Cultivating a Thankful Heart

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

It is not always easy to give thanks, but this is the very thing we must do in order to see God’s will accomplished in our lives.  This is how we move into higher realms of faith for ourselves, for our city, and for our nations.

Thanksgiving breaks the power of the enemy. Whenever you give thanks to God, despite the most difficult circumstances, the enemy loses a big battle in your life.  When you give thanks in the midst of difficulty, you bring pleasure to God's heart and breakthrough begins.   He is looking for Christians who live in a realm of praise and thanksgiving where the enemy no longer has an ability to hold or manipulate a person.  Satan is defeated when we have a thankful heart because thankfulness during difficulty is a sacrifice, pleasing to God.

Are you thankful?

Are you thankful for your present circumstances?

Are you thankful for your salvation, your friendships, and your job?

Thankfulness is a key to a victorious prayer life.  We enter His courts with praise.  It is the key that turns your situation around because it changes you, your outlook, and your attitude.  There is power in a thankful heart.  Thanksgiving brings contentment.  An attitude of thanksgiving accepts and embraces God’s will.

Begin to thank God for all the blessings he has given instead of dwelling on the negative.  Discontent dries up the soul.  Look at what Elizabeth Elliott - who lost her husband on the mission field and has faced multitudes of hardships - says about loving God's will and being content.  In her book, Secure in the Everlasting Arms, she says:

"To love God is to love His will.  It is to wait quietly for life to be measured by one who knows us through and through.  It is to be content with His timing and His wise apportionment.  It is to follow in the steps of the Master, as did Paul, who was able to say that he had learned contentment no matter what the circumstances.  His circumstances when he wrote that?  Prison.  No easy lesson, but great gain which is the sum of godliness plus contentment (1 Timothy 6:6)."

Look at the example of Jesus.  He followed the will of His Father to the very end. He obeyed without complaint.  In Philippians 2:5-8 Paul says that we should have that same attitude.  Jesus made himself nothing and took on the very nature of a servant.  He humbled Himself and became obedient to death.  We also are to have this same attitude with a humble and thankful acceptance of God’s will for our lives.  Elizabeth emphasizes the fact that Jesus embraced hardship without a complaint:

"Jesus loved the will of His Father.  He embraced the limitations, the necessities, the conditions, the very chains of His humanity as He walked and worked here on earth, fulfilling moment by moment His divine commission and the stern demands of His incarnation.  Never was there a word or even a look of complaint."

The Duke of Wellington was the Great British military leader who regretted that he had not learned the secret of praise during his lifetime.  He had many great accomplishments and even defeated Napoleon at Waterloo.  He was a brilliant and demanding man and when he was older, he realized that there were areas in his life that needed to change.  In his old age a women asked him this question,

“What would you do differently if you had your life to live over?"

He thought carefully and said, “I would give more praise.”  

This is a lesson for all of us.  That we would learn to be people of praise and thanksgiving to God all the days of our lives would be a great accomplishment.  William Law, who wrote the book A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, stresses the greatness and the happiness of thanksgiving.  He says:

“Would you know who is the greatest saint in the world?  It is not he who prays most or fasts most; it is not he who gives most alms or is most eminent for temperance, chastity or justice; but it is he who is always thankful to God, who wills everything that God wills, who receives everything as an instance of God’s goodness and has a heart always ready to praise God for it… Could you therefore work miracles, you could not do more for yourself than by this thankful spirit, for it… Turns all that it touches into happiness.”

David writes in Psalm 116:17, "I will sacrifice a thank offering to you and call on the name of the Lord.”

Did you know that thanking God for a difficulty is actually an offering that He highly values?  You are bringing a gift of thanks to Him.  It makes Him smile.  It’s so easy to complain and point the finger and find fault.  But to come in the opposite attitude and gives thanks brings breakthrough and joyful contentment.   Let each of us seek to have an attitude of gratitude and thanksgiving during this Thanksgiving season, and rise to a new level of holiness. Here are some ways to practice this attitude in everyday life:

• Thank and praise God for everything in your life - Thank Him for even the difficulties.  It is a sacrifice to do this, but He can turn troubles to triumph.  “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise - the fruit of lips that confess his name” (Hebrews 13:15).

