I will praise the name of God with song and magnify Him with thanksgiving. Psalm 69:30.
That I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving and declare all Your wonders. Psalm 26:7.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God says:
My Will for you in Christ Jesus is that you rejoice always, pray without ceasing and give constant thanks. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. Why would My will for you who are in Christ Jesus be that you give constant thanks? You know that My desire is that you prosper and be in good health even as your soul prospers by walking in the truth. My Word is truth and He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. My Word gives life to you and health to all your body. So it must be very good for you to give thanks. “It is good to give thanks to the LORD and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High.” Psalm 92:1. Why?
Today I am continuing the life lessons on how to enforce the victory in your life that I have already given you in Christ Jesus. Jesus conquered sin, death, and the grave and He did it for you as your substitute. In Him you have healing, divine health, blessing, forgiveness, provision, prosperity, peace, confidence to come to My throne of grace for mercy and grace to help just when you need it, full access to Me by My Spirit at all times, and eternal life. But many of you are still begging for these things, even though you have received and confessed Jesus as Lord and been born again, and act as if you have no access to them. It is time you renewed your mind to who you are in Christ Jesus and just what is yours in Him. And you will be awed at all that is yours. But like the Israelites in the desert, most of you do not pursue knowledge of Me through My Word and are not thankful for the abundance of things so that the enemy is destroying you. “Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and a glad heart, for the abundance of all things; therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the LORD will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in the lack of all things; and He will put an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.” Deuteronomy 28:47-48. If a lack of thanksgiving makes you lose all, then an abundance of thanksgiving will make you gain all. It will make good things manifest and multiply. Jesus knew, He thanked Me and blessed five loaves and two fish and it multiplied to feed a multitude.
And that is today’s Life Lesson No. 8: Thanksgiving, the Catalyst.
A catalyst is a substance that affects the rate of a reaction but emerges from the process unchanged. And that is what thanksgiving does to enforce the victory in the face of the attacking enemy.
I will remind you of an incident in the life of Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah. They were being threatened by the approach of three enemy armies that had banded together to take Jerusalem captive. Jehoshaphat and the people at first feared as they were too small in the natural sense to win over the multitude approaching in battle array. But they turned their eyes and hearts on Me and My promises of protection of their city and My temple and cast all their care on Me. And I gave them direction to go out and face the enemy but that I would fight for them. I spoke victory and they put their faith in My Words and fell down in thanksgiving and praise, singing joyful songs to Me of victory. With energy they prepared to advance towards the enemy camp but then they agreed upon their strategy. “Jehoshaphat consulted with the people, and he appointed those who sang to the LORD and those who praised Him in holy attire, to go out before the army singing, “Give thanks to the LORD, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.” When they began singing and praising, the LORD set ambushes against the sons of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; so they were routed. For the sons of Ammon and Moab rose up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir destroying them completely; and when they had finished with the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another. When Judah came to the lookout of the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude, and behold, they were corpses lying on the ground, and no one had escaped. When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take their spoil, they found much among them, including goods, garments and valuable things which they took for themselves, more than they could carry. And they were three days taking the spoil because there was so much.” 2 Chronicles 20:21-25. And the result? “Then on the fourth day they assembled in the valley of Beracah, for there they blessed the Lord. Therefore they have named that place “The Valley of Beracah (which means Blessing)” until today. Every man of Judah and Jerusalem returned with Jehoshaphat at their head, returning to Jerusalem with joy, for the Lord had made them to rejoice over their enemies. They came to Jerusalem with harps, lyres and trumpets to the house of the LORD. And the dread of God was on all the kingdoms of the lands when they heard that the LORD had fought against the enemies of Israel. So the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was at peace, for his God gave him rest on all sides.” 2 Chronicles 20:26-30.
And what gave them such a swift enforcement of My Word of victory over their enemies? The catalyst. Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving combined with My power causes a reaction of atomic proportions. Not one member of the attacking enemy who tried to take the territory I had given My people survived. And this happened very swiftly. It did not take days or even hours. Swiftly runs My Word and when it is combined with faith that gives thanks before the victory is seen the reaction is swift. Remember, a catalyst is a substance that affects the rate of a reaction but emerges from the process unchanged. The people of Judah and Jehoshaphat gave thanks before, during, and after the enforcement of the victory I had spoken, the thanksgiving remained unchanged. It was just as loud and joyful before as after. But both were necessary. And like David, Jehoshaphat appointed Levites to sing songs of thanksgiving and praise before Me both day and night in My House.
And what does Paul write for you? He combines thanksgiving with victory! “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 15:57. And further, “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.” 2 Corinthians 2:14. The catalyst is thanksgiving.
Jesus commanded you, “Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.” Mark 11:24. So once you have asked and believe I have granted it, and you can have confidence for this in the way that My beloved John addressed this question of answered prayer, “This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.” 1 John 5:14-15. So once you have asked for anything you have found the verification of in My Word, such as My Will is clearly to heal you, protect you, bless you, prosper you, provide for all your needs, save you, forgive you, and many other promises that I make to you, and have done what you need to do to have them, then you can rest assured that your petition has been granted. So what do you do until you see it manifest in your life? The catalyst. You give thanks. And I mean with the voice of thanksgiving. Which if you recall, is prostrating yourself in joyful adoration of so great a salvation and giving LOUD shouts and singing songs of victory before you actually have it in hand. You see Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah do this when they first heard the prophecy that I would fight for them and protect them from their enemies. What did they do when they heard this before anything had happened in the physical realm to change their circumstances?
“Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the LORD, worshiping the LORD. The Levites, from the sons of the Kohathites and of the sons of the Korahites, stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel, with a very loud voice.” 2 Chronicles 20:18-19. The voice of thanksgiving brings wonders. Psalm 26:7.
And Paul was very good at this for enforcing the victory for he had many roadblocks thrown in his way by Satan. “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and petition with THANKSGIVING let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:4-7. Pray with thanksgiving. It is the catalyst. Not crying, not moaning, not whining, but declaring the result already in joyful thankful praise.
“From the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have established strength (praise) because of Your adversaries, to make the enemy and the revengeful cease.” Psalm 8:2. Jesus translated “strength” as “praise.” Thankful praise mixed with God’s power makes the enemy and revengeful cease. The catalyst goes to work with My power immediately upon your first shout.
Thanksgiving is a manifestation of faith. And it gives you joy. A cheerful heart does good like a medicine and My joy is your strength.
Get ready to increase. Thanksgiving causes multiplication but a lack of it takes away the abundance of good things I have given you in Christ Jesus. Selah.
I love you. “Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. It is good to give thanks.