The Value and Power of Giving Gratitude to God

People all over the world are in search of one thing or the other. Those who are religious take it a step further by asking for their need in prayer to God.

In some cases, a response comes almost immediately; at other times, there is a delay before a response comes but eventually a response does come to those who persevere in holding on to their belief that an answer will come.

This means God never fails no matter how long it takes His response to come. What is unfortunate though is that most of the time, the receiver of the blessing from God fails to acknowledge it through thanksgiving or gratitude.

Rather than show appreciation to God for answered prayers, most of us go ahead to place request upon request for more just like Sacred scripture tells us in Proverbs 27: 20, “Human desires are like the world of the dead - there is always room for more”.

It is even the case with some people to complain and blame God for unanswered prayers; they forget that this same God has answered their prayers in the past. Such people believe it is their right to get all they have asked for even where they failed to show appreciation for the already given ones.

Sacred scripture admonishes us to give thanks to God in all situations – 1 Thessalonians 5: 16 – 18, “Be joyful always, pray at all times, be thankful in all circumstances. This is what God wants from you in your life in union with Christ Jesus”.

This means no matter the outcome of any situation, we are expected to give thanks to God. The truth is, we have so many reasons on a daily basis to give thanks to God:

(1)   everyday we wake up from sleep

(2)   journey mercies when we step out and come back home safely

(3)   our source of livelihood

(4)   our spouse, children, siblings, parents, relatives, friends, colleagues, neighbours, employers, employees, business associates, parsons, etc

(5)   good health

(6)   a new home

(7)   a new car

(8)   a new job

(9)   a new business deal

(10) successfully passing examinations

(11) graduation from college

(12) recovery from illness

(13) the air we breathe

(14)  the food we eat

(15) the clothes we wear

(16) the gift of life

(17) and very many other reasons

What most of us are unaware of is the value and power of showing gratitude to God for His blessings to us. Now remember that God is the one who created the heavens, the earth and all that is in them. This means the power to give good things lies in Him and Him alone.

When we cultivate the habit and sincerely begin to practise appreciating God for every single thing he has done for us, it makes us acknowledge Him as the source of all we have and draws us closer to Him.

Now as we get closer to God, our faith in His ability to provide all we need increases; and because our faith increases, it spiritually and automatically opens up more blessings from Him into our lives.

Those who understand what I have said here have used this to bring many blessings into their lives. What I need to emphasise here, however, is the fact that gratitude has to be sincere and from the heart.

The reason for this is quite simple: you can deceive men but you cannot deceive God and so if your gratitude is not sincere and from your heart, you will be unable to tap into the value and power it conveys on those who practice it to achieve all they desire in life.

The Americans and Canadians have a special day they set aside every year to celebrate thanksgiving. The day is set aside to give thanks to God for everything in their lives. People gather with their families to celebrate this day every year.

History is not too clear on the origin of the day; though it originally began as a Christian celebration of harvest, it is now a secular holiday with the same intent – to give thanks to God for His mercies.

The Canadians celebrate theirs yearly every second Monday in October while the Americans celebrate theirs yearly every fourth Thursday in November

I personally believe this simple but unique celebration is one of the major secrets of the United States of America and Canada being among the world’s top economies. Every country in the world ought to set aside such a special day to give thanks wholeheartedly to God for His mercies.

I have advice for those who are in the habit of complaining when things don’t go the way they expect no matter the situation: please form the habit beginning immediately to step back whenever you find yourself in a situation that gives you psychological and emotional pressure and then begin to think of and appreciate all the good God has done for you and give him thanks from a sincere heart.

In those moments, the pressures will certainly ease off and in those very moments, you are unconsciously connecting directly with the very Source that can solve any and every challenge you face in life and before long, a solution will come – GUARANTEED!.

Begin today to cultivate the habit of gratitude to God for all He has done for you in all situations and the doors of opportunities and lasting success will be opened to you always.

There you have another wealth secret!

© copyright Gabriel Ama

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There is Abundance of Resources in the World

Even though it started few years earlier but sometime in 2008, we started receiving news reports of a slow down in the world economy or what most have come to know as the global economic meltdown.

The story goes that some borrowers in the U.S. were unable to pay back their loans from the sub prime lending scheme for mortgages, which triggered a crisis that made U.S. banks to stop lending to customers.

