The Power of Thanksgiving-FULL SERMON | Joyce Meyer

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In this powerful sermon by Joyce Meyer, discover the life-changing impact of giving thanks and how it opens the door to God’s blessings. Joyce shares biblical insights and personal experiences on how a thankful heart can transform even the toughest circumstances. Watch “The Power of Thanksgiving” and learn how to cultivate gratitude in your daily life for spiritual growth and joy. – – – – – – – Follow Joyce: WEBSITE: https://joycemeyer.org FACEBOOK: / joycemeyerministries INSTAGRAM: / joycemeyer X (Formerly Twitter): https://www.x.com/JoyceMeyer/ – – – – – – – Joyce Meyer, one of the world’s leading practical Bible teachers and New York Times best-selling author, shares encouragement and advice to help us enjoy our daily lives. With a heart to share Christ and love people, Joyce’s messages help people in all walks of life to grow in their faith, learn to study the Bible, find healing from the wounds of life, get answers to life’s questions and encounter the love of God in a powerful way. #JoyceMeyer#EnjoyingEverydayLife

I do what I do because I’ve seen God’s

power transform my own life and he will

do it for you the key to everything is

found in God’s word I’m Joyce Meyer and

I believe that God can heal you

everywhere you

[Applause]

hurt well welcome to Enjoying Everyday

Life I’m so glad that you’re with me

today and I pray that you’re going to

really enjoy the teaching today you know

attitudes is a very important subject

and you can change your

attitude from bad to good and literally

change your whole life with it and so

I’m going to talk today about just

having a thankful attitude and really no

matter how often we hear about having a

thankful attitude we need to hear it

over and over and over because it is so

easy to slip into murmuring and

grumbling and complaining about the

things we don’t like or that we don’t

have forgetting about all the blessings

we have and how many things we have in

our life to be thankful for you know

your attitude begins in your mind it

begins with your thoughts and then it

becomes your words and your actions and

your attitude and your attitude is

really like just the

posture that you take towards something

your attitude will affect your body

language if you don’t like something

there’s going to

be a face made or a certain way that

you’ll stand but if you like something

you’ll usually have a smile on your face

and I I just want to tell you God is so

good to us now I know we hear that a lot

and say it a lot but God is really very

very good to us and many times we do not

deserve it and there’s so many things to

be thankful for and I don’t know who

might be watching today but maybe just

maybe there’s a few of you that kind of

got on up on the cranky side of the bed

this morning and you started right away

because the devil loves to do this put

thoughts in our mind about well you did

this to me and you didn’t did did do

that for me and I’ve been praying about

this and nothing’s happened and you know

we need this and we don’t have it but

this is a wakeup call to say you can

stop that right now now and instead you

can think about all the things that you

have to be thankful for you know a lot

of mornings I just thank God that I can

walk and talk and

see and hear just think of how many

people there are that wake up in the

morning and if they’re crippled and have

to use a wheelchair just how hard it is

just to go to the bathroom and those of

us who can just jump out of bed and go

do that we forget about sometimes what

we do have and we don’t we start

thinking too much about what we don’t

have so Philippians 25 says let this

same

attitude and purpose and humble mind be

in you which was in Christ Jesus let him

be your example in humility and you know

I think humility does have a lot to do

with being grateful because if you’re

humble you realize that there’s so many

blessings in your life that you have

that you really don’t deserve and it

makes you very thankful for them but

we’re going to focus on let this same

attitude be in you which was in Christ

Jesus now he had a good attitude we

never hear Jesus

complaining he didn’t complain when he

was on the cross he didn’t complain In

The Garden of Gethsemane he didn’t

complain when his disciples acted like

little babies and fought over which of

them was the

greatest he was always thankful

a thankful attitude is the will of God

it’s kind of interesting you know so

many people they want to know what is

God’s will for my life how can I know

God’s will for my life well maybe there

is something specific that God wants you

to do but there are things that the

Bible talks about that are what I would

call General things that we all are

supposed to do and being thankful is one

of them and I think sometimes if we’re

not doing those things then if there is

something specific God wants us to do we

may never find out what that is because

