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True Forgivness - article Let's Be Thankful - article What Keeps Us from Blessings -article Secret Power of Being Thankful - article Life is better when you find companionship Ask questions, listen to answers Hope sees what faith will produce Should innocent party be punished? Are you sabotaging yourself? Have we covered up idolatry in our lives? Survival tactics for spiritual growth Get free by changing what you think Writers respond to "Divorced People Bad Risk" Exactly what does she mean by "secure"? Make a list of what you want in a partner What if "Love" makes you sick? Can your relationship pass the test? The beginning and the end of all love stories Toxic faith, new area of treatment Finding God's plan and purpose "Divorced people are a bad risk" Loneliness may open door to abuse Even if people reject you, God will not The glory is a revelation of Jesus What is being a doer of the Word? We change our lives with words Is your low-fat diet working for you? Who do you say Jesus is? It's dangerous to be foolish Give thanks with a grateful heart The sacrifice of thanksgiving God had antidote for depression Will He be able to say "Well done"? Return to HOME |
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Yes, you do have something to be thankful for. Do you have your vision and hearing intact, or mostly intact? Do you have two hands and two feet that work as they are supposed to? Do you have a roof over your head and food to eat? Do you have any family members to care about? You are blessed. Be thankful for what you have. Magnify the blessings of God in your life, and they will increase. Increase is the meaning of the word "magnify."
Bible teacher Andrew Wommack says praise and thanksgiving have "a powerful effect on the believer, the devil, and on God." Deuteronomy 28:47 tells us that God wants us to have joyful, thankful hearts while Hebrews 1:9 tells us that Jesus was joyful and implies that praising God at all times should be part of the normal Christian life.
What does praise do for the individual believer? When we praise God for our blessings, we remind ourselves that every good thing we have comes from the hand of God, either directly or indirectly. We have gained nothing good by ourselves and can take credit for none of the blessings we enjoy.
Praise and thanksgiving also go hand in hand with faith. They are natural responses to believing God to give us something we desire and seeing it come into manifestation. When we praise God for the manifestation even before we see it, that action is called faith and actually opens doors for us to receive.
Praise forces us to get our attention off ourselves and our problems and onto God instead. Andrew Wommack says that what some people call praying, God actually sees as complaining. Wommack advises that we begin and end with praise when we pray.
According to Phil. 4:6-7 we can have peace through any circumstance when we give thanks to God. "By prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made know unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."
Wommack says praise will "push you into the spiritual realm to see what God has done for you. Paul and Silas praised God in prison and it was the praise that released the power of God and the earthquake that delivered them."
Anytime we are bound up in "chains" or stuck in "prison" and wish to be free, we can use the example of Paul and Silas to gain our release from bondages.
Praise and thanksgiving are powerful weapons to reinforce the devil's defeat, even though Jesus has already defeated the devil for us through His death, burial, and resurrection.
Just as we see demonstrated in 2 Chronicles 20, our praise and worship can and will stop Satan's plan against us. Praise makes the devil flee and releases the anointing of God into our situation for blessings and change.
And let's not forget how much God enjoys and desires our worship and praise. He wants us to love him and to actually "bless" Him back for all that He has done for us. Look at the book of Psalms. How many times do the writers of Psalms urge and admonish us to give God rich and habitual praise as part of our everyday living? We truly express our love for and devotion to God through thanksgiving and praise.
Try it for yourself. Life can be brighter.
Joy can fill our hearts. God can be nearer. It is simply a matter
of opening our mouths and offering up thanksgiving and praise
to One who so richly deserves it.
Copyright © 2009 by Sandra S. Turner
From Singles Scene/Spirit & Life, P.O. Box 310, Allardt, TN 38504
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