Some U.S. banks started declaring bankruptcy with losses running into billions of dollars.

As a result, most American consumers were unable to finance their consumption of goods and services, which in turn affected manufacturers in the U.S. and exporters of goods from other countries to the U.S. who were unable to find a market for their finished goods.

Consequently, such companies started laying off their staff in thousands and hundreds of thousands and this continues to this day.

Little by little, some countries had then declared they were officially in recession and their home governments put in place intervention financial packages in banks particularly, and some other manufacturing concerns aimed at “jump starting” economic activities again.

Fortunately, we have also received reports in recent times that some of these countries are out of recession and things are picking up again and looking bright generally.

Some of the rescued banks and manufacturing concerns have again started declaring billions of dollars in profit and have started to employ staff again.

As all these things were then happening, one question I asked myself was “where did all the money in losses disappear to? Did they vanish into thin air or what exactly happened to them?”

I pondered over this question every now and then until I came up with one answer – the money never went anywhere; it is invested in real estate and wherever else the banks put them.

What I also observed is that economic activities slowed down not because some nasty thing happened but basically because of fear that triggered the wrong thinking in business people and consequently affected their actions!

How I know this is because as I said earlier, the monies never vanished into thin air and when banks and business people became a lot more confident, economic activities returned – in essence, everyone’s thinking changed again positively!

My reason for taking time to write all the preceding paragraphs is to make you, dear reader, to realise that it is peoples’ thinking that really drives their actions. If you could just take time to ponder this statement, you will begin to think positive thoughts about what you really want in life and your world would begin to also change positively too.

People usually limit themselves by thinking the resources of the world are limited and would become exhausted soon and so they limit their thinking again by believing only the rich can have access to it.

They further erroneously believe that the only way to become rich is by dishonest acts and so they then try to engage in a lot of wrong doing just to make it in life. This is exactly what wrong thinking results in.

The world God created is filled with abundant of resources that can NEVER EVER be exhausted. How do I know? Let us look at Sacred Scriptures in Matthew 6: 24 - 27 where Jesus said, “No one can be a slave of two masters; he will hate one and love the other; he will be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

This is why I tell you not to be worried about the food or drink you need in order to stay alive, or about clothes for your body. After all, isn’t life worth more than food? Isn’t the body worth more than clothes? Look at the birds; they do not sow seeds, gather a harvest and put it in barns; yet your Father in heaven takes care of them! Aren’t you worth much more than birds? Can any of you live a bit longer by worrying about it?”

Notice that Jesus said do not be worried over these things. Most people worry over these things, end up having hypertension, then stroke and then die.

This is exactly why Jesus says you cannot live a bit longer by worrying over these things because God who created you, everyone and me is more than able to provide for all of us if we would just believe by thinking the right thoughts always with gratitude to God.

Some people may also misunderstand when Jesus talks about loyalty to God and despising money. Let us look again at 1 Timothy 6: 9 – 10, “but those who want to get rich fall into temptation and are caught in the trap of many foolish and harmful desires, which pull them down to ruin and destruction.

For the love of money is a source of all kinds of evil. Some have been so eager to have it that they have wandered away from the faith and have broken their hearts with many sorrows”.

Notice that this scripture passage states like Jesus also said the love of money. So it is the love of money and not money itself that is the problem here since money is required to pay bills of every kind.

If one’s search for money leads one to many foolish and harmful desires by engaging in wrongdoing like prostitution, armed robbery, stealing from the office, selling inferior goods, etc, then such an individual loves money and that scripture is referring to them to desist from such.

On the other hand, if one’s conduct of business transactions or services brings money with commensurate or greater benefit to the receiver of the goods or services without harm to oneself, then all is in order.

Again, I say it is an individual’s thinking that drives his or her actions and so if you understand this, I need you to also understand that the world God created has abundance of resources that cannot run out.

If you could just develop this mindset, you will never limit your thinking to only what you think you can have but to anything created by God and thank Him for creating abundant resources. With this mindset, you can have whatsoever you desire in life legitimately and without stress or  pain to yourself or anyone else.

There you have another great wealth secret!

© copyright Gabriel Ama

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What Thoughts Dominate Your Mind?

Several experts have written on how our thoughts influence our lives and the need for people to control their thoughts to determine the outcome of their lives.