these are basic things that are very

very important 1 Thessalonians 5:18 and

19 thank God in

everything I’m going to say that a few

times because I I want to make sure we

don’t just rush past that thank God in

everything goes on to say no matter what

the circumstances might

be think about that thank God in

everything so if you’re having a problem

right now even a very big

problem or even if you’ve gotten a bad

report from the doctor or if one of your

kids has given you a lot of trouble or

there’s an issue in your marriage or you

have a financial

issue don’t just focus on the problem

but Focus also on all the things in your

life that are going

good and you can you can be honest with

god father I don’t like what’s going on

in my life right now it hurts and it’s

hard but I’m thankful to you if you

can’t think of anything else just be

thankful that you’re born again and

you’re going to go to heaven when your

time here on Earth is

up we should be thankful that our names

are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life

and that we’re we’re going to spend

eternity with God thank God in

everything no matter what the

circumstances might

be be thankful and give thanks and I I

really like that be thankful and give

thanks you know if you talk to people

about are you a thankful person a lot of

people would say well yeah sure I’m a

thankful person but how often do you

give thanks not just to God but also to

people this morning I was thinking about

uh well actually it was yesterday I was

thinking

about how much time I spend writing

books and how Dave is

so really agreeable to give me that time

you know there’s a lot of times when he

would like me to go and do something

with him and I say I can’t I need to

write today actually that happens a lot

and so I thanked him this morning for

giving me the time to write without it

being an irritation to him you know

there’s a lot of things that I have to

take time to do that doesn’t allow me to

be maybe what you would call a normal

wife because I have this call on my life

to preach the gospel and Dave is very

good about all that matter of fact he

said this morning when I thanked him he

said well sure he said what you’re doing

when you write those books is helping

people all over the world and I’m glad

that you have that time but I wonder how

many things you could thank

your kids far or the person you’re

married to or a good friend or your

parents or whatever that you just don’t

you know so often we just

don’t take the time to verbalize I even

called my daughter this morning and I I

thanked her because she does so much for

me that makes my life easier and I

called her and told her I just want you

to know I love you and I want to thank

you for all the things that you do for

me and can I tell you that

the more thankful you are the happier

you’re going to

be let me say it again the more thankful

you are the happier you’re going to be

do you know when we murmur and Grumble

and complain and find fault with so many

things all it does is make us unhappy

but you can increase your joy just by

increasing your attitude of

gratitude so thank God in everything no

matter what the circumstances might be

be thankful and give thanks for this is

the will of God for you who are in

Christ Jesus the revealer and the

mediator of that will and verse 19 sayso

not quench suppress or subdue the holy

spirit so this is basically saying that

when we’re not thankful we are

hindering the work of the holy spirit in

our life and I don’t know about you but

but I sure don’t want to do that I want

the Holy Spirit to be able to do in and

through me whatever he wants to do he’s

our helper our strengthener and I need

all the strength that I can get so

thanking God in everything no matter

what the circumstances might be is a

tall

order no doubt about that I think we’re

born grouchy but we’re born again

thankful and so we’re

always having to say no to the Flesh and

yes to the spirit and that’s going to be

that way as long as we’re alive in

Galatians 5 it says the spirit Wars

against the Flesh and the flesh Wars

against the spirit and they are

continually antagonistic toward one

another so all day long every day we’re

making decisions rather we’re going to

go with what we know God wants or rather

we’re going to do what the enemy wants

us to do now there is a scripture in the

Bible that I think really kind of

I you know it’s hard to say it’s the

best scripture in the Bible because

there’s so many great ones but I think

this scripture is one that kind of

brings everything together and it’s

Romans

8:28 all things work together for good

to those who love God and are called

according to his purpose now I know that

you probably hear that scripture a lot

and pretty much anytime that I’m in

front of a crowd and I’m I use that

scripture people clap it’s a very

comforting and encouraging scripture but

I want I want you to think about that

all

things end up working out for

