Ephesians 5:20 - Give thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Colossians 3:17 - In all that we do we are to do it in the name of Jesus giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 - It is God's WILL for us who are in Christ that we give thanks for everything.

1 Timothy 4:4 - Everything created by God is good and should be received with thanksgiving.

Hebrews 13:15 - Let us continually give thanks to the name of Jesus.

 

Now I recommend that you look these scriptures up for yourself to read them in context and allow the Holy Spirit to personalize them for you. As you do, keep in mind that a main point we've wanted to emphasize over this series is that God had a much larger purpose on His heart than just religious works when He gave all those instructions. His greater purpose was this: being GRATEFUL is a major way for Believers to connect to His GRACE.

 

You'll recall that GRACE is God's undeserved EMPOWERMENT, His unmerited FAVOR to fulfill His plans and purposes for our lives and under the New Covenant He has only success and increase in mind for those who're willing to RECEIVE His GRACE by FAITH. That's the process you went through when you were born again (Ephesians 2:8) and it's the process you want to continue to go through as you progress through life:

 

Hebrews 4:16 - "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of GRACE, that we may obtain mercy, and find GRACE to help in time of need."   

 

GRACE must be received by FAITH (Romans 4:16). This means that usually God's empowerment isn't just going to fall on us and solve all our problems. No, in one form or another we have to release our FAITH for it. When Jesus installed His New Covenant on the earth, the GRACE of God was released over the entire universe and made available to everyone who's willing to connect to it by FAITH. But there's an important principle to understand about FAITH: it requires that we look at things that can't be seen. If you can see something with your physical eyes, FAITH isn't required to perceive it and the Bible says those things are temporal. Therefore, the Word of God clearly instructs us to keep focused on the eternal things such as God's GRACE that can't be seen in the natural (2 Corinthians 4:18, 5:7).

 

The Requirement of Spiritual Perception

 

As we've already discussed in a previous article God's plan for Believers is that after we're born again, we begin studying the Word and allow the Holy Spirit to reveal to us what we need to know in order to grow and succeed in the Kingdom of God. FAITH comes (increases or grows) by hearing the Word with understanding (Romans 10:17). If we neglect the Word we won't grow and what little we do initially hear with our physical ears will be stolen by the enemy before we can understand it (Matthew 13:19). But if we do grow in the Word, our spiritual perception will increase and we'll be increasingly aware of all the UNSEEN blessings that God is making available to us. According to the Word those blessings are everywhere, all around us just waiting to be connected to and used by Believers with strong FAITH and mature spiritual perception.  

 

But we also need to understand that in addition to neglecting the Word, the other main cause of an inability to  perceive is "dullness of heart" (Matthew 13:15). If our hearts (inner thinking) are dull (or hardened) our spiritual perception will be limited and if our spiritual perception is limited, how're we going to be able to SEE with our spiritual eyes the empowerments (GRACE) that God has released all around us to help us overcome our trials and tribulations? How're we going to be able to HEAR the voice of the Holy Spirit when He's warning us to avoid some trap of the enemy up ahead that will lead us into some major trial? How many of the trials we're now experiencing, which many folks are blaming God for, came about because we weren't able to HEAR the voice of warning or SEE the enemy's trap when it came into view?

 

Dullness of heart comes from magnifying or focusing on the wrong things in life. If we're consumed by our problems all the time, we're NOT magnifying God. And if we're not magnifying (enlarging, glorifying, esteeming) God we're creating for ourselves increasing dullness of heart (Romans 1:21). Another way to look at this is that our problems are visible in the natural and are therefore temporal but the solutions to those problems are from an eternal resource and must be SEEN with spiritual perception. If we walk in the flesh all the time limited to our five physical senses (carnality), we're going to develop dullness of heart and not be able to access the solutions to our problems. In sum, the ability to perceive by the Spirit is essential to successful Christian life but effective perception isn't automatic.

 

Connecting to Thanksgiving   

 

On several occasions in this series we've used the example of the Israelites in the wilderness because they're described in Scripture as an UN-grateful people who grumbled and complained all the time about their problems (1 Corinthians 10:10) which led them to be a people with hardened hearts (Hebrews 3:8). Instead of magnifying and trusting God they focused on their problems even to the point of wanting to go back to slavery in Egypt. They were not people of FAITH because they focused on their problems all the time. That was all they could SEE. Only a few of them could SEE the future and trust God to bring the Promised Land to reality.

 

Friend, many of us, maybe most do the same thing. The Flesh wants to focus on all the problems. But those with a renewed mind, the transformed Christian (Romans 12:2) will work to redirect their focus to the things that cannot be seen with natural eyes. And one of the best ways to do that is to look for the good things in your life, every one of which came from God (James 1:17), and start THANKING Him for every good thing you can find. THANKSGIVING causes you to refocus your attention from your problems to the UNSEEN things of God. And as you make a practice of doing that, your spiritual perception will increase and you'll begin to soften your heart to those UNSEEN eternal things that are all around you ready to be connected to by FAITH.

 

It's impossible to worry about your problems all the time and be a person of FAITH and you need strong FAITH to connect to God's GRACE. Empowerment comes from THANKSGIVING. If a dull heart comes from NOT giving thanks (Romans 1:21), then surely a spiritual heart comes from the opposite which is making it a point to be GRATEFUL instead of a complainer and grumbler. What are you focusing on tonight? Just start making a point of changing your focus so you'll be able to SEE the great things God has released all around you to enrich your life and give you total and complete VICTORY: spirit, soul and body.

 

Thanks for dropping by tonight. We'll be looking for you again next Sunday evening, April 8 and we hope you'll join us every week as we continue to study the subject of THANKSGIVING. Until then may God bless you and your family with every spiritual blessing in the Name of Jesus (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 acknowledge that my sins have been forgiven 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

 

Prayer Requests

 

If you have a Prayer Request, please connect to the Link below and follow the promptings. The PLN staff members pray over Prayer Requests every Tuesday morning at 10:00 AM eastern time. Agree with us for God to answer your petition.

 

http://www.creditcounseling.net/prayer-request.aspx

 

Donations

 

If you've been edified by Prosperous Life Newsletter, you may want to consider making a SEED FAITH offering to support the Ministry (Galatians 6:6-7). God has instructed us to simply provide folks with an opportunity to sow seed into good ground so in due season you'll be eligible to reap a harvest and the rest is up to you as the Spirit leads. For your information PLN is a nonprofit gift to the Body of Christ so your financial offerings will usually be tax deductible (consult your tax advisor). Just go to the secure Shopping Cart on the Cornerstone web site by connecting through the following link. We appreciate your support and generosity.

 

http://www.creditcounseling.net/shop/item.aspx?itemid=1

 

 

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