There are sometimes we look at Thanksgiving as not necessary, we only thank God when something really big has come our way but it shouldn't be like that. What we don't understand is that thanking God always opens door for many blessing that has been blocked. Thanksgiving becomes a window through which God's love shines
The story of the ten lepers
(Luke 17:11-19)
There were ten men who were poor,forsaken and hated by all men because of the situation they were. They were lepers and this disease is a disastrous one where it has no cure,infact it is like giving a person death sentence bit by bit, maybe an arm is cut off today,then a leg or ear is cut off tomorrow.
People now believe that leprosy can be infected, they will now drive the victim into a bush to live there all alone. This was in the case of the ten lepers. They had no hope for their life again,they even doubt if things can change for good for them but as it may be,they gathered themselves and starts fellowship among themselves.
Then one day,they heard about Jesus and immediately they had the believe,their faith to be made whole rose up,then instantly they began to imagine themselves having a clean body and leprosy vanishing away,so these lepers continue in their fellowship and believing for a miracle. With courage,they move on. Then they finally met Jesus and said to Him, "Master,have mercy on us"( Luke 17:13). In such situation like this, there will be many people who will kill their morale by saying negative words to them that they can't be healed,sincerely, if they had believe them,they would have poisoned themselves and die because they would conclude that what are they still doing in life with this kind of situation they are. But instead of this,they believed Jesus word that "All things are possible to him that believes"
Then Jesus told them in verse 14, "Go shew yourselves unto the priests". They would have not gone because of this mere saying by Jesus, but they still believed and went. On their way,they were cleansed. What a tremendous experience!!
When God test our faith,He wants to see how it will work for us. We should never be discouraged or sad about what God's prophet say to us like, "You are blessed", "It is well with you". All these little prayers means a lot and with faith,it will be so for you.
We need to be thankful in the work of God's goodness. One of the lepers came back to Jesus to appreciate God,he was indeed grateful for what had happened to him. He never hoped this could happen to him,he never believed he would be seen among normal beings but God actually did His worst in his life by turning him from a leprosy man to a whole human being. What a wonderful God we serve
This man took action to come back to praise God,what action are you taking for God's miracle to happen in your life, or you are just there thinking miracle will just appear to you without action(Faith)?. The ten lepers took action by going to show themselves to the priests as Jesus has commanded them to do.
Are you waiting for God to compel you to pay your tithes? Are you waiting for Him to tell you to praise Him before He can do that miraculous thing in your life? Are you even waiting for that miracle to happen before you can appreciate Him? Don't be like the other nine lepers who only received their healing without being made completely whole like the one that came to show appreciation. The man was made whole because he came back to Jesus.
Remember, a lifestyle of thankfulness is a lifestyle of wellness