HABIT AND ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE — DAY 4

Don't Forget What He Did

Greetings My Ekklesia Family

Remembering God's works is not nostalgic sentiment — it is covenant discipline that stabilizes your faith, exposes false security, and transforms personal gratitude into bold intercession.

Primary — Psalm 105:1-2 (NLT):

"Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done. Sing to him; yes, sing his praises. Tell everyone about his wonderful deeds."

Supporting — Psalm 52:8 (NLT) | Psalm 28:6-7 (NLT) | Deuteronomy 8:11 | Lamentations 3:22-23

Three Psalms. Three dimensions of one divine rhythm. All three demand the same foundational act: remember.

Psalm 105 is a Levitical hymn — the kind sung at the ark's arrival in Jerusalem. But notice: it is not worship for the sake of atmosphere. It is testimony as theology. The Hebrew word zakar — translated "remember" — carries military weight. In the ancient Near East, covenant memory was the bedrock of national identity. To zakar was to rehearse the terms of relationship in a way that produced obedience, not just emotion.

Psalm 105 doesn't just say, "God is good in general." It says: He remembered His covenant with Abraham. He sent Joseph ahead to preserve life. He sent Moses and Aaron. He led with cloud and fire. He fed them manna and quail. He opened rock and water poured out.

This Psalm is not abstract theology — it is a legal brief for the faithfulness of God, submitted as evidence in the court of daily life.

Psalm 52 enters a different scene. David is confronting Doeg the Edomite — a man who used political power and deceit to destroy the priests of Nob. Evil is winning. The wicked look stable. And David's response is not panic or despair. It is covenantal clarity. He contrasts the boasting man with the olive tree — "I am like a green olive tree in the house of God." The olive tree was not chosen by accident. It takes decades to mature, it survives drought, it produces oil for the lamp of God. It does not grow fast. It grows forever.

Psalm 28 is the raw cry before the resolution. David opens with "be not deaf to me" — the desperate edge of a man who has not yet seen the answer but will not stop calling. And then the shift: "Blessed be the Lord! For he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy." The identical need that drove him to pray is now the testimony that drives him to worship. And then the arc widens — from my strength to our shepherd. From personal rescue to communal intercession.

These three Psalms diagnose three diseases of the modern church and prescribe the same medicine.

Disease 1: Theological Amnesia. The church forgets. Not maliciously — gradually. Busy seasons, painful seasons, comfortable seasons all erode covenant memory. We forget the provision. We forget the deliverance. We forget the way He showed up when the account was empty, the diagnosis was heavy, the relationship was broken, the door was closed. Psalm 105 is the antidote: rehearse His story publicly, consistently, and with specificity. Vague gratitude produces vague faith. Specific testimony produces specific trust.

Disease 2: Comparison Poisoning. When the wicked prosper and the righteous struggle, something quietly breaks inside us. We start measuring ourselves against platforms, numbers, bank accounts, and cultural influence. We ask: "Why do they look so established and we feel so unsteady?" Psalm 52 answers not with explanation but with reorientation. You are an olive tree in the house of God. They are building on sand with noise. Your roots are going down while their foundation is rotting under the surface. The steadfast love of God — hesed — endures all the day. The impressive thing always expires. The covenant thing always outlasts.

Disease 3: Private Faith Paralysis. We encounter God personally and somehow keep it personal. We are grateful — but quietly. We are healed — but privately. We are delivered — but silently. Psalm 28's arc breaks that ceiling. Personal gratitude, fully inhabited, always becomes intercession. David doesn't end with "I am helped." He ends with "save your people, be their shepherd, carry them forever." What God does in you creates language for what He can do in us.

Ekklesia, here is the prophetic word for Day 4:

Your gratitude has been too private and too vague for too long.

It's time to get specific. Name the works. Name the years. Name the provision. Name the moment God showed up and changed what couldn't be changed. That specificity is not boasting in yourself — it is public testimony of covenant faithfulness. It is zakar — the kind of remembering that doesn't just inform your feelings but shapes your obedience.

And when you are tempted to measure your reality against whoever looks the most powerful right now, remember the olive tree. You don't grow fast. You grow lasting. The wicked man's platform will uproot itself through the weight of its own pride. You? You are rooted in the house of God. Stay planted. Stay fruitful. Stay long.

And let your personal testimony become a prayer for someone else. What God did for you is a word of faith for someone who hasn't seen it yet. Your "He answered me" becomes their "He will answer me." That is the movement from gratitude to intercession — and it is one of the most powerful spiritual activations available to the Church.

Today's Gratitude Practice:

Write down one wondrous work from Scripture, one from Ekklesia's journey, and one from your own life. Turn each into a 2–3 sentence prayer of thanksgiving. Speak them out loud. That is not emotional hype. That is prophetic rehearsal.

PRAYER:

Lord, we will not forget.

We rehearse Your covenant with Abraham — still being fulfilled in us.

We remember Joseph in the pit — and how You were already writing the ending from the beginning.

We recall the cloud and the fire — and the ways You have led us when we could not see the road.

We confess the seasons we measured our reality by what looked powerful instead of what is lasting.

We confess the private gratitude that never became public testimony.

We confess the fear that silenced the praise You deserved from us.

Forgive us. Reset us.

Today, we plant ourselves in Your house like olive trees.

Today, we trust Your hesed over every headline.

Today, what You have done for us becomes language for what we believe You will do for others.

You are our strength. You are our shield. You are our shepherd.

And we will tell the whole world what You have done.

In Jesus' name — Amen.

If you have been keeping your faith private because it hasn't felt like enough to talk about — today is your invitation to reconsider. Every deliverance, no matter how quiet, is a testimony. Every provision, no matter how small it seemed, is evidence of a God who showed up. Every morning you made it through is proof that His mercies are new.

Come tell your story at Ekklesia Christian Life Ministries. We are a people who rehearse covenant faithfulness together — because your "He did it for me" might be exactly what somebody else needs to believe "He will do it for me too."

Visit us at ekklesiachristianlife.org

LoveUmorethanUknow

Pastor Stephän Kirby, Ekklesia Christian Life Ministries