of our sin, that is naming our sin before God and trusting in His joyful forgiveness. Of course, there are other things prayer involves and one of those is thankfulness. When we pray, we are to enter the presence of God with a heart of gratitude and thanksgiving.

Not only should our prayers reflect a thankful heart, but so should our everyday life. We are to live each day in gratitude and thankfulness. And when we do there are some things that will flow out. For today, let’s consider just one of those signs of thankfulness.

Did you know that what we say, the words we speak, are a sign of our gratitude? In Psalm 100:1 the Bible says, “Shout joyfully to the LORD!” If you are like me, the first Study Bible I ever had was the King James Version and I learned this verse as, “Make a joyful noise.” The English Standard Version says the same while the NKJV says, “Make a joyful shout.” Regardless of what version you use, the Bible gives us the clear message that one of the signs of thankfulness is what we say. Thankfulness demonstrates itself with a verbal expression. In our speech, the very words we say, we are to be thankful.

Now think about that for a few minutes. Have you ever been around those people who always complain, gripe, grumble, murmur, and criticize? It seems they are just always negative and sullen. So much of the way we express our Christian life is through the way we talk. Now it is easy to understand that lewd language, cursing, and vulgarity are not part of the Christian faith. However, ungrateful, critical, or gossiping speech is also not fitting for a Christ-follower.

Vance Havner said,

“What we love usually manages to get into our conversation. What is down in the well of the heart will come up in the bucket of the speech.”

What's the point? Our words are a sign of what is in our heart - thankfulness or ungratefulness. What comes from our mouth reveals the condition of our hearts.

What is coming out of your mouth? (And trust me, I’m asking myself the same question!)

Let’s commit, as we enter this season of remembering our blessings, to turn our hearts in gratitude toward Jesus, and in doing so, express our thankfulness to and for Him. And as we do, allow that gratefulness to overflow onto all those around us.