Thank YOU, Lord!

Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me! Bless His holy name! (Ps. 103:1) My mama used to open all of her sermons with those words and I would get so excited because I knew that what was coming next was going to bless me. I still get excited by that scripture because as long as I can bless Him, I am still here and able to give Him glory. This morning, I woke up with a gratefulness in my spirit. I just wanted to tell God thank you for my life, for breath, for my family…for everything! It’s so easy to fall into the trap of sadness and depression and constantly focusing on what is not going right in your life. But today, the word God has for you is celebrate the good!

I spend a lot of time in Rhema encouraging you to push past the hard stuff, and keep pressing, and don’t give up. All of those things are good and I am confident in my calling to edify the saints of God but sometimes you have to take your eyes off of the struggle and look at the gifts. You have to look at what God is doing in your life and be encouraged. If you are reading this word right now, you are alive! You can see and you have the capacity of your mind to understand what you are reading. That is a blessing worth giving God glory for! So many people in the world would pay money to be able to do one out of the three. You are blessed! Your life may not be what you want it to be or what you thought it would be by now, or even what you think it could be but you have it! Paul gave the church at Thessalonica some advice that I hold dear to my heart. I actually have it written down and pinned to the wall at my desk. He said, “Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” (1 Thess. 5:16-18, NLT) It does not matter where you find yourself at this moment, God is present and working. So don’t waste your time being sad about the circumstance, rather rejoice in a God who sees and pray to Him. Just being thankful can change your entire mood! Celebrate the good, saints!

My prayer for you today is that you change your perspective. Shift your focus away from what you are struggling with and turn your sights on the great things. Don’t have a job? Thank God for the time that He has given you to rest and hear from Him about what your next move should be. Grieving the loss of a loved one? Thank God that He blessed you with the amount of time you had with that person and the memories that He stored in your heart. Struggling in your marriage or the aftereffects of divorce? Thank God that there is no love like His and that He is able to perfect things that you can’t see. This is not by any means meant to downplay your emotions or your feelings but rather it is taking the power away from the enemy to control you with them. When you speak thankfulness, the enemy can’t work in that. When you speak gratefulness, the glory goes to God and not the situation. When you speak gratitude, life starts stirring up in you. Celebrate the good, saints!

On your feet now—applaud God!
    Bring a gift of laughter,
    sing yourselves into His presence.
Know this: God is God, and God, God.
    He made us; we didn’t make Him.
    We’re His people, His well-tended sheep.
Enter with the password: “Thank you!”
    Make yourselves at home, talking praise.
    Thank Him. Worship Him.
 For God is sheer beauty,
    all-generous in love,
    loyal always and ever. (Ps. 100, MSG)