Being Filled with the Spirit: Gratitude (Ephesians #37) -

Text: Ephesians 5:20

Thanksgiving obtains the Spirit of God. Gratitude is God’s will and has several benefits that we’ll look at in this lesson. Gratitude is a way someone can be filled with the Spirit of God.

Filled with the presence of God

Filled with the spirit – 2 Chronicles 5:6-14, 7:1 Solomon gives thanks and God’s glory fills the temple.
Psalm 22:3 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
There is a difference between a vessel, a house, that is filled with the presence of God and vessel or a house where God is not there.
- 2 Chronicles 7:17-20 – warning
- 2 Chronicles 12:5-9 – Valuables get taken out of the house. The world, Shishak of Egypt. The world comes in takes what’s valuable.
- 2 Chronicles 36:14-19
Filled with gratitude as protection
Romans 1:24, 29 …being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity…

Filled with the power of God

Victory – 2 Chronicles 20:22-25 Jehoshaphat’s singers gain the victory
Psalm 18:49 Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name.
Praising and giving thanks among the heathen is a recipe for a victory over the heathen.
- Testimony. Some of you don’t know how to be a witness. How do I get the conversation started? What do I say? Thank God publicly. Folks have been saved because of grateful Christians.
- Soul WINNING. WIN the lost. Maybe a public ministry ought to look more like public gratitude.
Acts 16:25-34

Filled with the peace of God

Receive peace in prayer, Philippians 4:6
Isaiah 26:3-4. So peace occurs when our mind is thinking about the Lord and trusting His work. Giving thanks always for all things…
- …for all things… goes with the promise in Romans 8:28
- Hebrews 13:15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.