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A Thankful Heart: The Best Evidence of the Holy Spirit · Fostering Faith

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Welcome back to Fostering Faith. I am going to
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Be your host today, Tracie, and we are in a season
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of Thanksgiving. So we're going to get a little
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break from our fruits of the spirit, and we are
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going to jump into a podcast about Thanksgiving
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and gratitude, since this is dropping on Thanksgiving
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morning. Happy Thanksgiving from us to you. And
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If you are new to Fostering Faith, we are a podcast.
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where we don't have it all figured out, but we
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We are walking in this faith journey together. And
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If you are a turn listener, welcome back home.
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And we are going to be talking about Thanksgiving
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moment today. And so I want you to settle in.
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for a little while, not just kind of a few minutes.
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I think it's going to be a longer episode, just
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because there's so much to talk about, because
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It's not going to be just like a quick encouragement
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or a little devotional. This is a message and
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It's a journey. It's a slow walk through the
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places that we forget to visit. It's a conversation.
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that your heart is probably long overdue for.
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It's a kind of truth that doesn't just touch
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the surface. It gets inside of you, rearranges
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things, resets things, restores things, and reminds
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You who God is all over again. And today we're
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going to be talking about gratitude and not the
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A shallow version of it, not the quote, says something
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nice around the table. I'm talking about gratitude.
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the way that the Bible describes it. Gratitude
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the way that the Holy Spirit awakens it. Gratitude
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that grows in the soil of suffering. Gratitude
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that is born in the middle of uncertainty. Gratitude
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That is not natural, but supernatural. So some
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of you listeners today are tired. Not physically
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tired, but soul tired. Like tired in your bones.
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Tired in your mind. Tired of your emotions. tired
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in your spirit, and you've been carrying weights
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that no one sees, and honestly, you don't even
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know how much you're going to be carrying anymore
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because it's been that heavy for that long and
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gratitude feels like something far away, something
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for people in a better season, something for those
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people who have what looks to be an easier life
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But I want to tell you something fundamentally
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something biblically, something that breaks shame
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off your shoulders. Your lack of gratitude
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Right now does not mean that you're weak. It
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means that you are weary. And Jesus always moved.
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towards the weary. In Matthew 11:28 to 29, it
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says, Jesus has come to me, all that are weary
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and burdened, and I will give you rest. The weary
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They are the first invited. The burdened are the invested.
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first. The ones who can't fake it anymore are
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invited first. Jesus never said, Come to me whenever
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You have it all together. He said, Come to me.
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whenever you're at the end of your rope. Gratitude
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doesn't begin whenever you feel good. Gratitude
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begins when the Holy Spirit revives what life
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has been suffocating. And I want you to take
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this into scripture because gratitude is not
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just a good idea. It's a biblical theme woven.
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into the whole... the whole story of God.
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In Deuteronomy 8, God warns Israel that when life
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gets good, don't forget me. He literally says
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In verse two, you shall remember all the way
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which the Lord your God has led you. Remember,
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not guess, not assume, but remember. But why?
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Because humans forget the faithfulness of God
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faster than anything else. We forget the miracles.
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once. We're out of that danger. We forget the
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Prayers God answered once in the crisis that
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has passed. We forget the strength that He's
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given to us when we're in the breaking. We forget
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The comfort He sent at two a.m. when the world
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was silent. We forget the doors that He opened.
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and the ones that He protected us from walking
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through. And forgetting kills gratitude. But
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The Holy Spirit says, Remember, Jesus says in
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John 14:26 says, The Holy Spirit will teach
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You remember all things and bring you into remembrance
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all that I said to you. Gratitude begins when
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The Holy Spirit restores the memory of God, who
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is. So let me slow down. Some of you aren't even.
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able to feel grateful because your heart has
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been flooded with other things. Disappointment,
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exhaustion, fear, anxiety, comparison, confusion,
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and grief. These things clog your Holy Spirit.
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arteries faster than a cheeto. They crowd up
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clarity. They suffocate vision. They distort
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Reality until all you can see is what's wrong
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and what's missing. What hasn't changed? What
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You lost, and what you wish you could have fixed
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but can't. But then the Holy Spirit comes into
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that space. He doesn't want to shame you. He
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doesn't want to push you. But he says, be grateful.