Unfortunately and sadly too, not many people are aware of this fact and even those who are aware refuse to believe it; even some who believe still do not know how to control their thoughts with only positive emotions.

This explains why very few people are successful in life while a vast majority are drifting in poverty, struggling and trying to figure out why their lives are that way.

According to Napoleon Hill in his book Think and Grow Rich, “one of the main weaknesses of mankind is the average man’s familiarity with the word impossible. He knows all the rules that will not work. He knows all the things which cannot be done”.

In another section of the book, he says, “another weakness found in altogether too many people is the habit of measuring everything and everyone by their own impressions and beliefs.

Some persons believe that they cannot think and grow rich because their thought habits have been steeped in poverty, want, misery, failure and defeat”.

The reason I have taken time to quote Napoleon Hill is to make anyone who reads this see the value of controlling thoughts and ensuring only the right thoughts remain on our minds.

The good thing about this is that allowing the right thoughts get into our minds will allow us achieve anything we want in life, not just riches.

The reason this is possible is simply because God made it that way.

So the question to ask next is how does one come to place only positive thoughts in his or her mind? The answer is by focusing on what we want and not what we don’t want.

It is important to pay attention to what I just wrote in the preceding paragraph because so many people are just unable to get themselves to do that.

If you are able to bring yourself to a consciousness of only what you want in life, it will be easier to achieve it. In essence, let that which you want be the dominating thought of your mind and nothing else that causes distractions.

The way to achieve this is:

(1)   desist from engaging in thoughts that leave you feeling bad, for instance, complaining bitterly about anyone or anything you dislike. Make up your mind to do this because this is the area of biggest challenge to most individuals – they simply cannot stop complaining about one thing or the other and this always puts negative thoughts into their minds and keeps them from achieving their hearts’ desire.

(2)   Use your leisure time to focus your mind on what you want out of life and do this with a lot of concentration so that your thoughts are ONLY of what you want. In fact, close your eyes and use your imagination to picture yourself as already having achieved what you want. This will leave you with positive thoughts.

(3)   Even during your work hours, allow your consciousness or mindset to be focused on positive thoughts so that distractions don’t put negative thoughts into your consciousness and mindset.

(4)   Never ever allow yourself to believe what you want is limited or scarce. That is one of the greatest obstacles to achievement. The world God designed and in which we presently live has abundance of resources of every kind and can never be exhausted and you must believe this to succeed in life.

The individual who is able to practice all I have written here will CERTAINLY achieve his or her heart’s desires. Always remember that everything you want in life begins and ends with the dominating thoughts of your mind.

Let what you want in life be the dominating and most pressing thought of your mind always and success will knock at your door.

Finally just in case you never knew, that is EXACTLY how faith works and how the individual who has faith will achieve ALWAYS.

There you have one of the greatest wealth secrets!

© copyright Gabriel Ama

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Faith Versus Reality – Or are they the same thing?

Have you ever been in a discussion with someone where you were trying to advance your point in support of something you believe in and when the other person spoke, he or she said, “let’s be realistic” or “let’s face reality” before making his or her point”?

If we examine in depth what the person means by “let’s be realistic”, it would simply mean he or she is telling you what he or she believes.

For instance, let’s take a hypothetical discussion that could have taken place concerning the Seoul, South Korea Olympics when Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson was stripped of the 100 metres gold medal for use of steroids when he ran 9.79 seconds on September 24, 1988.

If someone then had said one day, sprinters would beat that record and reduce it further without use of steroids, another could have said, “let’s be realistic, nobody can ever beat that record without using steroids”.

The person trying to be “realistic” could have buttressed his or her point with the fact that even other top athletes of Ben Johnson’s era at some point in their careers tested positive to banned substances.

However, fast forward to 2010 and we have several men who have not only equaled but have also broken the 9.79 seconds 100 metres dash figure:

American Maurice Green – 9.79 seconds on June 16, 1999 at Athens, Greece

American Tim Montgomery – 9.78 seconds on September 14, 2002 at Paris, France

American Justin Gatlin – 9.77 seconds on May 12, 2006 at Doha, Qatar

Jamaican Asafa Powell – 9.74 seconds on September 9, 2007 at Rieti, Italy

We now have a Jamaican Usain Bolt who first ran 9.72 seconds on May 31, 2008 at New York, United States, then 9.69 seconds on August 16, 2008 at the Beijing, China Olympics and then 9.58 seconds exactly a year later on August 16, 2009 at Berlin, Germany.

