10 Bible Verses to Help You Cultivate Gratitude

Did you know that gratitude has been proven to lift your spirits? Study after study shows that people who practice daily gratitude have more joy and peace in their lives. You can have greater joy and peace too if you make a practice of showing God gratitude for the blessings in your life.

How Gratitude Can Lift Your Spirits

Gratitude can lift your spirits because it takes your eyes off your problems and raises them toward God. When you intentionally thank God for even the smallest blessings in your life, you start focusing on the positives rather than the negatives. This attitude shift can make a significant difference.

For example, if you write down three things every day for which you are thankful, in thirty days you’ll have nearly one hundred examples of God’s kindness and provision for you. Sometimes it’s easier to start with the smallest things or the things you often take for granted. Take another step and post your gratitude list somewhere you can see it regularly, and you’ll be inspired to thank God repeatedly.

If you choose to be a hunter for reasons to be thankful, you’ll soon find many inspirations for gratitude in your daily life. You may even be surprised at just how much joy and peace God has hidden all around you if you seek out gratitude daily.

10 Bible Verses to Help You Cultivate Gratitude

Meditate on these verses of God’s Word when you want to cultivate gratitude. Make this a daily practice by speaking the verses aloud or writing them down, and you’ll see a bigger difference in your joy and peace levels.

I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart; before the gods I sing your praise; I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word. On the day I called, you answered me; my strength of soul you increased. – Psalm 138:1-3

It’s good to give your thanks directly to God in prayer each day. Don’t simply offer your gratitude in a general way. Be specific and personal, speaking with God as your loving Father. Give him thanks for his steadfast love and his faithfulness, as well as for answering your prayers. Detail what God’s help personally means to you, and you’ll be encouraged.

Sing to the Lord with grateful praise; make music to our God on the harp. – Psalm 147:7

Whether you have a good singing voice or not, God loves to hear you sing songs of thanksgiving and praise to him. Music is uplifting. So go ahead and sing in the shower, in the car, or any other place where you can have a private worship session with the Lord, and you’ll feel your spirits lift.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name. – Psalm 100:4

It’s good to worship with other people so you can thank God as a group. If you’re already attending church, pay attention to the times when the whole congregation thanks God for what he has done, and offer up your prayers of thanks to God. If you aren’t attending church, find one that will help you cultivate gratitude.

The Lord is my strength and shield. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving. – Psalm 28:7 NLT

You can thank God for the times that he has protected you in the past. Thank him for being your strength and shield in the times you knew he was helping you, and in the times you didn’t realize he was protecting you.

Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind. – Psalm 107:8

This phrase is repeated four times in this psalm. God wants us to regularly thank him for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for all people. It’s good to reflect daily or weekly on what God has done in your life, so you can thank him for his loving actions and wonderful deeds.

The Lord will comfort Israel again and have pity on her ruins. Her desert will blossom like Eden, her barren wilderness like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found there. Songs of thanksgiving will fill the air. – Isaiah 51:3

If you are in a season of suffering again, take comfort from this verse. Better times are ahead when God will make all things new. He will restore your joy, and you can choose to be thankful now while you wait for his restoration.

There will be joy and songs of thanksgiving, and I will multiply my people, not diminish them; I will honor them, not despise them. – Jeremiah 30:19

Though you may feel low due to trials you are facing, they aren’t happening because God is against you. If you are a Christian God does all things for your good. He is holding you up with His righteous right hand (Isaiah 41:10), and you can thank him for uplifting you in your spiritual battles.

Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe. – Hebrews 12:28

You can always choose gratitude for the promises that God has secured for you through Jesus’ death and resurrection. Because Jesus died on your behalf, you became an adopted child in God’s kingdom and now live in the power of the Holy Spirit, who will equip you to do every work God has prepared in advance for you to do (Eph. 2:10). His kingdom cannot be shaken, and knowing you are a part of it can inspire gratitude.

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. – 1 Thess. 5:18

This is an important verse for cultivating gratitude and lifting your spirits. It is God’s will for us to give thanks in all circumstances. Note the Bible does not tell us to give thanks for all circumstances, but we can give thanks in all circumstances since God is always with us. He gives us his strength and power to overcome personal challenges with greater faith. When we are on God’s side, we are more than conquerors (Rom. 8:37) because God loves us. This is always a reason to give God thanks.

They sang, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength belong to our God forever and ever! Amen.” – Revelation 7:12

Day and night, for all eternity, the angels are giving God glory and praise around his throne. They offer continual thanksgiving to him based on his unchanging character. We can do the same in practice for heaven when we too will be living in continual praise and gratitude for God. Practicing gratitude now can lift your spirits heavenward.

When You Need Help Lifting Your Spirit

If your spirit feels heavy due to a crisis or simply the weight of daily living, you may need someone else to help you cultivate gratitude. If you are going through a hard season, caring Christians are available to share your burdens and lift you up in prayer.

The counseling team at Seattle Christian Counseling is ready and waiting to help you. We have years of experience walking alongside people in their valleys and helping them choose gratitude along the way. We have seen many success stories of people who overcame their trials and are now lifted up by the daily practice of gratitude. Give us a call today to set up your first appointment with us.