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He gently removes the fog, revealing the truth.
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God has been faithful every single minute, even
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when you couldn't feel it. If we look at the Psalms,
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I'm reading, studying Psalms now, and so if we
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Read Psalms 103, it says, Bless the Lord, oh
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My soul, and I forget none of his benefits. David
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He is literally preaching to himself. He didn't
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say, feel grateful. He said, Remember. And gratitude
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is remembering with revelation. Gratitude is
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not pretending everything is fine. It's recognizing
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God was faithful even when everything was not
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fine. So let's talk about the Holy Spirit more.
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deeply because people may not understand or connect
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the Spirit and how it's gratitude. And so in
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Galatians 5, Paul lists the fruits of the Spirit,
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which we've been walking through for the last
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A couple of weeks. And so we have love, joy, peace,
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patience, kindness. And those are all the fruits.
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grown together. Do you know what the combination is?
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What flavors would probably taste like? Gratitude.
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A grateful heart is not a natural fruit. It's
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a supernatural fruit. This fruit, the spirit
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produces that kind of gratitude that cannot be
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manufactured. Gratitude that raises a storm.
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A gratitude that survives a heartache. A gratitude
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that grows in tears. A gratitude that can say
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like David in Psalm 27:13, I would have despaired
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unless I believed that I would see
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The goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
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That's gratitude rooted in faith and not feelings.
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I want you to take Lamentations 3, one of the
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darkest books of the Bible. Jerusalem is destroyed,
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The people are crushed, and the prophet Jeremiah
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is grieving so deeply that he can barely speak
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And right in the middle of the sorrow, he says
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These words you have heard, but maybe not
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Understood the context, it says this, I recall
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To my mind, therefore, I have hope the lord's loving
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Kindness indeed never ceases for his love and compassion
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never fail, they are new every morning. This I
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recall to my mind, not this I feel, not this
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I see, not this I'm in the mood for, but I recall,
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I remember, I bring it back into my mind, even
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when everything feels broken. And Jeremiah teaches
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Give us something powerful. Gratitude is not a mood.
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Gratitude is a memory, healed by the Holy Spirit.
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And let's talk about Jesus. Jesus modeled gratitude
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in every season, even the most painful ones.
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In Matthew 14:19, before multiplying the fish
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In the loaves, Jesus looked up and gave thanks.
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Gratitude came before the miracle. In John 11,
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41, standing at Lazarus' tomb, Jesus said, Father,
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I thank you for hearing me. Gratitude
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came before the resurrection. And in Luke 22:19,
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On the night that he was betrayed, Jesus gave
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thanks. Before breaking the bread and representing
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His own suffering, gratitude came before the
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cross. Why? Because gratitude is not rooted in
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the moment. It's rooted in the relationship.
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And that's what the Holy Spirit wants to create
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inside of you. A gratitude that isn't tied to
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circumstances, but tied to Christ. Some of you
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are listening today, and you feel grateful
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has been stolen. The enemy has used disappointment,
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confusion, or exhaustion, to drain your joy. He
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used a comparison to distract you. He's used anxiety.
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to suffocate your hope. He's used busyness to
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numb your spirit. But the Bible says in John.
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10, 10, the thief comes only to seek to kill.
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and destroy. I came that I may give life. Gratitude
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is life. Gratitude is spiritual oxygen. Gratitude
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is revival. And so let's talk about spiritual.
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warfare inside gratitude. Gratitude shuts the
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door on bitterness. Gratitude, silence, and complaining.
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Gratitude breaks comparison. And gratitude uproots
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jealousy. Gratitude destroys fear. And gratitude
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strengthens faith. Gratitude is one of the enemy's
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least discussed nightmares because grateful believers
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They are impossible to control. A grateful believer
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can walk through fire and still say, My God is
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good. A grateful believer can stand in the valley.
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and still declare, surely goodness and mercy
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will follow me. A grateful believer can endure.