• Don’t allow yourself to complain about anything - During the difficult times, be very careful to watch your tongue.  Instead of complaining, think of ways you can verbally offer God the sacrifice of thanksgiving.  “Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe” (Philippians 1:14-15).

• Don’t compare yourself with others - Don’t wish your life were different.  God knows what is best for you.  The Bible says having a thankful heart is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.  When we begin to thank God for what we have rather than comparing ourselves with others, it opens the door for God’s blessings.  “Each one should test his own actions.  Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else” (Galatians 6:4).

The Apostle Paul was a wonderful example of one who practiced thanksgiving in prayer.  He didn’t complain about anything even when facing imprisonment.  He didn’t fall into self-pity or compare himself with others. That would be hard for most of us.  Instead, Paul thanked God in every circumstance, even the difficult ones.  He was thankful in his prayers for others even when they were having trouble spiritually.  See 1 Corinthians 1:4, Ephesians 1:16, Philippians 1:3, Colossians 1:3, 1 Thessalonians 1:2, 2 Thessalonians 1:3, 2 Timothy 1:3, and Philemon 4.    

Most of us are in need of breakthroughs in prayer.  The enemy is fighting hard with fiery darts of discouragement and lies.  The way we will begin to deal with the lies in our lives and the vicious ways he tries to destroy our joy is through cultivating a thankful heart.

As we cultivate a lifestyle of worship and praise, we will be able to break through the strategies of the enemy.  A worshipful and thankful life permeates the atmosphere with the presence of God because worship is the atmosphere where God’s truth dwells. Thanksgiving turns all that it touches into happiness.


A Prayer for a Thankful Heart

“Lord, teach me to offer you a heart of thanksgiving in all my daily experiences of life.  Teach me to be joyful always, to pray continually, and to give thanks in all my circumstances.  I accept them as Your will for my life (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).  I long to bring pleasure to Your heart. Break the power of the enemy in my life.  Defeat Him through my sacrifice of praise.  Change my outlook and attitude into one of joyful contentment with my present circumstance.  Help me not to dwell on the negatives because discontent dries up my soul.  I thank You for… (Name a difficult circumstance in your life presently and thank God for it).  I offer this to You as my thank offering (Psalm 116:17).

 Jesus, I want to be like You who obeyed the Father without complaint.  You embraced the chains of humanity when you walked this earth.  Convict me whenever I complain or compare myself with others.  Give me Your attitude of humility and thankful acceptance.  I want to be like the Apostle Paul who learned contentment in every circumstance.  I choose to continually offer you a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that give praise to Your name (Hebrews 13:15).  I want to give You enjoyment through a life of thanksgiving.  I long to bring a smile to Your face.  Teach me the power of a thankful heart.  I know that Your truth dwells in a thankful heart.  In Jesus’ name, amen.”

This teaching is adapted from a new book I just finished writing called Breakthrough Prayer: Praying God’s Truth - Overcoming Enemy Lies. Please pray for the editing, publishing, translations, and distribution of this book plus 4 others on prayer!

"God smiles when we praise and thank Him continually.  Few things feel better than receiving heartfelt praise and appreciation from someone else. God loves it, too… An amazing thing happens when we offer praise and thanksgiving to God.  When we give God enjoyment, our own hearts are filled with joy."  William Law  

By Debbie Przybylski
Intercessors Arise
http://www.intercessorsarise.org

To subscribe to Intercessors Arise, send a blank email to:
 Intercessorsarise-international-subscribe@strategicnetwork.org

A Greater Vision of God

“The LORD reigns, he is robed in majesty; the LORD is robed in majesty and is armed with strength.  The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved.  Your throne was established long ago; you are from all eternity.  The seas have lifted up, O LORD, the seas have lifted up their voice; the seas have lifted up their pounding waves.  Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea - the LORD on high is mighty” (Psalm 93:1-4).

We are in a time of incredible change all over the earth.  God is up to something big, and in the midst of it all we need a greater vision of Who He is.  He wants to bring us into a new perspective - out of confusion, fear, loneliness, hopelessness and all the negatives - that may threaten us during seasons of change.

