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THE POWER OF THANKSGIVING
Part Nine - How to Express Thanksgiving

  Thanks be to God who ALWAYS causes us to triumph in Christ - 2 Corinthians 2:14

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 By: Dr. Bill Miller                                                   Volume XV Number 4                                               February 12, 2011

 

Greetings in the Name of Jesus and welcome to the PLN Sunday Night Bible Fellowship!

 

As we've discussed in previous weeks the main point to focus on in this series is that THANKSGIVING was especially designed by God to help every true Believer CONNECT to His prosperity, success and victory. We have no trouble seeing THANKSGIVING as a religious responsibility for the purpose of honoring God but we've missed His higher purpose of empowering His adopted children (Romans 8:15) to do the work of the Kingdom. When we honor God something special comes back to us.

 

How can we know for sure that THANKING God connects us to victory? The Lord has always wanted His people to understand this principle so He's made it clear for us even from the Old Testament:

 

1 Samuel 2:30 - For those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me will be lightly esteemed."

Psalm 50:23 - He who offers a sacrifice of THANKSGIVING, honors Me."

 

The Principle of Honoring God

 

The biblical principle we need to get down in our understanding is that by being genuinely THANKFUL to God we ATTRACT His HONOR, which is to say we connect to His GRACE (favor, empowerment). In the Hebrew language the word that's used when God HONORS someone is "kawbade" which means to confer overflowing (heavy) riches both material and spiritual in GREAT VALUE. You can't exclude material "riches" from the meaning; the Hebrew word is what it is and I recommend you look it up for yourself.

 

Now there're a whole bunch of Christians out there who believe that under the New Covenant we shouldn't be trying to attract material substance. The Bible doesn't say that but they're choosing to believe it anyway and it helps explain their personal failures and lack of financial success. A lot of our churches teach it that way and most folks don't question their churches by studying it out for themselves. It's certainly true that many of us have at times experienced some personal failure and lack of financial success especially in the last decade, but if we'll study this out in the Word we'll find it hasn't been God's plan for us. Anyway, what kind of a Father would want His children to struggle financially while He's living in wealth and opulence and abundance and has the power to share all that with us now?

 

What the New Testament DOES say is that we shouldn't come to depend on our wealth, that we shouldn't love it, that we should be content when we don't have it, that we shouldn't chase after it, that we should trust God instead of in riches, etc. But friend it still takes material substance to build the Kingdom of God or to be able to bless others who're going through a rough patch in their lives. It still takes material substance for you to be able to pay your bills on time and your Father who loves you more than anything wants you to be a good testimony for the Kingdom. No, He's not the One who's withholding material substance. Financial tribulation doesn't come from God; it comes from the Destroyer, from the world , from other people and from our own wrong choices and decisions. Under the New Covenant God doesn't put tribulation on us to teach us things. And by the way He didn't put it on Job either; Satan did that and had access to Job because Job opened the door to it himself through FEAR (Job 3:25). But once we're in those tribulations the Lord does turn them to the good for those who love Him (Romans 8:28). Do you LOVE God tonight?

 

The real difference between the Old and New Covenants where the principle of HONORING God is concerned is that because of what Jesus accomplished on the Cross, God has ALREADY released His HONOR; He's ALREADY made available His heavy, overflowing riches. The One who's connected to that HONOR is Jesus because He HONORED the Father by His willingness to pay for the sins of all mankind (1 John 2:2) and He received HONOR in return. And the really good news is that you and I can connect to that HONOR too through Christ by FAITH. It's available to us if we're willing to come into fellowship with the Word of God so our FAITH can grow and become strong (Romans 10:17) and if we're willing to enter into a lifestyle of LOVE and THANKSGIVING. Our genuine GRATITUDE will connect us to ALL the GRACE we need in order to overcome the storms of life. "THANKS be to God, who ALWAYS causes us to triumph in Christ..." (2 Corinthians 2:14). Friend, ALWAYS means without fail; it means every time. ALWAYS means ALWAYS!