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trials and still proclaim, God works all things
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out for good. Gratitude is not weakness. Gratitude
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is warfare. Now let's talk about you. Let's talk
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about your story. Because no matter what, this
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What the year looked like, you're still standing today
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with breath in your lungs because God sustained
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you. You've been carried more than you know,
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protected more than you noticed, strengthened
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more than you realized. And Psalm 46 says,
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God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of need
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help in trouble. Not past help, not occasional
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help, but present help. Help right now. Instead
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If you survive nights that felt impossible, you
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walk through emotional pain that didn't destroy
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you, and you face fears that didn't take you
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out. You made it through the days that felt like
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It was so much. You didn't survive it because
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You're strong. You survived it because God is
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faithful. Gratitude begins when the Holy Spirit.
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helps you see how many times God has held you
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together. In Psalm 34, David says, I sought
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The Lord and he answered me and delivered me
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for all my fears. Gratitude is remembering deliverance.
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Gratitude is remembering how God reached into
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your anxiety and didn't let you swallow the whole
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you. Gratitude is remembering that even when
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You are faithless; God is faithful. And gratitude
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is remembering that His mercies didn't run out,
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not even on your worst day. Now, I want to talk.
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to you and want you to think about the disciples.
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After Jesus rose again, they were hiding in fear.
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Their gratitude was gone. Their hope was gone.
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Their boldness was gone. There I will never deny
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You were gone. Everything Jesus taught them felt.
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distant. But in John 22, Jesus breathed on them.
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and said, Receive the Holy Spirit. The breath
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That changed everything. Gratitude returned.
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Courage returned. Hope returned. Vision returned.
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And this is what the Spirit still does. He breathes
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on what feels dead on the inside. I want you
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to take that into Psalm 136, a chapter where
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Every single verse ends with his loving kindness
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is everlasting. 46 verses, 46 reminders. Why?
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Because human hearts forget, but the Spirit reminds
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and then gratitude returns. And so, how do we
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Experience this kind of gratitude today? By inviting
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the Holy Spirit into the places where our lives
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has been the loudest. By letting Him soften what
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has been hardened. By letting Him open what has
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been closed. And by letting Him untangle what
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Stress has been knotted. By letting Him speak
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Truth louder than your fears. By letting Him
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restore the memories of God's faithfulness. Gratitude
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It is not something that you can form. Gratitude
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is something that you receive. And so, how do
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We put this into context? And so here's what
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I want you to think about the next, because gratitude
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It isn't only about God, what he has done behind
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you. Gratitude is also about what God is doing
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within you right now. The Holy Spirit isn't just.
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The one who reminds you of yesterday. He's the
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One shaping you today. In Ezekiel 36 26 through
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27, God promises, I will give you a new heart
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and put a new spirit within you. I will put my
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spirit within you. Gratitude is a sign that God.
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is making you a new heart. A grateful heart is
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evidence that the spirit hasn't just touched
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you. He's transforming you. The transformation
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doesn't just happen in pretty places. Transformation
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happens in pressure, the pruning, the stretching,
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the confusion. The moments where you say, God,
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I don't understand what you're doing. It happens
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in the rooms where the old visions of you are
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dying and the new version is being born. Gratitude
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doesn't wait for the pain to end. Gratitude grows
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in the pain because the Holy Spirit is present
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in the pain. And Psalm 3418 doesn't say God avoids
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the brokenhearted. It says that He is near to
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them. Gratitude comes from recognizing his nearness.
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and not pretending that life is painless. Think
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about Joseph, thrown into the pit, sold as a
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slave, wrongfully imprisoned, forgotten by the
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people that he helped. And yet, at the end of
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His life, in Genesis 50 -20, he says, you meant
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evil against me, but God meant it for good. That
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Spirit breathed gratitude. Not thanking God for
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the betrayal, but thanking God for his sovereignty
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through it. Gratitude does not deny the evil.
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is done, it magnifies the God who overrules it.
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Think about David, chased by Saul, hiding in
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a cave, betrayed by friends, dealing with his
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own failures, and yet he writes in Psalm 13:6,
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I will sing to the Lord because he has dealt
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with me bountifully within me. How can a man
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hunted and brokenhearted say because of gratitude
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Looks up and not around? Gratitude is not a mood.