A few weeks ago my husband and I were staying for a few days in a beautiful home hidden out in the country on a water inlet in eastern Virginia.  One breathtaking evening we took a telescope and walked out on the dock overlooking the water.  My husband then carefully positioned the telescope so that it squarely faced the moon.  I looked through it and was absolutely fascinated when I saw the moon with my own eyes.  I could see the craters on the face of the moon so clearly.  Wow!  We were both quite impressed.  I thought to myself,

“God is so big!  He is so much greater than any of us give Him credit for.  Here I am looking with amazement at the craters on the moon, but just think about the entire universe and how He is so much greater yet!  He is mighty and beyond all comprehension.” 

God wants to give us a greater vision of Himself and His greatness in the midst of the incredible changes we are all facing.  He wants to breath His life into us.  We need the breath of God to blow on our lives, because people all around us are looking for life.  There is so much sickness and death in this world.  God wants to transform us as He brings revelation to our heart and as we pray, think, and talk about His greatness. 

The Bible is our manual to help us to get through the end times.  In fact, the book of Revelation is our prayer manual for the end times.  God wants to change us through praying, reading, and speaking His Word.  He wants to bring us to a new place in order that we might bring others higher.  God wants to breathe in our life so that we can breathe His life into others until it overflows.  John 10:10 in the Amplified Bible says:

“The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).”

 

God promises us an abundant life.  But we can’t have abundance without having a great vision of God.  The Bible says that without a vision the people perish.  Pray for freedom not to be self-focused in these end times but, instead, to be God-focused and world-focused.  If we are God-focused we can walk in true freedom.  Then we will walk every day with a greater vision of what He is like, what He is saying, and what He can do.

The truth is that we are a desperate people.  I became a Christian when I was 18.  Before that time God seemed so far away and so out of reach.  But I was hungry.  I knew there was a purpose to life and that I would find it someday.  I searched for 3 long years and became quite desperate to find the truth.  Finally through reading a Bible that was given to me, I found the truth that set me free.  Jesus was my answer.  The end of myself was the beginning of God.  This is true of each one of us.  This is where we started, and this is where we must live every day.  We don’t have it together, but God does.  

God loves to answer desperate prayers.  Psalm 60:3 says, “You have shown your people desperate times.”  Have you not noticed in your personal life that when you pray desperate prayers the answer often comes quickly?  We read in Psalm 79:8, “May your mercy come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate need.”  “Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need; rescue me from those who pursue me, for they are too strong for me” (Psalm 142:6).  God wants us to live in that place of dependence.  We can’t live a day without Him.  When we were first saved, we came to Him - weak and vulnerable - and it’s still the same today.  We all struggle with life.  I heard it said that we are either entering a trial or coming out of one.  But right in the midst of our trials, He wants to give us an abundant life. 

God wants to give you a greater vision of who He is for you.  He wants to give you a new belief and expression of the power of prayer in your own life.  He wants to give you a new freedom in your walk with Him.  God is preparing you.  He wants to impart to you new life.  His training is supernatural training.  This is not the time to just hear facts.  We must become the people of God for this hour.  You and I are in the process of becoming.  We are changed from glory to glory as we grow into a Christlike person. 

In 1994 my husband and I came back from the mission field, and God put us on the backside of the desert for several years.  I said to God, “Lord, if you don’t pull us through, we are bankrupt.  We have no second plan.  We left and burned all our bridges behind us.”  But in the dark night of the soul as we desperately sought Him, we found God.  I write about this in my book called Deeper Still: Secrets to a Deeper Prayer Life.  I came out of that desert leaning on God.  But in the quiet place I received a greater vision of Who He is and a stronger belief in the power of prayer.  God brought me into new dimension of victory. 

Are you desperate today in some area of your life?  Do you have questions where there are no answers, but God?  He uses ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances to show His mighty power.  When you are desperate, you are in the prime place to shift into the greatness of God.  Your impossibility opens the way for the possibilities of God - the very God who is greater than the universe and greater than every obstacle.  Desperation opens the way for the greatness of God.  

 

We must adjust to something higher and bigger than we ever dreamed possible.  God is preparing us right now for a worldwide harvest.  He is training us through struggle.  He is in the process of positioning us for an end-times revival.  It is time for the church to come to life and get a greater vision of God.  He has a dream for each one of personally and for His church corporately.  He wants to breathe life into impossible dreams.  He is the God of the supernatural and the impossible. 