good to those who love God and are

called according to his purpose if you

love God and you’re doing the best you

can to walk in his will then no matter

what happens in your life God can cause

it to work out for your good that’s so

encouraging to me think about it like

this you know if if you bake a

cake especially if you’re not using a

box mix but you start from scratch you

have a lot of different

ingredients it’s been so long since I’ve

baked a cake I don’t know what they all

are but I know there’s flour and I know

there’s oil and there’s eggs and there’s

sugar and there’s a lot of different

things well you know any one of those by

themselves would be very distasteful who

would want to eat two or three cups of

flour I certainly wouldn’t or even sugar

I mean you I wouldn’t want to sit and

eat a whole cup of sugar it would make

me sick but it’s interesting when you

put all those things

together they bake a

cake and everybody probably likes cake

and so God is able to do that in our

life he can

take maybe the good things that happen

and he can take the bad things that

happen and he can mix them all together

and make them work out for our good you

know one thing that people don’t realize

that I love to teach on is

experience and everything we go through

that’s difficult we are getting

experience and that experience will do

one of two things or it’ll do both it

will help us the next time we go through

that to know how to handle it or we’re

getting experience that we can use to

help other people when they’re going

through difficult times

Psalm 1072 says and let them sacrifice

the sacrifices of

Thanksgiving it may be a sacrifice

sometimes to be thankful because really

you’re going through a tough time you’re

hurting and being thankful is not really

what you really want to do maybe some of

you right now are you’re just maybe

you’re hurting maybe you’ve got a

migraine headache or maybe your back is

hurting her or you’re having trouble

with your kid at school and the school

is called and said they want to you to

come up and talk to the principal and

you’re like oh no not again well you

might not feel like giving thanks it

might be sacrificial but you can say

that to God God I offer up to you the

sacrifice of Thanksgiving because no

matter what is going on that I don’t

like there are far more things in my

life that I do like than those that I

don’t I have shared before that one time

I was not real happy happy with Dave and

I was just thinking about all the things

that he didn’t

do that I wished he would do and God

challenged me to make two lists make a

list of all the things you don’t like

about Dave and then make a list of all

the things you do like about Dave and

you know what the things that I liked

that list was so much longer than the

few things and I mean it was very few

things that didn’t like and I think

really all of us are like that sometimes

you just need to stop and

think what are my blessings you know I

live in a City St Louis where it gets

really cold in the winter and when it’s

really really cold

outside very often I will thank God that

I have a

home and a comfortable bed to get in

with all the covers that I want and that

I’m not living out on the street

somewhere covered up with a cardboard

box trying to stay warm because I’m

homeless think about how blessed you are

and it will make you so much happier

than if you think about what you don’t

have Psalm 341 says I will extol the

Lord at all times his praise shall

continually be in my mouth I love that

well you know thanking God for specific

things is really good but

how about if we just pray that God will

help us just live with an attitude of

gratitude

where that’s our normal go-to attitude

is I’m thankful I’m always

thankful when a person has an attitude

of gratitude it says a lot about their

character and you know character is

really important I love to have friends

that have good character

people that I know that I can count on

and depend on and you know we teach

sometimes about the character of God he

was always good he’s a God of Justice he

always makes wrong things right he’s a

provider he always meets all of our

needs and these are things that we can

count on all the time we don’t have to

wonder will he do this this time and

maybe not the next time he’ll do that

every time

petition usually outweighs praise it’s

much easier to ask God for things than

it is to remember to go back and thank

him for them 10 lepers requested

healing but only one returned to give

thanks let’s look at Luke 11 I mean Luke

11-16 now on his way to Jerusalem Jesus

traveled along the border between

Samaria and

Galilee and he was going into a village

and 10 men who had leprosy met him and

they stood at a

distance and they called out in a loud

voice Jesus Master have pity on

us and when he saw them he said to them

now go and show yourself to the priest

and as they went they were

cleansed well they had to take a step of

