Every Day is Thanksgiving!

November is a month when we celebrate Thanksgiving in the USA. But as believers and followers of Jesus Christ, we should have an attitude of gratitude and thanksgiving every day. But perhaps during these past few months, you’ve encountered some things in your life that have made you wonder where God was in all of those things?

Each of us is on a journey with the Lord but at a different place than someone else. I pray today that there is something that you can grasp onto that will settle deep in your spirit to know that the Lord loves you, He has good things for you, and He has everything in control. He is always working, but when we don’t believe Him or take things into our own hands, it hinders Him from working and His grace from flowing. It’s like saying to God, You can’t do it, so I have to do it, or God, I don’t need you. I’ve got this. Perhaps you can’t trust Him because you don’t know that He is trustworthy!

I’ve been there and done that! And I’m sure I’m not the only one. But the Lord showed me anytime we try to do something in our strength, using our resources, or our wisdom, etc., that’s pride. He will let us continue until we come to the place where we recognize our pride, fear, doubt, or unbelief, ask Him for forgiveness, and give control back to Him.

But maybe pride isn’t the only issue that we’re dealing with. It may also be fear, doubt, or unbelief. We may not believe God is big enough to handle our situation and circumstances.

Let me give you an example from my own life. A few years ago, I had to retire 18 months earlier than planned because I physically couldn’t continue doing my job. I had too many illnesses affecting me.

I knew that the Bible is God’s will, so I started studying and meditating on the Word concerning healing and provision. Jesus told me to see Him as my healer. I knew healing is for today, and it was His will to heal me based on Isaiah 53:5, Matthew 8:17, and 1 Peter 2:24. I knew that healing was part of the atonement that Christ made for us on the cross by shedding His blood and that Jesus became a curse for us (Galatians 3:13). But I had trouble believing He could do it. I didn’t see Him as a big God, bigger than my sickness.

So I asked Him what I should do? He told me to see His Son Jesus in the New Testament Gospels, and go back into the Old Testament and see how God provided, healed, and delivered the children of Israel. So that’s what I did. Remember, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17). I began my healing journey, and many of my illnesses are now gone because the Lord healed me. He also showed me that pride had opened the door to a spirit of infirmity. I asked His forgiveness, repented of partnering with the spirit of pride, renounced it, and closed that door to the enemy. I now guard against thoughts and opportunities to embrace pride and instead depend on my Heavenly Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.

How big is your God? Here are some scriptures to meditate on to help you understand and see how big God is and that He can do the impossible!

Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall follow me,” even the night shall be light about me; indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, but the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to you. Psalm 139:7 – 12
Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God. Psalm 90:2
“Am I a God near at hand,” says the LORD, “and not a God afar off? Can anyone hide himself in secret places, so I shall not see him?” Says the LORD, “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the LORD. Jeremiah 33:23 – 24
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon, and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? Psalm 8:3 – 4
Great is our Lord and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite. Psalm 147:5
Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might, He increases strength. Isaiah 40:28 – 29
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8 – 9
‘Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.’ Jeremiah 32:17
“But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” Luke 12:7
But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men, this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26

Maybe you’ve lost your hope and haven’t seen answers to your prayers and the breakthroughs you expected in this season. Biblical hope is a confident expectation of good anchored in Christ, who is our hope (Colossians 1:27). Hope lifts our perspective. Bible hope compels us to act, and that is faith. Faith and hope go hand in hand and are in the present (Hebrews 11:1). Faith is taking hold of the things we hope for that are in line with His will (which is His Word) while keeping our eyes on Jesus as we wait for it to come to pass. It is the certainty of unseen things (Romans 8:24-25).

Hope believes with confident expectation for something while trusting that God will keep His promise (Hebrews 10:35-36). God is always on time, and He always keeps His promises (Hebrews 10:23). Because we have hope, we will praise the Lord even if we haven’t seen answers to our prayers and the breakthroughs we expected in this season.

God is Jehovah Perazzim, God of the breakthrough (2 Samuel 5:17-25). You are anointed to breakthrough! The battle is the Lord’s, but we need to get the breakthrough strategy or plans from Him (2 Chronicles 20:15). Jesus is our wisdom, and we can ask the Holy Spirit to give us the strategy and follow His leading for our breakthrough (1 Corinthians 1:30; James 1:5-8).

Thanksgiving and praise are part of the breakthrough process. Complain means to camp out in Hebrew. When we complain, we will camp out in the place we are! But when we thank and praise the Lord, it is a statement of faith before we see the results manifested. When we thank Him after the fact, it is gratitude. Praise and thanksgiving are powerful weapons. Our praises enthrone God and dethrone the enemy (Psalm 22:3)!

We have a lot to be thankful for! We can thank the Lord for His love, goodness, faithfulness, and mercy (Psalm 23:6; 27:13; Matthew 7:11; James 1:17). For Jesus; for all that He is, has done and is doing in our lives. Thanksgiving, praise, and worship bring us into His presence. There is fullness of joy in His presence (Psalm 16:11).

This, I recall to my mind; therefore, I have hope. Through the Lord’s mercies, we are not consumed because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:21-23
The LORD is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger, and great in mercy. The LORD is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works. Psalm 145:8 – 9
Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. 1 Chronicles 16:34

Do you need a breakthrough today? Then here is a declaration written by John Eckhart that you can declare over your life.

I declare breakthroughs are coming in my life, sudden bursts of God’s goodness. Not a trickle. Not a stream. But a flood of God’s power. A flood of healing. A flood of wisdom. A flood of favor. I am a breakthrough person, and I choose to live breakthrough minded. I am expecting God to overwhelm me with His goodness and amaze me with His favor. This is my declaration.

Have you received a breakthrough? Here is a good declaration for you.

You have turned for me my morning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, to the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to You forever! Psalm 30:11

We are told in the Bible to be thankful (Psalm 100:4).

And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Colossians 3:15
Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving. Colossians 4:2
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. Philippians 4:6
In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:18

We approach God with thanksgiving for what He has already done and are watchful for things we can be thankful for and let Him know! He loves us, has good things for us, and has already given us victory through Jesus Christ. Meditate on these next verses that show what God has for us, and get them down into your spirit!

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11
But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20 – 21

Abundant Blessings!