Heaven is struck with the majesty of God.  There is glory available for the Church.  So few have grabbed hold of the fullness available to us.  The problem is that we get so caught up in our problems down here on earth that we miss out on what heaven is all about.  The thief has destroyed and stolen what is ours.  Many of us have lost the power to be astonished.  We can be so astonished by the moon, but what about heaven?  It is time for intercessors to arise.  We must understand the supremacy, sovereignty, and glory of God.  We must have a greater vision of God in this hour.  We must live the dream that is Gods and let it come to life.  Warfare is not about taking on the enemy but releasing the majesty of God wherever we go.  It is time to release the good news on earth through the avenues God has given each one of us personally.  We’re made for heaven and for living heaven here on earth.  We need to sing, dance, bow, and proclaim the glory of God:

“Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.  Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.  For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods.  In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him.  The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker” (Psalm 95:1-6).  

You may have lost your hope and think that there is no one to understand your situation.  God understands.  The Bible is full of hope.  Here are just a few verses:

• Psalm 25:3  - “No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame.”
• Psalm 42:5 - “Why are you downcast, O my soul?  Why so disturbed within me?  Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.”
• Psalm 62:5 - “Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him.”
• Psalm 130:5 - “I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope”.
• Isaiah 40:31 - “but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint”.
• Jeremiah 29:11 - “’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’”.
• Romans 15:13 - May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
• Lamentations 3:21-22 - “Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:  Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail”.
• Proverbs 23:18 - “There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off”.

My husband collects tools to fix things broken in our house in order to help us live in our home with greater ease.  Today I want to give you some tools to help you to walk in a greater position of victory.  These are tools to teach you how to face life in the end times.  There is incredible freedom available for us in spite of all that we are facing in our changing world.  These tools will help change your outlook on your life challenges.  God is in the process of training us for reigning through the very difficulties that we face today. 

How are we looking at life?  Do we see the greatness of God in the midst of it all?  Open your heart to the great God who is with you.   May these practical steps help unlock the treasure chest of God inside of you.  Apply these tools urgently, wholeheartedly, and with all diligence in your life:

• Speak life words over your circumstances - There is power in the tongue.  Break the power of hopelessness by speaking life words rather than death words. 

• Ask God for a great vision of who He is - Ask Him to help you walk in a new level of trust. 

• Praise God for His greatness and splendor - Do it even if you don’t feel like it.  There is power in a thankful heart.  Rise to a new dimension of praise and thankfulness to God.

• Position yourself for victory - There is a new way of looking at life.  We are shifting into the end-time season.  We have to choose to align with God, to step out of our comfort zone, and make his presence our central theme. 

• Start a prayer journal - Let God speak to you and write down what He says.  Write crafted prayers to God that you can pray over and over again.  Use Scripture in your prayers that proclaim God’s greatness - Psalm 93, 96, and 98 to name a few.   

In your daily life, pray against hopelessness, lack of vision, and dampened dreams.  Pray that the Church rises up with a new vision of who God is and what He can do.  Rise up to a new place.  Rise up to an abundant life, to a greater vision of God, and a new perspective of being the victorious end-time church. 

Position yourself for victory - Position yourself in thankfulness - Position yourself in positive speech.

Right now thank God for the most difficult thing in your life.  Thank Him that he will use it for your good.  When you get down about a situation in your life, think deeply about the God who lives inside of you.  Is anything too hard for God?  Is He not your conquering King, the Great I Am?  In your desperate situation, is not your hand in the hand of the almighty one who is on your side and who can do all things on your behalf? 

Watch the following videos and meditate on the greatness of God.  Let’s learn to declare the glory of the risen Lord everywhere we go.     

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9w1NFT4OnI&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQELxMFBpY4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ya12I036lg

“Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth.  Sing to the LORD, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day.  Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples. For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise… Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth.  Say among the nations, ‘The LORD reigns.’  The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.  Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them.  Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy;” (Psalm 96:1-4a, 9-12)

Debbie Przybylski

Intercessors Arise

http://www.intercessorsarise.org

To subscribe to Intercessors Arise, click

intercessorsarise-international-subscribe@strategicnetwork.org