Faith they didn’t know for sure what was

going to happen as they went but we

always have to take a step of faith in

our dealings with

God one of them when he saw he was

healed one of them when he saw he was

healed came back praising God in a loud

voice you know when God has done a lot

for you in your life sometimes it’s hard

to be quiet about it we get a little bit

loud we get a little bit excited about

all that God has

done and he threw himself at Jesus’s

feet and he thanked him and the Bible

says and he was a

Samaritan now why does it say that well

the Samaritans were

hated by the Jews now I don’t know if

the other nine were Jews but let’s just

suppose for a minute that they were and

the Jewish people were the ones that

were supposed to be the religious

ones and in verse 17 Jesus

said were not all 10

cleansed where

then are the other nine

and you know what that’s a scripture

that makes me feel

sad but if we think about that if we’re

going to go by that

percentage if 10% of the petitioners are

truly thankful that means

90% of all the people that God does

things for don’t bother to come back and

give thanks to God after they get what

they

want let’s don’t be the kind of people

forget the goodness of

God you know especially in the Old

Testament God warns the people over and

over and over remember do not forget the

things that I brought you through and

how I blessed you it’s dangerous to

forget how good God has been to us we

need to remember and

honestly we need to think about it every

day keep a thank you

Journal I do thanking God for the things

that he gives me for little things that

people do for me for gifts that go that

people send me when I’m out and about

and it’s obvious that God is giving me

favor don’t ever get tired of thanking

God and don’t ever get tired of even

thanking God for the same things over

and over and over in Philippians 13-5

Paul said I thank my God every time I

remember you you he was talking to the

people who were partnering with him in

Ministry and he said in all my prayers

for you I always pray with joy because

of your partnership in the gospel from

the first day you heard it until

now well you know that’s always been

interesting to me that here’s people

that from the very first time they heard

the

gospel they started

partnering financially with with Paul

because they understood that he could

not preach the gospel and do the work

needed to also support himself while he

was doing it and Paul said every

time I remember you I thank God for you

so what about the people in our life

that do things for

us on a continual basis that every time

we think of them we should say father

thank you that you put them in my life

things like our

families our homes and our jobs our

health our

Salvation Jesus the holy

spirit thank God that you have a purpose

you know I’m so glad that I have a

purpose in

life I don’t want to just sit around day

after day after day and do nothing I’m

glad that I have a purpose something to

put myself into that’s helping other

people people you know the word

Thanksgiving appears the word thanks and

Thanksgiving appears 2016 times in the

Bible and we’re told 73 times to give

thanks so that’s about 200 times so I

would say that that’s something that is

pretty important and you know what

everything that God tells us to do

believe it or not is for our

benefit that’s why I say that the more

thankful we are and the more we voice

that Thanksgiving the happier we’re

going to be

now one of my very favorite scriptures

is Philippians

4:6 and it says that we should mix our

prayers with

Thanksgiving Philippians

4:6 do not be anxious about

anything I believe this scripture is the

answer to anxiety do not be anxious

about anything but in every situation

by prayer and petition with

Thanksgiving present your request to God

don’t worry about anything the minute

that you start to worry about something

turn that worry into a

prayer ask God to take care of it and

then start thanking him for things that

he’s already done in your life that

would be a good time to remember God I

remember the last time I had a problem

and I remember that you took care of it

and I know you’re going to take care of

this one too

this a great time don’t ever ask God for

something without thanking him for some

things that he’s already done could I

say that again don’t ever ask God for

something without thanking him for

something that he’s already done God is

so good you know Daniel was a great man

of God and he was very

blessed and the Bible says that three

times a day Daniel Prayed and gave

thanks

and the king put out a law that nobody

could pray to anybody but him for a

certain amount of time and David’s habit

was always to go to his room these three

times a day open his windows and pray

get on his knees and pray and give

thanks to

God and Daniel 6:10 says now but when

Daniel learned that the decree had been

published he went home to his upstairs