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Gratitude is not a posture, and some of you need
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a posture shift. You've been bracing yourself.
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defending yourself, holding yourself together
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surviving, but the Holy Spirit is inviting you
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Today, exhale to release, to let him hold you
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and to let him soften the places that have been
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hardened out of necessity, to let him bring warmth
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back into the places that have gone cold. Gratitude
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doesn't rise in clenched hearts, it rises in
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surrendered ones. Look in Philippians 4, 6, or
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7, a passage where we often quote, but rarely
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feel. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything.
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by prayer and supplication, by thanksgiving,
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let requests be known to God, and the peace of
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God will guard your hearts and your minds in
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Jesus Christ. Notice that Thanksgiving is not
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The response after peace. Thanksgiving is the
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doorway into peace. Gratitude isn't something.
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that you do once you feel better. Gratitude is
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What ushers in the peace that makes you better?
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Gratitude is warfare. Gratitude is weaponry.
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Gratitude is armor. And some of you have been
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fighting spiritual battles unarmed. You're fighting
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with fear instead of faith. You're fighting with
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self-protection instead of surrender. You've
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been fighting with exhaustion instead of endurance.
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But gratitude, true gratitude, is how you pick
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Put your head up. It's how you lift your eyes again.
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And it's how you shift from, I'm drowning, to
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God is carrying me. Thanksgiving doesn't remove
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the storm. But just like Jesus calmed the waves
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In Mark 4, gratitude makes you aware that He
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is in the boat with you. And while we're talking
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about Jesus chasing calming storms, I want to
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remind you of something. Before He ever rebuked
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The wind, He rebuked the disciples for their
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fear. Why? Because fear blinds. Fear forgets.
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Fear replaces the truth with imagination. But
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Gratitude anchors you in reality. Not the reality
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You see, but the reality that God sees. And some
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of you today, the Holy Spirit wants to take you
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by the chin and lift up your head and say, Look
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Again, look again at your marriage. You thought
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It was dead. He's still working. Look again at
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that child that you thought was too far gone.
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He's still calling. Look again at that place.
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that you felt abandoned. He was closer than you
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breath. Look again at the seasons that you thought.
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It was a waste. God was forming strength and endurance
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humility and wisdom Romans 5 3 through 5 says
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we exalt in tribulation because tribulation produces
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perseverance Character and hope and the hope
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is not disappoint because the love of God has
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been poured out through the Holy Spirit Gratitude
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grows when you begin to see pain through the
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lenses of purpose And then let me take you into
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one of the most beautiful scriptures of gratitude
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Psalm 42 5 where David says why are you in despair?
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Oh my soul Why do you become disturbed within
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me? Hoping God for I shall again praise him God
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David is talking about his soul. He's saying
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I don't I know that you're discouraged, but this
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isn't the end of our story Gratitude is the soul
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remembering its future gratitude says God is
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not finished And some of you need to hear that
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today. God is not finished. Not with you, not
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with your family, not with your calling, not
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with your story. Gratitude begins whenever you
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stop measuring God by your season and begin measuring
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your season by your God. Now, let's step into
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the New Testament again. I mean, Acts 16, Paul
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and Silas are beaten, chained, locked in a prison
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in midnight, the darkest hour, and they begin
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praying and singing hymns to God. Gratitude broken,
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The prison opened. Gratitude shifted the atmosphere.
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Gratitude invited the supernatural. Gratitude
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shook the foundation of what was holding them.
