This has been and continues to be a process for me. I want to continually be thankful. I have been praying and reading about what it looks like to be thankful. I have not arrived in this area but I PRESS!!! I PRESS into thanksgiving because I want to see the blessings of the Lord in my life everyday.
1 Thess 5:16-18 Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give
thanks in all circumstance; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for
you.
The enemy’s job is to prowl around like a roaring lion,
looking for someone to devour. We as believers have been given instructions to
be alert and of sober mind. To be alert is to quickly notice any unusual and
potentially dangerous and difficult circumstances. It is the state of being
watchful for any possible danger. To be sober is not to be drunk. To be sober
minded is to have a disposition or temper habitually sober. It is a disposition
that is ready to respond without any distractions.
Unthankfulness causes us not to be alert and sober-minded. Ps 62:8 says, trust in Him at all times, O
people, pour out your heart before him, God is a refuge for us. Un-thankfulness
makes us vulnerable for the enemy to devour us. Romans 1:21 teaches us that
being unthankful is a foundational sin to many different sins. “For although
they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but
their thinking become futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.” The word teaches
us to guard our heart. We are called to
guard our heart above all else, for everything we do flows from our heart. ESV
says for us to keep our heart with all vigilance, for from it flows the springs
of life.
When we walk in unthankfulness, we trade the truth about God
for a lie. We begin to serve created things (houses, cars, clothes,
relationships) rather than the creator. As a result, God gives us over to shameful
lusts. This leads to covetousness, worshiping things more than God, all sexual
sins including homosexuality, pride, gossip, and all kinds of malice that
eventually leads to full-scale rebellion against God.
Thankfulness is ONE key to overcoming sin in our life. A
heart of thankfulness is not dependent on circumstances, people, materialism,
or the pleasures of this world to be satisfied. The kingdom of darkness is
defeated by thanksgiving. Thankfulness should be a way for us. It should
naturally flow from our hearts and mouths.
The following are some negative consequences of
living unthankful lives: (From Shalom In the Wilderness Josephmaettera.org)
We will not be able to see the divine opportunities in front of us: God has already provided for all of our needs (Ephesians 1:3; 2 Peter 1:3-4). Praise takes the veil off our eyes and turns on the switch of faith and insight that enables us to see all the hidden opportunities that are masked by problems and challenging circumstances.
We will focus on the actions of people instead of the processes of God: When we are unthankful we magnify the actions, activities and circumstances produced by other people for or against us, and weigh our lives based on their responses, which inadvertently saps our faith in God! When we are God-focused we see the providential activity of God behind every circumstance, even as Joseph did when the word of the Lord tested him when his brothers sold him as a slave in Egypt. He told his brothers, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” (Genesis 50:20).
We will worship pleasant circumstances rather than be satisfied with God alone: When we are constantly complaining, then we as believers are in essence saying that God is not enough to satisfy us. This is unlike David who said that the Lord was His portion, cup and inheritance (Psalm 16). Because Paul the apostle lived a life of rejoicing and praise, he was not a victim of outside circumstances and he did not allow the actions of others to control his attitude. This enabled him to worship God even while bound in chains and stocks in a Philippian jail (Acts 16).
We will give place to the devil who operates in lust, greed and pride: Satan’s original sin was pride, which led to him not being thankful for his place as a covering cherub (Isaiah 14:12-14). This led him to covet the throne of God which eventuated in him being thrown out of heaven. Since the beginning of the world Satan has been the father of all greed, covetousness and complaining. We give place to him in our hearts when we are not grateful for the things God has already given us.
We will repel key people around us: When we are not living lives of praise to God we are not thankful to Him for His goodness. When we are not thankful to Him then we will not be grateful for the key people God has put in our lives, leading to accentuating negative aspects about these people in our minds. This result in us repelling them by our negative speaking and communication towards them. When we live lives of constant complaining, grumbling and lack of thankfulness we will exude the wrong spirit in our homes and nurture families that are ungrateful towards one another and even towards God. We will be teaching our children that it is only time to “turn on the switch” of thanksgiving during a two hour worship service on Sunday. Unfortunately, this compartmentalization will produce hypocrisy in their lives and result in them not fully serving the Lord!
We will repel the presence of God within us: The psalms teach us that God dwells in the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3). This also can be reversed: when we don’t have an attitude of thanksgiving towards God we can repel His personal presence within us, which grieves His Spirit and hurts our ability to fellowship intimately with Him.
God cannot trust us with more blessings: I learned a long time ago that God will multiply the things in my life that I am most grateful for. He will not trust me with whatever I am not thankful for because I don’t appreciate it. Sometimes we are even thankful for or appreciate bad things that come in our lives which can also multiply and destroy us. For example, we could appreciate the kindness and flattery of a strange woman, which could then lead to adultery if we are not grateful to God for our spouses. But if we show gratitude to our spouses it will greatly aid our marriages. (If we are continually, complaining about, and to, our spouses it will repel them and distance them from us.) David blessed the Lord with all that was within him, which led him to recounting continually all the blessings of the Lord that continued to multiply in his life (read Psalm 103).
We will suffer continual discouragement and even depression: If we are not continually and intentionally ordering our minds to think on the good things of God we will not enjoy the peace of God in these troubled times (Philippians 4:8-9). This can lead to discouragement and severe depression. The greatest tool in fighting depression is not medication but worshiping the Creator and being thankful to Him for every good thing He has given us from above (James 1:17).
We will miss our greatest purpose in life: to love and worship God: The Westminster Catechism begins by stating that our highest purpose is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Revelation teaches us that in heaven the elders and angelic beings are continually worshiping our Creator. One of the things they say is, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created” (Rev. 4:10-11).
Psalm 30 gives praise to God for His deliverance. David writes, “I will exalt you, O Lord, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me. O Lord my God, I called to you for help and you healed me. O Lord, you brought me up from the grave; you spared me from going down into the pit. . . . You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever” (Psalm 30:1-12).
Paul was heavily persecuted, yet he wrote, “Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him” (2 Corinthians 2:14). The writer of Hebrews says, “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe” (Hebrews12:28). Peter gives a reason to be thankful for “grief and all kinds of trials,” saying that, through the hardships, our faith “may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1 Peter 1:6-7).
As people of God we should be thankful people, for we realize how much we have been given. One of the characteristics of the last days is a lack of thanksgiving; according to 2 Timothy 3:2 wicked people will be “ungrateful.”
We should be thankful because God is worthy of our thanksgiving. It is only right to credit Him for “every good and perfect gift” He gives (James 1:17). When we are thankful, our focus moves off selfish desires and off the pain of current circumstances. Expressing thankfulness helps us remember that God is in control. Thankfulness, then, is not only appropriate; it is actually healthy and beneficial to us. It reminds us of the bigger picture, that we belong to God, and that we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3). Truly, we have an abundant life (John 10:10), and gratefulness is fitting.
Thanksgiving in the is the
most countercultural thing we can do to strip the devil of his power over us
and our families, and will reveal the vast opportunities God has already given
us so we can walk in His kingdom purposes.
Psalm 136:6 says, “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
His love endures forever.” We should be thankful for God’s constant goodness
and His steadfast love. When we recognize the nature of our depravity and
understand that, apart from God, there is only death (John 10:10;Romans 7:5), our
natural response is to be grateful for the life He gives.
Defeat the enemy trying to
devour you!! Lift up your voice and PRAISE GOD!!!!!!
