Today I would like to share the grace of God under the title, ¡°The Praise of Thanksgiving and the Fruit of Happiness.¡±
When we look around us, there are too many people who have lost the ability to give thanks. There are people who think that thanksgiving will damage their positions. On the other hand, there are people who do good deeds and expect thanksgiving in their hearts. Those people resent, complain, and store hatred in the storage of their hearts when things run counter to their expectations.

Last June one young student came to me and I laid my hand on her to bless her. Last month she sent me a letter of thanksgiving. She failed the second-round state bar exam five times and this year was her last chance to the bar exam. Then early this year she began attending the fourth worship service in our church and became convinced of the fourth dimensional spirituality. Then she asked me to pray for her by laying hands on her and it was a week before the bar exam. She hesitated whether she should concentrate on the exam or receive the prayer, but she finally decided to come to me and I laid my hands on her to pray for her earnestly. As a result of that desperate prayer, she sent me the letter of gratitude last month, saying, ¡°I finally passed the bar exam!¡± With her letter in my hand, I felt genuine thankfulness towards God. Many people came to me to receive prayer, but only a few of them have expressed gratitude later. As days go by, gratitude seems to disappear from our society. Nowadays we suffer from a more serious disease than cancer; we grow insensible to gratitude. As we have received abundant grace from God already, we should not forget to express our gratitude toward Him.

1 Corinthians 10;31 says, ¡°So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.¡±

As an undeserved beneficiary of God¡¯s grace our goal of life should ascribe glory to Him. What should we do in our short life in this world? Whatever we do we must do it all for the glory and praise of God. How can we glorify our God the most?

Psalm 50:23 says, ¡°He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God."

Thanksgiving and glory come together all the time. when we sincerely give thanks to God thinking of His grace, God says that we honor Him. Even God feels honored at our thankfulness. When we give thanks to God, He is much pleased and glorified at this.

Psalm 136:24-26 says, ¡°and freed us from our enemies, His love endures forever.
and who gives food to every creature. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever.¡±

When we give thanks offering and pray to God, He feels honored and answers us and promises to deliver us from suffering.

Psalm 50:14-15 says, ¡°Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me."

When Paul and Silas gave thanks offering from within the prison of Philippi, they were delivered from that deep cell.

Acts 16:25-26 says, ¡°About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose.¡±

Psalm 22:3-5 says, ¡°Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the praise of Israel. In you our fathers put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them.
They cried to you and were saved; in you they trusted and were not disappointed.¡±

When we rely on God and express our thankfulness, He will deliver us and help us! Thanksgiving gives us positive thinking and joy to our experience of life. When we think of the cross of Jesus, we cannot but give thanks to God. Jesus Himself said that when we believe in Jesus who hung on the cross just as Moses lifted up the bronze snake in the wilderness, we receive eternal life and salvation.
When the Israelites spoke against God and He sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. Then Moses prayed for them to God.
The Lord said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live." Just as Moses lifted up the bronze snakes and the
Israelites looked at it and lived, Jesus was hung on the cross for us. Whosoever thinks of His grace and believes in Him will be saved without exception.

John 3:14-15 says, ¡°Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.¡±

When we add overflowing thanksgiving to our prayer and supplication before God, we will surely receive the blessing of answer to our prayer.

Jonah 2:9-10 says, ¡°¡®But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the LORD.¡¯ And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.¡±

Philippians 4:6-7 says, ¡°Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.¡±

We must keep praying until anxiety, worries, restlessness, irritation, and despair disappear from our hearts and peace of mind displaces all of them instead. When the peace of God fully occupies our hearts through prayer, it will open the door of answer to our prayer sooner or later.

It is commonplace to say give thanks, but a recent result of research shows that having a change of heart brings a huge change in our life. Last year according to a research team of Sterling University in Scotland those who think positively and give thanks have one third less rate of the contraction of heart disease than those who do not. Furthermore, those who are grateful have half less chance of depression and rather 1.4 times higher immunity than normal.
In this way gratitude keeps our bodies and hearts healthy and brings blessings to our life.

Misfortunes lead one¡¯s life to ruin. For example, the complaints of Adam and Eve led their life to destruction.