We also have an American Tyson Gay who has a best time of 9.69 seconds for the 100 metres dash on September 20, 2009 at the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix, China.

During an interview boxing legend Mohammed Ali gave on his October 30, 1974 “Rumble in the Jungle” fight at former Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) with hard punching opponent now Reverend George Foreman, Ali recalls how just few minutes to the start of the fight, there was complete silence in his dressing room because his people there had the belief that Big George would knock him out.

Indeed the odds seemed to be against Ali because of the staggering records leading to the fight:

S/N	Fight record	Mohammed Ali	George Foreman
1	Total fights	44	40
2	Wins	42	40
3	Losses	2 - to Ken Norton and Joe Frazier	0
4	Against Ken Norton	Initially lost to Joe Frazier, then won next 10 fights and then lost to Ken Norton, then 7th contender after winning and then in 15 rounds and then won. Eventually defeated Ken Norton 6 months later	Demolished Ken Norton in round 2 some 2 months after Ali won Frazier
5	Against Joe Frazier	First lost to Frazier and then won him 4 months after defeating Ken Norton	Demolished Joe Frazier in round 2 some two months before Ali’s loss to Ken Norton
6	Age	Older of the two fighters	Younger of the two fighters
7	Other important points	After a 43 month forced exile from boxing due to political reasons, Ali returned to the ring. In the four years in between his comeback fight with Jerry Quarry in October 1970, up to his title fight with George Foreman in October 1974, Ali fought for the title once, and went 12-2 in 14 fights.	The George Foreman of 1974 who Ali confronted was thought to be the single greatest puncher in heavyweight history, an opinion still held by many almost 40 years later. His eight fights prior to fighting Ali ended in the first or second rounds.
8	Opinion of boxing experts/observers	Believed Ali would lose	Believed Foreman would win

Ali, it appeared, seemed to be the only one who had faith that he would win and he said he managed to psyche his people at the dressing room to cheer up and when he went for the fight, he used a local dialect phrase “Ali Bomaye” (meaning Ali kill him) he had learnt to get the spectators to cheer him - and his faith became his reality when he knocked out George in the eighth round!

My point here is simply that what constitutes one’s faith is his or her reality. Take another classic example of the Apostle Peter who told Jesus he wanted to come and meet him on the sea. When Peter had faith that he could walk on the water as Jesus called him to come, his reality was that he was able to do it.

As soon as he began to doubt and his faith wavered, his reality was that he began to sink and then called Jesus to save him (Matthew 14: 22 – 32).

Another example is seen in the case of the woman with the haemorrhage for 12 years who said if only she could touch the hem of Jesus’ garment she believed she would get well. Based on her faith, she took the action and her reality was that her illness of 12 years disappeared that very instant! (Matthew 15: 21 – 28)

A third example is where Jesus cursed a fig tree when he did not find fruits on it and the tree withered at once! When his disciples asked him how it happened, he told them if they had faith, they could do the same thing.

Jesus further told them that they could even tell a mountain to arise and enter the sea and it would happen. He told his Apostles that they would receive anything they asked for in prayer if only they had faith (Matthew 21: 18 – 22).

This clearly shows that Jesus was not talking figuratively because he said whoever believes would receive whatever they ask for in prayer. In essence, whoever has faith would in something or about an expectation would have the exact result as their reality.

Unfortunately, many are unable to get their hearts’ desires and think faith only exists in scriptures. The truth is, if Usain Bolt  and other sprinters never had faith about breaking the 100 metres’ dash record, their reality would have been that they would never achieve the feat.

So it is with anything we want in life – fame, wealth, success, riches, health, love, a job, peace of mind, money, a home, a car, a relationship, a child, whatever – without faith, it would seem an enormous challenge to get any of these things and that would be the person’s reality.

So next time someone tells you, “let’s be realistic”, the person is indirectly telling you, this is the level of my faith and therefore my reality. In essence, your faith is your reality and therefore faith and reality are one and the same thing as far as achievement in life is concerned.

There you have another wealth secret!

© copyright Gabriel Ama

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