It is proper to give thanks to God not complaints. Many people fail to see what the Father had done for them. They walk through life complaining about their life.

When we experience painful situations, we are actually undergoing the ultimate test in how much we trust the Lord. If we firmly believe that He is the Sovereign God who is in control of every circumstance, we may feel terrible but we will still thank and praise Him because we know that He knows best.

Our Lord and Almighty Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, is not only the God of the past. He is not only the God of the present, But He is the God of the future. He knows what will happen tomorow, the next week, the next month, and the nest year. So why worry and complain? All we need to do is just trust the Lord.

Complaining, as a habit, not only wears people down, it also saddens and insults the Lord. It is like taking His promises in vain. There are more than 30,000 promises in the Word of God, more than enough promises for all of your needs. So, when you complain, you are saying that you do not believe in what God said He can do for you.

Thanking God in the Wilderness

Take the case of the Israelites. They began to complain the moment they left Egypt! As a result of their grumbling and complaining, God allowed them to wander in the wilderness for forty years, when the journey should have taken only a few days. Over one million men over the age of twenty, except for Joshua and Caleb, died in the dessert because they failed to thank the Lord. None of them reached the Promised Land flowing with milk and honey.

Numbers 11:1 give this account: "And when the people complained, it dis pleased the LORD: and the LORD heared it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the LORD burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the outmost parts of the camp."

These words jump out of the Bible right at us: "Now, when the people complained, it displeased the Lord for the Lord heared it."

Thee are the very powerful words! If you turn those words around on a positive note, you would wonder, what if they prayed instead of complained? What if they were thankful and grateful instead of bitter and ungrateful? As God had heared their complaints, God would surely hear their prayers!

Grumbling takes away the blessings of milk and honey, which our Father has in store for us. Complaining drives us into the dessert of wilderness experience where we lose the sense of God's presence.

Lots of people look at life through dark glasses. They murmur when they should be praising the Father for the many things He has done for them. It is okay to be realistic about the gloomy side of life. Many people are but they focus more on the bright side.

Matthew Henry, the famous scholar, was one accosted by thieves, but this is what he wrote in his diary. He said, "Let me be thankful first, because I was never robbed before; second, because they took my wallet, not my life; third, because although they took my all, it was not much and fourth, because it was I who was robbed not I who robbed."

I every situation you find yourself in, it is proper to thank the Lord. Instead of lettering life turn sour over missed acquisitions and lost opportunities, ask the Lord to teach you thankfulness. Surely, you will be able to overcome your negative tendency to complain. Most of the time, it is just a matter of changing the attitude and not the situation.

There is an Arab proverb that says, "I complained for having no shoes unti I met a man who had no feet!" Thank God for your two healthy feet! Thank God for your two healthy eyes! Thank God for your healthy body! Before you can complain about anythng, thank God for what you have!

No matter who you are or whatever may be your circumtances in life, there are always things to be grateful for. When you start praising our heavenly Father and thanking Him even in the dark experiences of life, you will see His mighty demonstration of miracles more than you ever expected. So if you find yourself in any situation that you do not like, thank God!

I remember those years when we first preached the Kingdom mssage. Five years before the Father led us out of the denomination, we had a very small congregation in Vilamor, Agdao, in Davao City. There were only fifteen members in the congregation at that time. We had only so much to live on because the tithe was only fifty pesos every week. That was our whole weekly budget, and there were three workers with me. We could not afford to go to the market early in the morning when the flesh produce arrived because it was too expensive. We had to wait and go in the afternoon when all the rejects were left and sold very cheaply.

Despite the harship of those days, I could truly say that we never complained. I can return to those days and thank the Lord for giving us those meager years. Our spirit of thankfulness was the same before as it is today, years later, now that God has abundantly blessed the Kingdom Ministry.

The Pharisee and the Publican

In Luke 18:9-14, we read about a Pharisee and a Publican who went to the temple to pray. The Pharisee prayed, "I thank you, God that I am notas other men, who are extortionists, unjust, adulterers. I thank you that I am not as this Publican, for I fast twice a week, I give my tithes..."But the Publican, standing afar off, not lifting so much as this eyes unto heaven, smote his breasts ans said, "
God be merciful unto me a sinner."

The Word of God says that God's favor rested upon the Publican and not the Pharisee.

For some people, thanksgiving is just a pretense. For others, it is a superficial thing. For us, children of the Kingdom, thanksgiving is a spiritual time.

