In our fast-paced, challenge-filled world, it’s all too easy to focus on what’s going wrong rather than what’s going right. The bills pile up, relationships become strained, health concerns emerge, and suddenly we find ourselves overwhelmed by life’s difficulties. But what if there was a powerful spiritual practice that could transform our outlook, boost our emotional wellbeing, and deepen our faith all at once? According to scripture, there is, and it’s called counting our blessings.
The phrase “count your blessings” has become so common that we might dismiss it as a mere platitude. Yet this simple instruction carries profound biblical wisdom. Throughout scripture, we’re consistently called to recognize, remember, and give thanks for God’s goodness in our lives. This isn’t just a religious obligation; it’s a divinely designed pathway to joy, peace, and spiritual growth.
In this article, we’ll explore what the Bible teaches about gratitude, examine key verses on counting our blessings, and discover practical ways to cultivate a more thankful heart. Whether you’re navigating difficult circumstances or simply want to deepen your spiritual practice, these biblical insights on thankfulness can revolutionize your perspective.
The Biblical Foundation for Counting Blessings
The concept of blessing appears throughout scripture, from Genesis to Revelation. The Hebrew word most commonly translated as “blessing” is berakah, which carries connotations of divine favor, prosperity, and gift. In the New Testament, the Greek word eulogia similarly conveys the idea of praise, benediction, and benefit.
While modern usage might associate blessings primarily with material prosperity, the biblical understanding is far richer. Blessings in scripture encompass everything from God’s provision and protection to spiritual gifts, relationships, and ultimately salvation itself. When we’re instructed to “count our blessings,” we’re being invited to take inventory of the full spectrum of God’s goodness in our lives.
The Biblical Command to Give Thanks
Gratitude isn’t presented in scripture as optional for believers. Consider these direct commands:
“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:18)
“Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.” (Psalm 100:4)
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” (Philippians 4:6)
These verses make clear that thankfulness isn’t merely a positive attitude; it’s a spiritual discipline that God expects His people to practice. But why does God emphasize gratitude so consistently throughout scripture?
The Power of Counting Your Blessings
Gratitude Combats Spiritual Amnesia
One of the recurring themes in the Bible is Israel’s tendency to forget God’s goodness. After witnessing incredible miracles the plagues in Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, and manna from heaven, God’s people would quickly revert to complaints and longing for their former slavery.
In Deuteronomy 8:11-14, Moses warns:
“Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”
This “spiritual amnesia” isn’t unique to ancient Israel; it’s a common human tendency. When life is going well, we easily attribute success to our own efforts. When challenges come, we quickly question God’s goodness or presence. Counting our blessings serves as a powerful antidote to this forgetfulness, keeping us mindful of God’s faithful provision.
Gratitude Shifts Our Focus
In Psalm 73, Asaph honestly confesses his envy of the prosperous wicked and his questioning of God’s justice. His perspective changes dramatically, however, when he enters God’s sanctuary and remembers eternal truths. The psalm concludes with this powerful statement:
“But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.” (Psalm 73:28)
By choosing to recount God’s works, Asaph shifts his focus from what others have to what God has done. This exemplifies how counting our blessings can redirect our attention from lack to abundance, from comparison to contentment.
Gratitude Builds Faith for Future Challenges
In 1 Samuel 7:12, after God grants Israel victory over the Philistines, Samuel sets up a stone memorial called Ebenezer (meaning “stone of help”), saying, “Thus far the LORD has helped us.” This physical reminder of God’s past faithfulness served to strengthen the Israelites’ faith for future battles.
Similarly, when we take inventory of how God has blessed us in the past, we build confidence in His provision for tomorrow. Each remembered blessing becomes a building block of faith, helping us face new challenges with the assurance that God, who was faithful before, will be faithful again.
Key Bible Verses About Counting Your Blessings
Let’s explore some of the most powerful scriptural passages that encourage us to count our blessings and cultivate thanksgiving.
