God loves people who are always thankful. While others may get little gifts that make them happy, He makes sure that the joy of the grateful is always full. In Luke 17:11-19, all ten lepers were healed, but only the thankful one was made whole – every sign that he had ever been leprous was removed. I can imagine that anyone who had never seen him prior to his healing would have found it hard to believe he had ever been a leper. The joy of the grateful ones is always full.

“Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.” Psalm 100:4

From the passage above, we see that the right way to come into the presence of God is to do so with thanksgiving. Some Christians just barge into God’s presence with their requests as though He were their slave. No wonder many prayers go unanswered! When you come to Him, do so with thanks. Even if it seems as though everything is going upside down for you, thank Him for the fact that you are still alive. God cannot ignore a thankful heart. Once you get His attention, you can then present your requests to Him.

Many years ago, just before the commencement of a three-day crusade to start off the Redeemed Christian Church of God in Abuja, Nigeria, I was praying “Father, perform miracles today, show Yourself strong, heal the sick, raise the dead…” when I suddenly heard God say “Shut up!” Then He asked “Have you thanked me for all the miracles that I have been doing in the past? For the next three days, I don’t want to hear any request from you – just thanks.” This was very hard for me, but I tried to only give thanks to Him throughout the next three days.

After the crusade, He said “Now, tell the elders to strengthen the foundation of the church because, while you have been experiencing some increase, now you will start experiencing multiplication!” We are still enjoying that multiplication till date.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.