Gratitude … is a powerful tool that improves our ability to follow Jesus' example. Each time we practice it, we become a bit more aware of the reality of God all around us. Something in us changes, making us happier, more productive people. Ultimately, it is a foolproof way to help us awaken spiritually. Jesus was a master at the art of gratitude, and he included it in every demonstration he gave.

… He gave thanks before each miracle, and he prayed aloud to make sure that those around him knew how important it was. In fact, when he raised Lazarus from the dead, he told onlookers that he gave thanks not for God's sake but for the sake of those who were watching.

Why did he do this? God certainly didn't need the gratitude. And seeing God as an entity that insists we express gratitude before it fulfills our desires would mean reducing God to a mean-spirited egomaniac. Instead, Jesus was showing us how gratitude is a tool that prepares us to receive God's goodness. It prepares our hearts and minds to receive the abundance that is already ours. Giving thanks in advance primes us to receive what we desire, a desire that is already fulfilled in the invisible realm. It enables us to cultivate enough belief to make the seemingly impossible possible.

We all know that gratitude is important. It is the custom of civilized people to say “thank you” after receiving something. … Most of us are grateful when we are blessed in some way, but gratitude continues to be predicated on getting something. It is still the effect. We wait until we think there is something to be grateful for before expressing our gratitude. Jesus saw it differently. He saw gratitude not as the effect but as the cause. If we examine many of his public miracles, we see him purposely giving thanks in advance.

Gratitude in Action

The story of how Jesus fed the five thousand is a wonderful illustration of the practice of gratitude as a causative agent. … Jesus had been teaching all day to a crowd of thousands of men, women and children on a hillside. Evening came, and the people were hungry. Dealing with 5,000 or so restless, hungry people in the middle of the desert would certainly have been a challenge. Jesus' disciples knew this and started to get a bit nervous; in fact, they tried to whisk Jesus out of there before the crowd became too disorderly. I see them as first-century secret service ready to put Jesus into a chariot and get him out of there fast.

But Jesus would not have any of that. First he suggested to the disciples that they feed everyone. They reacted with a doubter's typical response: “How do you expect us to take care of all of these people? What could you possibly be thinking?” You can almost hear them mumbling among themselves about how Jesus had been in the sun too long and must be suffering from heat stroke. Jesus then took the matter into his own hands and asked those around him to gather any food they could find among the crowd. There was a young boy in the crowd who had two loaves of bread and five fish to share.

Making no judgment, Jesus acknowledged what he had, and with poise and confidence, he took the bread and fish and blessed them. To the people watching, that might have seemed a bit odd. Why would the master bless this measly amount of fish and bread when he knew that it was not even a decent start to feeding all of these people?

But this is why Jesus is the master and we are the students. He did not necessarily see the fish and bread as enough. In fact, as an intelligent man, he knew that in its present form that food was not going to satisfy everyone's hunger. But instead of seeing what he did not have, he focused on what he had. He focused on the fish and loaves as evidence of the substance of God, and knew that there was more where that came from. And so he gave thanks in advance by blessing the food, trusting that the crowd's need would be met. …

Unlike Jesus, we get locked into appearances. We perceive things with our senses and form opinions that create our beliefs, and then claim that what we see is the gospel truth.

Jesus taught us to look beyond what our five senses tell us to the realm of Spirit, or the invisible, and to give thanks for what we know is present even though we might not be able to see it.