Genesis 3:12-13 says, ¡°The man said, ¡®The woman you put here with me--she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.¡¯ Then the LORD God said to the woman, ¡®What is this you have done?¡¯ The woman said, ¡®The serpent deceived me, and I ate.¡¯ "

Adam put the blame of his taking the forbidden fruit on God and Eve. He meant,
¡°This woman You put here with me tempted me to take it. If You hadn't given her to me, I would not have taken it. Therefore, it¡¯s Your fault that I had to take the forbidden fruit. As she gave it to me, I ate it.¡± God asked Eve why she took it and she said, ¡°The serpent deceived me, and I ate. If You had prevented it from tempting me, I would not have taken it. You failed to do that so I had to take it."
They refused to take the blame themselves, but put it on others! Nowadays if we repent of our wrongs, it would be okay, but we all put the blame on other people so our current society becomes complicated and noisy. Nowadays¡¯ newspapers show that in all the political scandals nobody takes the blame, but is busy pointing at others. The destruction of our life comes from our complaints and putting the blame on others without repentance.


Genesis 3:16-17 says, ¡°To the woman he said, ¡®I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.¡¯ To Adam he said, ¡®Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.¡¯ ¡±

The result of rebellion against God not only ruined their own life but also their descendants with its pain. Women have suffered greatly from raising their own children and being dominated by their husbands. But when they believe in Jesus, the painful circumstances begin to change so that current women are rarely controlled by their husbands. We must check on the gate of thankfulness and that of complaints. Happiness always enters through the gate of thankfulness and leaves through the gate of complaints. Giving thanks is the gate of happiness, but if we complain, the happiness will leave through the gate of complaints right away.
Thankfulness is the gate of happiness. Professor Tal Ben-Shahar at Havard University wrote the book titled, ¡°Even Happier.¡± He testified, ¡°When I learned how to give thanks no matter whatever happens, a great opportunity came to me and my relationship improved, and even wealth was given to me!¡±
While gratitude is the gate of happiness, complaint is another gate through which happiness leaves us. If we keep complaining, whatever happiness we have will leave us!

We know quite well that the Israelites kept complaining and murmuring and it brought destruction to their lives in the wilderness.

Numbers 20:4-5 says, ¡°Why did you bring the LORD's community into this desert, that we and our livestock should die here? Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!"

The Israelites gave a hard time to Moses and God was very displeased with this.
God hates our complaints the most!

Numbers 14:27-29 says, "How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites. So tell them, 'As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I will do to you the very things I heard you say. In this desert your bodies will fall.¡±

Complaints discomfort God the most! As He feels very honored at our thankfulness, He hates complaints the most! Therefore, any individual or home or nation who keep complaining will be deserted by God in the end. No matter whatever happens, we must rely on the precious blood of Jesus Christ and give thanks and praise to Him and rejoice over Him; Then God will make us prosper spiritually, materially, and physically and have life to the full. Above all, we should give thanks to God. Then He will be honored and answer to us.

Psalm 37:7-8 says, ¡°Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.
Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret--it leads only to evil.¡±

How great it will be if only we give thanks and praise to God and encourage one another! God will be very pleased with it and rejoice over us. However, if we hate, accuse, fight, and prevent one another from succeeding, He will be enraged greatly. God never works with those who complain and murmur!

When I attended a seminary, we had no tap water but a pump was used to get water. We used to pump up water, but sometimes we had to wait overnight to pump enough water. However, even though I rushed to the pump first, it didn¡¯t mean that I could get water automatically. I had to put a little bit of water in the pump and began pumping. Then the pump made a squeaking sound for a while and then water began pouring out from it. At that time. those who got much water first were always well treated because they shared the water with others who would buy them meals. Then there was no law against corruption such as the Kim Youngran Corrupt Practices Act of 2016. To get much water, one should treat those who had water well. Therefore, I used to get up early at that time to get a large amount of water first. This is called priming water. It is the same with welcoming guests. When we pour out a large amount of water in the pump, we can get much water with ease. It is the same with thanksgiving. If we give thanks, we can have more things that we can be thankful for.

Colossians 3:17 says, ¡°And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.¡±
When you give thanks to and praise God, we become happier and all those who are around us also become happy with us. Now I have been ministering for about 60 years, I have found that many families who keep giving thanks become the head, not the tail, and always at the top, never at the bottom, and that they lend to others, but borrow from none. On the contrary, those families who always complain and murmur against God without giving thanks to him have many conflicts among themselves and stay in a tight financial situation. God blesses those who give thanks to Him always. And those who love to praise God become welcomed and praised and honored in this world. You know, we are not living a meaningless life now, but we are already saved by believing in Jesus. Our salvation in Jesus does not come from our own merits but it is by grace we have been saved, through faith. Grace is free of charge and faith means that God gives us the things that are not as though they were. If we give thanks for those things that are not, as though they were already a gift of God, His grace and blessings will pour out from heaven upon us. We should live with the fruit of thanksgiving.