 

How to Express Thanksgiving

  

So, if THANKSGIVING connects me to God's GRACE, I should want to know how to express it. I should want to get to the point where THANKSGIVING flows from me continually and effortlessly. It's not natural to want to do that so I have to practice and make it work for me. I have to learn how to do it. Many scriptures instruct us to be THANKFUL continually and we've shown you ten of those scriptures from the New Testament in several previous articles. Those scriptures wouldn't be instructing us to do this unless we already possess within us the basic ability to express sincere GRATITUDE. So, here's how we should express our THANKSGIVING so it develops into the power God wants for us:

 

1.  We have to first RECOGNIZE when God has done something good for us and then be GRATEFUL instead of taking credit for it ourselves or giving the glory to some other source. Many of us miss most of the good things God's doing in our lives anyway because we're so focused on the problems we're facing. Should I be grateful for a tribulation or a storm? NO, because God didn't cause it but I can be GRATEFUL for the escape that's on the way (1 Peter 5:10).

  

2.  Secondly, we need to REMEMBER what God's done for us. When He blesses us with something special, with a special GRACE that we needed precisely for a particular moment or a particular challenge, we shouldn't forget it. Maybe we have to write it down somewhere and refer back to it occasionally so we won't forget it but we do whatever's necessary to REMEMBER. And by the way, the devil will be trying to steal it from your memory.

  

3.  Thirdly, we need to speak out our GRATITUDE so He can hear it and we can hear it. By doing that we show how THANKFUL we are. By speaking it out, our FAITH grows stronger because now we are a new creature (2 Corinthians 5:17), a speaking spirit in the image of God. And because we love God with all my heart, soul and mind (Matthew 22:37), we want to demonstrate to Him that we notice and are GRATEFUL for His favor in our lives.

 

4.  And finally, we need to practice THANKSGIVING. I need to make it a preeminent focus in my life so it develops and then maintains substance and sincerity. These things can only come with practice and by moving our focus in life from the storms we're facing over to what He's doing. When we start out in this we'll be less genuine then we'll eventually become but by practice we'll renew our minds to it and we'll take control of our flesh which by its nature has no desire to be grateful for anything.

 

 In sum, THANKSGIVING is supposed to be a prevailing aspect of Christian life and we know this because New Testament Scripture says so over and over again. The reason is because it has the power to bring us into the abundance of life that Christ came for us to have (John 10:10). By your sincere THANKSGIVING you honor God and connect yourself to His GRACE which includes His overflowing (heavy) riches in GREAT VALUE. If that great value was available to the people of the Old Testament, how much greater is the value we have access to under the New Covenant which is a better Covenant (Hebrews 7:22, 8:6)? And so friend, in the GRACE of God we'll find everything we need for VICTORY in every area of life and by our THANKSGIVING we'll come to find ourselves connecting to His GRACE.

 

Thanks for dropping by tonight. We'll be looking for you again next Sunday night, February 19and we hope you'll join us each week as we continue to study for a while the subject of THANKSGIVING. May God bless you and your family with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3).

 

Sinners' Prayer

 

If you've never invited Jesus to be the Lord of your life, you need to and you can do it today just by saying out loud the following simple prayer:

 

Jesus I declare today with all my heart that I believe in you and that God raised you from the dead. I receive forgiveness for my sins and I ask you to come into my life today and be my Lord and Savior. Thank you for salvation and eternal life.

 

If you were sincere as you prayed this prayer, God has already come into your life and you are a new creation, a totally new species recreated in His image. Now ask the Lord to lead you to a good faith-based, bible-teaching church where you can be equipped to fulfill your potential in the Kingdom of God.

 

And, when you get a chance have someone help you look up the following scriptures because they confirm what you've done by saying this prayer today and believing what you said:

 

Romans 10:9

2 Corinthians 5:17

Ephesians 2:8

 

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