room where the windows open toward

Jerusalem and three times a day he got

down on his knees and prayed giving

thanks to his God just as he had done

before I love that he was going to

continue to give thanks to God no matter

what the king said and no matter what

kind of

threat there was against him you know

thankfulness protects us from the poison

of envy and

jealousy sometimes it’s so easy to get

envious or jealous of somebody else else

but if you thank God for what you have

and I want to add a little something

here that may sound strange thank God

for what you don’t have you say well why

in the world would I do that well you

know what if God hasn’t given it to you

yet then that means that you’re either

not ready to handle it yet or it’s not

the right time yet and I’ll tell you

something there’s nothing worse than to

have something that you’re really not

ready to handle so how about saying God

I thank you you for the things that

you’ve done in my life and I thank you

for the things that I’ve asked you for

that you haven’t done yet because that

means it’s not the right timing for me I

believe that the Lord has shown me that

if I ask him for something and I don’t

get it it’s only because he has

something better in mind and I don’t

really know how to ask him for that yet

so don’t forget today’s message be a

thankful person

all things working out for

good I mean of course I can you know I

can tell you my story and just quickly

say that you know how could anybody in

their right mind stand and

say I’m not even really sorry that what

happened to me happened

now I can’t explain it but I know that

some way somehow my life is better

because of it I know that I know that I

don’t

think if I would have had this great

beginning in life and just been treated

like polyana I don’t think my life would

be as good

now as it is I don’t think I would know

God as well I don’t think I would have

his the depth of relationship that I

have with him I don’t know that I’d be

helping as many people let me tell you

something you can turn your pain into

somebody else’s

gain your mess can become your

message I’m on a mission to to find

really unique unque and creative things

to be thankful for in my life I mean I

like all the regular stuff thank you for

salvation thank you for food and home

and family and Jesus I mean I love all

that that’s all important to do that but

I just think there’s things that we

miss I really do now I think God a lot

for clean water it’s amazing to go to

the sink and just turn a button and get

it hot or cold as much as you want when

I get up in the morning I usually thank

God that I can walk talk see and hear

amen

there’s so much to be thankful

for so much to be thankful for let’s get

creative in gratitude does that sound

fun I mean let’s just get really

creative in our

gratitude so we’ve started this whole

campaign we’ve got a big bookstore at

the office it’s got all glass windows

and I said I want all those windows

covered up with little sticky notes of

different things that you’re thankful

for let’s don’t be like like the

lepers 10 were healed and only

one only one came back if we’re going to

take that percentage that means only

10% of people are grateful and 90% are

murmuring and grumbling no matter what

they do for you the Bible says be

anxious for nothing but in all things

through prayer and supplication with

Thanksgiving let your request be made

known unto

God why should God give me if I’m a

complainer why should God answer my

prayer and just give me more to complain

about the heart has to change do all

things without grumbling and fault

finding and

complaining against

God I’m back to Philippians 2:14 and 15

do all things without grumbling and

fault finding complaining this says

against God it’s like well God I’m not

complaining against

you but he says we

are that you may show yourselves to be

blameless guess innocent

uncontaminated children out in the world

in the midst of a wicked generation

among whom you are seen as bright lights

and shining stars God saying you’re my

people get out there and give some

flavor to a dull tasteless

world how about going to your place of

work and giving some flavor there don’t

just sit and complain about your

workplace like everybody else at lunch

be a person who well you know yeah you

know there’s some things that need to

change here but I I’m thankful to have a

job cuz you know what if you don’t want

yours somebody will take

it okay I have three scriptures that I

want to share with you

that I hope and pray puts a little bit

of fear in you about

complaining I think we need to be afraid

complain I mean it obviously hasn’t

totally stopped me yet but you

know maybe tonight will help

me I am really a grateful and a thankful

person but I find myself you

know 1 Corinthians 10

9-1 we should not tempt the

Lord try his patience to become a trial

him critically appraising him and

exploiting his goodness see God is

