Are you in the position to receive?
So lift your hands and praise the Lord, for He is good, and His mercy endures forever! (Psalm 106:1)
Hebrews 13:15
15. Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.
Everyone knows, that thanking God is very easy, when things are going exactly the way you want them to.
Or when you have been praying for a specific need to be met and the breakthrough comes!
It's easy to give praise, when your high, up on the mountain!
You might say something like; God you are so awesome, Or in the words of Jesse Duplantis, God, Your not enough "Your way to much!"
Those times encourage and build your faith
But then heres another scenario to think about, what about when your trying to get ready, or your trying to get some where on time,
And it seems like things just continually go wrong and your delayed to the point, to where you know your going to be late.
And then all of a sudden your driving along and you come up on an accident and you quickly realize,
That one of those cars in that accident, could have been you had you gotten your way,
and you begin to thank the Lord in a different kind of way.
Almost kind of a repentant kind of thank you, never the less a state of gratitude that adds to your faith,
Knowing that when TBS. (the Bible says) God will put a hedge of protection around his children, He really means it!
Psalms 91:9-11 NKJ
9. Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place,
10. No evil shall befall you,
Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;
11. For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways.
Yes its true, even in the times when things don’t always go our way, we need to be thankful for the no’s, for the closed doors that God allows in the mix!
Because He knows what’s around the corner, He knows what’s up around the bend, He's already been there and knows the path that we need to take, to live the abundant life He has prepared for us!
Sometimes we're on a need to know basis, but we need to realize and trust that, if He knows, that’s all we need to know and that’s where the hard part comes in,
Because we always feel like we need to know more!
How's come its so hard to shut up and just let God have the last word?
TBS. He will open doors that no man can shut and close doors that no man can open.
Sometimes its kind of hard though to not help Him try to be the doorman,
Sometimes we need to thank Him for the no’s, its in those times that we should realize,
If He says no, its in our best interest so He can say yes to something bigger and better down the road.
And His blessings always exceed our expectations, every time!
It's in those times we realize, that it wouldn't have worked out in our best interest, the way we wanted it to anyway.
Its during those times in the between, where the real test of faith and being thankful comes in,
there are times when you don’t even feel like lifting up your hands to thank and praise God,
There may even be times when your body won’t even want to cooperate with you,
yet that’s where the diligence of faith and praise is rewarded.
1 Thess. 5:16-20 NKJ
16. Rejoice always,
17. pray without ceasing,
18. in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
19. Do not quench the Spirit.
20. Do not despise prophecies.
21. Test all things; hold fast what is good.
22. Abstain from every form of evil.
Rejoice always?, with God all things are possible, especially if you pray without ceasing,
that’s a tough one to do, not so hard if you pray in the spirit,
To pray without ceasing would be hard, because you would run out of words and things in your natural realm of understanding to say,
But in the spirit, it would allow Him to not be quenched, to intercede and work on your behalf, nonstop.
As much as you would pray, He would be working on your behalf, on things coming down the pike that you don‘t even have a clue about,
Helping you live the life He has always had planned for you
Getting you ready for the blessings that God already has prepared for you,
Getting you in the position to receive them.
Its in those times you learn to trust that what God has planned for you, is always better than any plans you may have for you!
Plans to prosper you, to give you a hope and a future that He has already seen and He wants you to know is Good!
That’s when you open your mouth and begin to praise Him even though you really don’t feel like doing it.
TBS. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak
That's when the flesh says no, but the spirit says yes!
That’s when you praise Him and thank Him, that He is your righteousness in spite of your circumstances, or how you feel and everything else that is happening around you.
That’s when the breakthrough comes,
...Weeping may endure for a night, but Joy Comes in The Morning. Psalm 30:5
your praise, faith and thanksgiving during the tough times is worth more to Him,
than during those times when you are up on the top of the world and you are feeling joyful because you have just been blessed.
Either way, He wants you to be confident in the fact, whether your on the mountain, or down in the valley, you know there is absolutely nothing to fear, as long as He is by your side!
And when you choose to thank Him for His Favor, Mercy, and unfailing love, no matter what happens,
You realize theres a wonderful freedom in it, it's the most peaceful state of mind experiencable,
It's His peace that He gives, not the peace the world offers, but only the peace He freely makes available for all to enjoy!
And when you chose and yes, it is a choice to live there, you will find yourself experiencing and enjoying the blessings and all the promises,
That He has been waiting on you to get ready to receive, from the moment He created you!
Praise God! Let's pray