Psalms of Thanksgiving
The book of Psalms serves as Israel’s prayer and praise book, and it’s filled with expressions of gratitude:
“Praise the LORD, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, my soul, and forget not all his benefits who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” (Psalm 103:1-5)
In this beautiful passage, David essentially counts his blessings, enumerating specific ways God has shown him goodness, forgiveness, healing, redemption, love, compassion, and provision. This serves as a model for how we might take inventory of our blessings.
Another powerful example comes from Psalm 66:
“Come and see what God has done, his awesome deeds for mankind!… Praise our God, all peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard; he has preserved our lives and kept our feet from slipping. For you, God, tested us; you refined us like silver… Come and hear, all you who fear God; let me tell you what he has done for me.” (Psalm 66:5, 8-10, 16)
This psalm illustrates the communal nature of blessing-counting. The psalmist doesn’t keep God’s goodness to himself but invites others to hear his testimony and join in praise. Our gratitude becomes contagious when shared.
Jesus’s Example of Thanksgiving
Jesus himself modeled a lifestyle of thanksgiving. Before feeding the 5,000, John 6:11 tells us, “Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted.” Similarly, at the Last Supper, “he took bread, gave thanks and broke it” (Luke 22:19).
Even more remarkably, Matthew 11:25 records Jesus giving thanks in a moment that might seem inappropriate for gratitude: “At that time Jesus said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.'” This prayer follows Jesus’s lament over unrepentant cities, showing that thanksgiving can coexist with acknowledging difficult realities.
Paul’s Emphasis on Gratitude
The Apostle Paul frequently emphasized thanksgiving in his letters, even from prison:
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!… Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:4, 6-7)
Paul links thanksgiving directly to peace, suggesting that gratitude serves as a protective force for our hearts and minds. When we count our blessings, we access a peace that defies logical explanation, a peace that stands guard over our emotional well-being.
In Colossians, Paul again emphasizes thanksgiving:
“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.” (Colossians 3:15-16)
Here, thankfulness is presented not as an occasional activity but as a continuous state of being, a heart posture that should characterize all our worship and community life.
Blessings Worth Counting: What Scripture Highlights
When scripture calls us to count our blessings, what specific gifts should we be looking for? The Bible highlights several categories of blessings worth recognizing:
Spiritual Blessings
In Ephesians 1:3, Paul writes, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” He then enumerates these spiritual blessings: being chosen, adopted, redeemed, forgiven, and sealed with the Holy Spirit.
These spiritual gifts, while sometimes less tangible than material blessings, are presented as our most valuable treasures. When counting blessings, our salvation, relationship with God, and spiritual growth should top the list.
Provision of Basic Needs
Jesus teaches in Matthew 6:25-33 that God knows and provides for our basic needs:
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?… But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
The food we eat, the clothes we wear, and the shelter that protects us are not to be taken for granted but recognized as expressions of God’s care.
Relationships
When God created Adam, He declared, “It is not good for the man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18). Human connection is presented as a divine gift throughout scripture. Proverbs 17:17 affirms that “a friend loves at all times,” while Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 observes, “Two are better than one… If either of them falls down, one can help the other up.”
Family, friends, and church community, these relationships are blessings that deserve recognition and gratitude.
Trials That Produce Growth
Perhaps most counterintuitively, scripture encourages us to count even our trials as blessings:
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:2-4)
From this perspective, challenges that build our character and deepen our dependence on God can be counted among our blessings. This doesn’t minimize suffering but reframes it within God’s redemptive purposes.
Practical Ways to Count Your Blessings
The command to count our blessings isn’t just theoretical, it’s meant to be applied practically. Here are some biblically-based approaches to cultivating gratitude:
1. Keep a Blessing Journal
In Joshua 4, God commands the Israelites to create a stone memorial after crossing the Jordan River. When future generations would ask about these stones, they would hear the story of God’s faithfulness. Similarly, a blessing journal serves as our modern memorial, documenting God’s work in our lives.
Set aside time daily or weekly to write down specific blessings, answers to prayer, unexpected provisions, moments of joy, or lessons learned. Over time, this journal becomes a powerful testimony of God’s faithfulness that you can return to during difficult seasons.