basically saying I am so good to you so

when you complain you’re exploiting my

goodness as some of them did and were

killed by poisonous

serpents he’s talking about the

Israelites when they were going through

the desert nor should you discontentedly

complain as some of them did and they

were put entirely out of way by the

Destroyer which is

death 23,000 of them fell dead in one

day

serpents got into the camp through

murmuring grumbling and complaining now

thank God we live in the dispensation of

Grace but I don’t think we’re going to

drop dead If We complain but I do think

that we block our

blessings at least to some degree thank

God for his mercy and there you know his

goodness is not based on my ability to

never complain but I think it’s a

principle that if we don’t learn to live

with a grateful heart

and especially being grateful when

things are not going our way and to give

thanks not only to God but to people I’m

telling you I think you can change the

atmosphere where you work you can change

the atmosphere in your home you can

change the atmosphere in a church

perhaps in a city perhaps even in a

nation what would happen if just the

Christians got

thankful we should be the happiest

people on the face of the Earth because

we’re not going to hell

I mean that’s something to be thankful

for we’re going to miss the whole

Brimstone and fire

thing thank you God yeah thank you amen

if you’re not happy now you’ll get

[Applause]

happy so 23,000 of them died and then

they got a

[Applause]

revelation Moses pray for us for we have

sinned

really I wonder what gave you that

clue I think if nothing else we can at

least go to bed at night and ask God to

forgive us for any time we complained

and murmured during the

day

[Applause]

amen

now now numbers 14 veres

1-6 and all the congregation cried out

with a loud voice and they wept all

night and all the Israelites grumbled

and they hated their

situation and they accused Moses and

Aaron to whom the cold congregation said

we just wish we would have died in

Egypt or that we would have died in the

wilderness see these are the people that

were begging God to get them out of

bondage in Egypt

wonder how many times we beg God to

change our

situation and he doesn’t take us the

route that we

planned

hello you know we really don’t want to

be transformed we want to be

translated some of you don’t know the

meaning of those two words

okay to get translated means I’m here

and then all of a sudden I’m there

I get to skip all the going through

part but when you’re transformed God

arranges

circumstances that force you to trust

him and to stop being dep independent

and stubborn and

bullheaded and there’s a Brokenness that

have has to take place in our

life and only God knows how to break us

in the right places where we’re not

destroyed he breaks our pride he breaks

our

stubbornness come

on the Bible says that there was a

shorter route that God could have taken

them to the promised land but he took

them the long hard way on purpose

because they were not ready for

war see you think when you get into the

promised land when you’re getting

everything you want there’s going to be

no more trouble from the Devil

no every new level is a new

Devil so we have to learn how to do war

and how to face our enemies while we’re

still in the wilderness because every

level of new responsibility means you’re

going to have new things coming against

you now I can tell you most of it just

don’t even bother me anymore it’s just

like been there done that know where

this is

headed okay now watch this cuz this is

just really good

so verse three numbers 14:3 why does the

Lord bring us to this land to Fall by

the sword our wives and our little ones

are going to be a prey it’d just be

better for us to return to Egypt then

they said to one another let us choose a

captain and return to

Egypt and there’s thousands of these

people and watch this the response of

the men who became the leaders now come

on there’s a message here

then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces

before all the Assembly of the

Israelites when they heard the

complaining it grieved them so much

because they understood the danger of

what they were doing that they just fell

down flat on their faces before God and

I’m sure started praying for God to

forgive

them and Joshua the son of nun and Caleb

the son of jeepa who were among the

scouts who had searched out the land

they rent their clothes they were so

grieved that they tore their clothes

back then that was a sign of great grief

when somebody would die they would rip

their clothes and so these are four

men that get talked about in the Bible

as being Heroes the rest of them you

never hear anything about again I want

to ask you do you want to be talked

about as a hero for God or do you want

to just get lost somewhere out in the

wilderness and maybe yes end up in

heaven but never really do anything here

that’s going to count for anything

[Music]

