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Gratefulness: A Noble Quality in Spiritual life
(Psalm 103)

- Dr. Paul J Joseph
1.    What is Gratefulness?
Communicating to others the precise ways in which they have benefited my life, and looking for ways to honor them.

2.    Meaning of gratefulness?
Gratefulness is an attitude of indebtedness along with the motivation to adequately express that attitude. It is recognizing that in ourselves we have, that we are nothing, and that whatever we do have, we owe to God, to our parents, to our family, and to others.

3.    How does God command gratefulness?
a.    Be grateful to God [I will praise God's name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving; Ps. 69:30].
b.    Be grateful to your parents ["Honor your father and mother…..”; Eph. 6:2-3].
c.    Be grateful for your conscience [“I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear
       conscience….”; II Tim. 1:3].
d.    Be grateful to your church elders [“The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double
       honor, especially those whose work is preaching and        teaching”; I Tim. 5:17].
e.    Be grateful to your civil authorities [“Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers,
       fear God, honor the king”; I Pt. 2:17].
f.    Be grateful to your employer [“All who are under the yoke of slavery should consider their masters worthy
      of full respect, so that God's name and our teaching           may not be slandered”; I Tim. 6:1].

4.    How to express Gratefulness to God?
a.    List the daily ways God benefits you.
b.    Recall God’s help during crisis.
c.    Turn your gratefulness into a song [“My heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I
       will give thanks to him in song”; Ps. 28:7].
d.    Learn and praise the names of God [Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name…” Ps. 29:2].
e.    Give thanks for the hardships of life [“Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The
       LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may            the name of the LORD be praised"; Job.1:21].
f.    Thank God when you don’t feel thankful [“In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God…”; I Thess.
      5:18].
g.    Tell others how God has benefited you.

5.    Conclusion:
       An attitude of gratitude toward God is a mark of a developing spiritual maturity.

Paul Joseph