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Some of you have midnight places. Places where
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you feel like hope is thin and dark and really
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heavy. But the Holy Spirit wants to awaken a
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song in you again. Not because the chains are
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gone, but because the God who breaks chains is
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in you. And so let's talk about the Holy Spirit
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role again, because many people try to grit their
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way into gratitude, and you can't. Gratitude
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is fruit, fruit of the Spirit. Fruit grows whenever
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there's connection. And Jesus said that in John
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15 .5, apart from me, you can do nothing. You
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can't produce gratitude on willpower. You can't
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squeeze out thankfulness if you try harder. You
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can't magically become a grateful person by positive
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thinking. Gratitude grows when you remain in
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Him, remain in prayer, remain in the Word, remain
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in His presence, and remain in surrender. The
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Holy Spirit is the one who cultivates gratitude
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in the way that rain cultivates flowers. The
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way sunshine awakens life, the way that warmth
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brings numb fingers back to feeling. His job
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is not to make your life easy. His job is to
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make your heart alive. And I want to bring you
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to Psalm 136, a chapter where every verse ends
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with his loving kindness like we talked about
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before. And this is everlasting because we forget.
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because gratitude leaks, because we are suffering
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shouts, because fear screams, but God knew if
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we fear enough, his heart's remember 46 times.
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Like we said before, 46 times he had to repeat
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it because he knew that we would need it. Because
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gratitude is not built on information. Gratitude
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is built on repetition. And that's why we're
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repeating this. If you repeat gratitude long
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enough, your heart will begin to believe the
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truth again. Now listen to me carefully here.
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Gratitude is not pretending. Gratitude is perceiving.
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Gratitude doesn't erase wounds. It reframes them.
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Gratitude doesn't minimize your pain. It magnifies
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God's presence in it. Gratitude doesn't deny
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your trauma. It declares that trauma didn't get
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the last word. And some of you today need to
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reclaim your sense of awe. And it's been overwhelming.
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by its wrong that you've lost it and that what
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was holy. And so you've been so overwhelmed by
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what's wrong and what you've lost. And we've
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lost out of what's holy. But Psalm 126 .3 says,
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the Lord has done great things for us and we
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are filled with joy. Gratitude rises when all
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returns and all of the God is sovereign. All
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of God is patient. All of God is kind and powerful.
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and that the God has been faithful in every season.
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And I want to talk directly to the people that
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feel numb, spiritually numb, emotionally numb,
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physically exhausted. You think numbness feels
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like failure. Numbness often means that you've
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been in the survival mode too long. The Holy
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Spirit is nudging your numbness. He's healing
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it. In Isaiah 42 .3, it says, a bruised reed,
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he will not break. and dimly burning wick he
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will not extinguish. The wick doesn't have to
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be bright. It just has to be alive. And gratitude
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begins when the Holy Spirit breathes oxygen into
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your flame. I want to show you something so awesome
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in Luke 17. Jesus heals ten leopards, but only
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one returns to give thanks. And Jesus says, your
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faith has made you well. Gratitude brings wholeness.
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Gratitude brings restoration. Gratitude completes
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the healing. Many people receive blessings, but
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only grateful people receive holiness. Now I
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would like to end this episode, and I would love
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to pray for you guys. Holy Spirit, I lift every
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worried, wounded, tired, overwhelmed person that's
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listening. Breathe into their lungs again. Restore
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their joy, their depression that has been stole.
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Restore their hope that has been disappointedly
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crushed. Restore their gratitude that anxiety
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has suffocated. Restore the clarity that has
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confusion blurred. Restore the softness of a
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stressed heart. Restore perspective where pain
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has narrowed their vision. Remind them of every
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moment that you've carried them, held them, protected
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them, covered them. Help them remember not the
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pain, but the Presence. Give them eyes to see
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your fingertips in every chapter of their story.
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Let thanksgiving arise, not from their strength,
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but from yours. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. We
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hope that this episode encouraged you, opened
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your eyes. And if you're listening, you're not
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behind. You're not forgotten. You're not finished.
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The Holy Spirit is not done with you. And your
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story isn't over. It's unfolding. And gratitude?
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Gratitude is how he's rewriting your next chapter.
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And so we hope this message inspired you. We
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hope that this message encouraged you. We hope
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that this encouraged you to spend time with him
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over this next couple of days and really think
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about everything that we have to be thankful
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for as we enter his courts with Thanksgiving.
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If this message inspired you, share it. Write
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a comment. Give us and list some things that
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you are thankful for. We love you guys and we
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hope you stay tuned for next week where we go
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back to the fruits of the spirit. Have a great
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Thanksgiving. Bye bye.