[Applause]

oh God what’s wrong with my life I don’t

understand what’s wrong with my life God

what’s wrong with my life my lousy

stinking terrible miserable life that I

hate I wish I had somebody else’s life

God now thank you for my life

Lord thank you for everything that’s

even happened to me in my life because I

trust you to work it

out for

[Applause]

good you know what if you’re bold enough

you can even thank God for the pain that

you’re going through right now you know

why because when you’re hurting you

either go under or you go over but if

you go over you get to know God in a way

that you could not possibly have known

him without that pain in your

[Applause]

life you can have something in God that

no nobody can take away from

you well there’s always something to be

thankful for even in difficult

circumstances being grateful adds power

to our lives while complaining brings

weakness Ginger joins me now with some

of your questions on this topic well

Ginger did you get some interesting

questions s in we did and are they going

to be easy for me to

answer well I think this time they’re

right in your willhouse absolutely

um I I think there’s something about

gratitude that people easily Overlook

right because it just seems like a part

of life maybe it maybe it’s good but is

it really that valuable and so Ted from

Alabama says and what day in what ways

do you think gratitude can be powerful

in our lives well I think that uh

gratitude

definitely we the more we focus on what

we have to be thankful for the less

we tend to complain and that’s a big one

yeah well complaining really is a bigger

problem than most people think it is it

actually really is sin

and thank being thankful has a lot to do

with your prayers being

answered in Philippians it says that uh

be anxious for nothing but in all things

by by prayer and supplication with

Thanksgiving let your request be made

known unto God and I know one time the

Lord put on my heart he said why should

I G if you’re going to complain about

what you’ve already got why should I

give you more because you’ll just

complain about that too wow and that’s

really true and it just it it’s a much

more important thing than what we even

begin to realize I really believe that

the more thankful we are the more

powerful we are the more spiritual power

you have and the less Authority the

enemy has over your life yeah that’s

huge because we don’t think about thank

fulness as powerful no we we think about

it uh in a very different way but we

don’t often think about that it’s it’s

opening a door to strength in our lives

yeah well it’s like you know we have

Thanksgiving once a year

and you know we need to be thanking God

all day long every day I mean there’s

how how many

things even like to thank God for the

things that he protects you from that

you don’t even know yeah would have had

happened had he not been protecting you

and so there’s always things to be

thankful for no matter how bad you have

it well and of course you talk about the

importance of our thoughts all the time

the Battlefield of the Mind and that is

a great way to help win that battle is

to focus on the good things that’s right

so another question for you here this is

from Carrie in Florida how can I have

gratitude for the trials and

tribulations I’ve been going through

since 2014 I’ve had three major

surgeries one left me with limited

motion um I’m in constant chronic

debilitating pain and I would love to

hear your thoughts on this well one

thing I think that let’s take the pain

for example I think

that the more things that you find to be

thankful

for the less you even pay

attention to the pain that you have we

know that whatever we focus on becomes

the biggest thing in our lives and you

know the Bible says to be thankful in

things but it also says to be thankful

for everything and that’s a little bit

harder you know because like she’s

saying how can you be thankful for right

bad things but the way that I

feel that the Bible explains that is

because it says that all things work

together for good and so if you

believe that no matter what’s happening

see I think that when we’re having a

very difficult time if we complain all

the way through it then it may not end

up working out for good but if we will

be obedient to God even when we’re

hurting and say I’m going to thank you

in this and far this if it’s something

bad I don’t believe God did it but I’m

going to focus on you and thank you

right because I know that you can take

anything no matter how bad it is and you

can work it out for good in my life and

I I I have come to the point where I