In the parable, we see the Pharisee's superficial thanksgiving. This man was not thanking God for what grace had done for him. He was thankning God For what He himself had done and this is a wrong attitude. Do not thank the Heavenly Father for the things that you have done. Thank Him for what He had done!

The Pharisee was trying to rehearse his good works before the Lord. But his good works did not pass in the examination board of the Father. He went away from the temple without the grace and favor of God.

But this Publican, who saw himself as a sinner, repented from his heart. He bowed humbly down before the Lord and said, "Lord forgive me, I am a sinner. I acknowledge that without You I cannot save myself. I acknowledge that the path towards you is repentance. I repent, Lord! I surrender!" The Lord said that He went away with the favor and the grace of God.

I thank the Lord that we are spiritually healthy in the Kingdom, that we have found what is necessary to enter the Kingdom of God. I thank the Lord that we, as His children, have been given the most important gift that we will ever receive in our lives. And that is the forgiveness of our sins. This is the power to become His child.

God our Provider

I remember sixtenn years ago, I used to drive a really old rickety car, bu I was grateful even for that old car because before we had that car, we had to walk from Villamor to wherever we wanted to go in the city. When we had to mail even one letter, we had to walk an hour and a half to the Post Office because we did not have the money to take a jeep or any public transport.

While we walked, nice cars would pass us by and throw dust all over us. The dust and the grime would stick to our sweating bodies, and by the time we went home, we were really dirty.

So, I asked God for a car , and when He finally gave me one, it was really old Cedan Datsun 1972, but I thanked God for it. I used that cars for about teen years. That car kept breaking down on me, if not the nozzle, the tube in the hydrovac of the break, or something else...

Once the workers and I had to go to the next city to hold a worship service there, but along the way, the tube to the hydrovac broke down. When I pumped the break, ther was no break! Now, there was a tricycle in front of us, and the long and short of it was that I bumped into the tricycle and I turned turtle. That was how badly that car treated me.

At another time, I was called to a hospital because somebody was dying and he was calling for me. It was deep in the night and I expected to just whiz by to the hospital in my car. But it broke down again in the middle of the raod. I tried to start it, but it just made this whooping sound, and refused to start. I had to get out my little flashlight and try to fix it. When that failed, I kicked it and then rebuked it in Jesus name!

Finally I got it started and right away, I sped up to the hospital. The wife met me, and I asked, "How is he doing?" And she said sadly, "He was waiting for you for one hour, but you took so long, so He has passed away!" Again, it was the old car that was to blame! I really had to ask God for a new car.

When we were just starting in Manila, we had three worship services on Sunday, and the last one was in another province, which was about na hour and thirty-minute drive away. We had to stuff the car with the people, the instruments, and the sound system. We put the sound system in the trunk at the back and the stuffed fourteen full-time workers inside the car with the guitars and all.

While we coursed down the main expressway, some mobile patrol would pass us by and look at us with suspicious eyes like we were some kidnappers! But instead of complaining, I thanked the Lord! I thanked God for every bit of hardship I went through with that old car, until finally, He gave me a new car, one that did not breakdown in the middle of the highway.

So whatever the position, level or circumstance that God puts you in life, it is His complete and perfect will.

When David was overthrown from His throne by his son Absalom, a man from Bahurim loudly cursed on the street, but when the soldiers were about to cut the man down, David stayed their hand, saying, "Do not harm him. Leave him alone.It may be that the Lord will see my distress and repay me with good for the cursing I am receiving today." (2 Samuel 16:5-12) Despite everything, David thank God! Our Father expects our thanksgving. Listen to the story of Jesus and the ten lepers.

One day while walking in Jerusalem, Jesus met ten lepers and healed each one of them. (Luke17:11-19) But out of ten, only one came back to thank the Lord. The Lord looked at him and asked, "Where are the other nine?" But the tenth leper could not say where they had went. And Jesus said, "I will bless you because out of the ten, only you came back to thank me." So thank the Lord for all things, great or small!

Thanksgiving is mentioned 140 times in the Bible. We read that David was thankful, Daniel was thankful, Paul was thankful. All the prophets and disciples teach us how to be thankful.

We must especially thank God for the simple everyday provisios in our lives. The Father puts food on our table. He protects our families from danger. He supplies our clothing. He provides for our every need. So when we eat our food each day, sleep peacefully at night, pay our bills, and snuggle in the safety of our homes, we cannot be but grateful to God.

Look for those things to be grateful to God for in your life, and you will reeive the abundant blessings of thankfulness.