2. Practice Thankful Prayer
Colossians 4:2 instructs, “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” Try structuring your prayer time to begin with thanksgiving before moving to requests. This follows the pattern Jesus established in the Lord’s Prayer, which begins with praise before petition.
Some find the ACTS prayer model helpful: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication. By intentionally including thanksgiving in every prayer, we develop a habit of gratitude.
3. Share Testimonies
Psalm 107:2 encourages, “Let the redeemed of the LORD tell their story.” There’s something powerful about vocalizing our blessings. Consider regularly sharing with family, friends, or your church community how God has blessed you recently.
This practice not only reinforces your own gratitude but also encourages others to recognize God’s work in their lives. As Malachi 3:16 describes, “Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard.”
4. Express Gratitude Through Generosity
In 2 Corinthians 9:11, Paul writes, “You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.” One practical way to count our blessings is to share them with others.
When we give generously, whether financially, with our time, or through our talents, we acknowledge that everything we have comes from God and is meant to be stewarded rather than hoarded.
5. Observe Communion with Thanksgiving
The very word “Eucharist,” used by many traditions for communion, comes from the Greek word for thanksgiving. When Jesus instituted this remembrance, Luke 22:19 tells us He “took bread, gave thanks and broke it.”
Each time we participate in communion, we have an opportunity to count the ultimate blessing of Christ’s sacrifice for our salvation. This regular practice helps keep gratitude at the center of our spiritual life.
Overcoming Obstacles to Gratitude
Even with these practices, counting our blessings doesn’t always come easily. Scripture acknowledges several common obstacles to gratitude and offers wisdom for overcoming them:
Comparison and Envy
Psalm 73 depicts Asaph’s struggle with envy as he observed the prosperity of the wicked. His solution came through worship and eternal perspective: “Till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny” (Psalm 73:17).
When comparison steals our gratitude, we need to realign our perspective through worship and remembering what truly matters in light of eternity.
Entitlement
The Israelites in the wilderness quickly moved from wonder at God’s provision to entitlement, complaining about the manna and longing for Egypt’s food (Numbers 11:4-6). Their story cautions us against taking God’s blessings for granted.
Deuteronomy 8:17-18 warns, “You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.’ But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth.” Recognizing God as the source of all good gifts combats entitlement.
Suffering and Loss
Perhaps the greatest challenge to Thanksgiving comes during seasons of intense suffering. Yet even here, scripture offers examples like Job, who declared, “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised” (Job 1:21).
Habakkuk similarly models a faith that chooses gratitude despite circumstances:
“Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.” (Habakkuk 3:17-18)
This isn’t a denial of pain but a choice to find blessing even in life’s deepest valleys.
The Transformative Impact of Blessing-Counting
What happens when we faithfully practice counting our blessings? Scripture promises several life-changing outcomes:
Peace That Transcends Understanding
Philippians 4:6-7 connects thanksgiving directly to supernatural peace: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
When we count our blessings instead of our worries, we activate God’s promise of peace.
Joy That Sustains Through Trials
The ability to “rejoice always” (1 Thessalonians 5:16) comes through recognizing God’s constant presence and provision even in difficult circumstances. This isn’t superficial happiness but deep-rooted joy that acknowledges pain while still finding reasons for gratitude.
Faith That Grows Stronger
Romans 4:20 describes Abraham’s faith: “Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God.” There’s a powerful connection between giving glory (acknowledging God’s goodness) and strengthened faith.
Each time we count our blessings, we’re essentially collecting evidence of God’s faithfulness, building a stronger foundation for future trust.
Conclusion
The Bible calls us to make gratitude a way of life, not just an occasional response. By intentionally counting our blessings, spiritual, material, big, and small, we shift our focus from what’s lacking to what God has provided. This practice guards us against entitlement and despair, deepens our joy, and draws us closer to God, the source of every good gift.
As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 9:15, “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” Whether in seasons of plenty or pain, giving thanks can transform our perspective and reveal just how richly blessed we truly are.