this is not something I say I really

really really believe that and when you

do then it makes it easier and you

always grow spiritually when you go

through difficult things I mean really

to be honest Ginger we don’t grow in the

good times we grow in the hard times

yeah I think that there’s something

beautiful in what you’re saying in that

there is power in gratitude but it is

not easy to be grateful in the hard

times but the things that that are are

strongest in our lives the things that

make us stronger that that bring that

power are often the hard things not the

easy things so it really just all makes

sense well the Bible talks about the

sacrifice of praise and uh

it’s yeah definitely a sacrifice it’s

sometimes you have to do it

sacrificially it’s not something you

feel like doing but you do it in

obedience to God because there I mean

I don’t know how many scriptures there

are in the Bible about gratitude and

Thanksgiving and giving thanks but I’m

sure there’s several hundred and uh I

mean like even Jesus he said I thank you

that you hear me when he went to pray

and so we always need to fill our

prayers full of Thanksgiving yeah be

thankful and say so you know we enter

his gates with Thanksgiving we come into

His courts with praise you can’t even

really come into the presence of God

with a grouchy grumpy attitude and it’s

so so easy to complain it’s like it’s

almost like if you don’t purposely fill

your life with things to be thankful for

you

will complain we have to replace the bad

things with good things so the bad

things have no place to get into our

life well let me ask you this then what

is the danger of complaining because

sometimes we feel like we need a release

and you know we’re we’re just talking

what is the danger in in that

complaining well actually in the Old

Testament and in the new it talks about

an example of how the Israelites when

they were going through the Wilderness

they complained and murmured about the

Mana they got tired of the Mana I mean

you know who gets tired of your food

being rained out of the sky every day

but it seems like our human

flesh has no ability I’m sure they were

very thankful for that in the beginning

but it seems like no matter

how good things are or how amazing they

are the flesh only

has a short span of time that it can be

grateful and it talks about how that

they opened a door through their

complaining for serpents to get into the

camp and 23,000 of them died in one day

and then in the New Testament it’s in 1

Corinthians or second Corinthians I

think it’s chapter 10 it it goes back to

that example and and it actually

says we’re repeating this here and

sharing this with you so that you might

not fall into the same sin that they did

and so it is a sin and it does open a

door for the enemy where being grateful

closes the door to the enemy yeah that’s

great that is so helpful okay we’ve got

uh one more question here Sandy from

California says I’m in a very difficult

position right now my 87-year-old

mother-in-law has been living with us

for 6 months she’s unable to live alone

and needs supervision this has taken

over our lives I’m trying to be grateful

for the experience and whatever lesson

God is trying to teach me but we’ve had

a difficult relationship and I’m quite

resentful sometimes how can I have

gratitude through this well first of all

you know I mean I ended up having to

take care of my parents who my father

sexually abused me and my mother knew he

was doing it and let him do it and so I

understand it being hard to take care of

somebody elderly and my mother had some

mental problems and so that was made it

a double Challenge and she was also very

needy which you know that was hard and

so I get it I understand but taking care

of your parents when they get

older is actually one of the most

powerful things that you can do it’s

something that the Bible tells us to do

and it really says if you don’t do

it you’re no better than an Infidel it’s

very important to God that

we take care of our parents and and even

other people extended family members

that don’t have anybody to take care of

them we also took care of my aunt who

had no children and so the way that you

can do it is to do it unto the Lord

don’t look at it like I’m doing it for

you yeah that’s good you know I mean I I

never one time went to the nursing home

to visit my mother that I wanted to go

and and that may sound awful but I’m

just being truthful I

went because I knew it was the right

thing to do yeah and I think that we

need a lot

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