thanksgiving – My Grace Untold

Casting Down The Spirit of Forgetfulness

“But watch out! Be careful never to forget what you yourself have seen. Do not let these memories escape from your mind as long as you live!”

Deuteronomy 4:9

Lately, I have fought to remember what God told me when He ordered me to come to this unknown place. Although I know that all that is tied to my life is according to God’s ordinance, one particular situation has left me conflicted.

I know I heard the Lord speak when He answered a prayer that I had been praying for fervently since I began this walk of faith with Him back in Atlanta.

I know I heard the Lord say this was it. This was the answer I had been waiting for. This was the revelation that was a long time coming. This was it.

So I believed.

Then a fight began to hold on to that which I believed no matter how things looked or felt. During this tug of living in faith and on faith about God’s word to me, the Spirit of God began to remind me the things that I was starting to forget.

God reminded me that He called me out of my father’s house to go out on my own. He reminded me that though I did not know why I was going to where I was going, I knew that there was an undeniable pull to this place. God reminded me that my instincts were under His command and order.

In the silence, when I wanted to gather my sorrows and dig deeper into the spirit of conflict and discontent over what was in front of me concerning this word that God gave me, the Spirit of God did not permit me.

Rather, I was reminded that I know the sound of my Father’s voice. I was reminded that He who started a good work in me is working ALL things for my good, and will bring it to completion. I was reminded that my steps are ordered by God because He called me and I have answered.

I was reminded to trust God completely and to surrender myself to His will.

Friend, I urge you to be still and allow the Holy Spirit to remind you that which you may have forgotten.

In your weakness, in your confusion, in your conflict, or in your unsettled place, are you forgetting the magnitude of the One who calls you “fearfully and wonderfully made?”

Are you forgetting that God is not man that He should lie?

Are you forgetting that He that keeps you neither sleeps nor slumbers?

Are you forgetting that His word to you can never be void?

Friend, are you forgetting the unmovable, unshakeable Almighty power of the Lord your God?

Have you forgotten the faithfulness of God?

I pray for you as I pray for me, that the Spirit of the living God revives our hope in the truth of God today. May we be reminded that which we have forgotten. May the Lord pour out His refreshing rain of hope and grace as we continue faithfully in this walk toward destiny in Jesus name. Amen.

Give Thanks With Joy. And Gladness

“This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.”

So there it was.

That lagging feeling, that depressing aura, that gray cloud that floated above my head was my lack of joy and gladness in my thanksgiving.

I wanted joy from God, but did not first bring my thanks to Him with joy. Since I did not bring that joy with my thanksgiving to His courts, I did not have openness to receive more joy!

Often times we diligently bring our thanks and praises to God for His goodness and mercy, but we forget to bring them with gladness in our hearts.

If you observe the image above, the child is beaming with gladness.

Friend, I believe this is what we ought to present to our heavenly Father when we come before Him no matter what!

And I know that deceitful enemy is already whispering in your ear that it is not possible to ALWAYS be glad before God. But please be reminded that our Sovereign God is the same yesterday, today, and forever more. Remember God’s goodness and mercy. Remember when He pulled you out of that hole you dug yourself into. Remember how much He favors you because of His love for you. How can these alone not make you beam with gladness to be serving a faithful God?!!!

It is all too easy for us to come before God with a grumbling voice about what blessing we are yet to receive. But what about the ones you are basking in right now?!

Have you forgotten the goodness of God?!

Like the Israelites while in the wilderness, have you forgotten how far God has brought you from where you used to be?!!!

Friend, how sincere is your thanksgiving if there is no gladness or joy in it? How is God to accept a sacrifice of praise if your heart has with-held the joy that should also be placed alongside your offering of praise?!

Give thanks with joy AND gladness. Rejoice in the joy of today even if the worries of yesterday don’t feel far enough. God sees all that you harbor in your heart. HE IS A GOOD GOD and faithfully provides all that you need when you need it.

So if you don’t have it, YOU DO NOT NEED IT to do what God has for you to do.

I urge you today friend to bring your thanks to God with joy so you can receive more joy.

I pray that our minds are renewed today with the wisdom of heaven to give what is due to a sovereign and merciful Father who is working all things together for our good in Jesus name. Amen.

Give Thanks With Joy

“Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.”

Psalm 100:2

The joy of the Lord is indeed my strength. I reached a new understanding of that today.

When I woke up this morning, I met the Lord with thanksgiving, as I have tried to discipline this practice into my everyday life. But I did something a little different today. Rather than turning on my worship music to lift up my spirits, I longed for silence.

Surely, I was thankful to God for yet another day, but in truth, I was also still overwhelmed from last night’s heavy thoughts.

The first two hours went by and I still felt a sluggishness I could not quite explain. Sure I had a slight cramp in my neck from my sleeping position, but it should not have been enough to have me this slow in my movements and steps.

I felt tired, weary even. My spirit felt repressed and it reflected on my physical.

It was when I laid down once again after eating, that I heard the Voice of my inner man say, “don’t sleep.”

I laid there still and perverse thoughts made their way into my mind. So I sat up.

WHAT IN THE WORD WAS GOING ON?!

This is the last leg before yet another chapter since I began my walk of radical faith with the Lord. I wanted to be full of excitement and expectation but I truly was not because of the pressing conflicts in front of me.

In a sum, I have more bills than money, as it has been since I left my job in January on God’s orders.

It is now June and as the final numbers appear declaring what I owe, I am overwhelmed with the ‘How?”…”How will this be taken care of again?”…then I remembered…

Jehovah Jireh is God my provider.”

He has been providing and He will not with-hold His mercy this time around. So that alone brings praise to my mouth.

I am thankful. I have been thankful since I heard God call me out of my filth for His own purpose early last year. But today,

I heard the spirit asking, “Have you kept the joy in your praise and thanksgiving?… Have you come before the Lord with joyful songs today and not just words of gratitude?” FINISH READING HERE

Less Worry, More Worship

“Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”

Matthew 6:27

If I were to ask you to make a list of all the things you are currently worried about, how long and unending would that list be?

But if I asked you how many times you have worshiped and devoted some quality time to God today, would the list of times match the list above?

Naturally, the many demands in our lives cause us to respond with worry and concern as we face uncertainties daily. But does the Spirit of God have a say at all in your life in how you respond to the demands before you?

If it did, you would hear it say in its unshaken and comforting voice, “less worry, more worship.”

Friend, you cannot worry and worship at the same time!

One has to trump the other. Undoubtedly, one mindset will inevitably trample the other.

If you choose worry, how is there room for true worship and intimacy with the One who can do all things?

If you choose, WHEN you choose worship, your growing faith and hope in the One who controls heaven and earth, will wipe away the worries.

How so?

Don’t you know that your worship is an act of faith in itself alone? When you come to God, commune with Him, and lay your burdens before Him in complete trust of His All-knowing Majesty, your Spirit makes room for more hope and and the overflow of Joy for what God has promised you.

Friend, worship is what fills you up when you need it the most.

Your worship is your demonstration to God that your heart is receptive of all that He is about to bless you with regardless of what the situation currently looks or feels like. There is nothing else like it.

Worship reminds you that you can access God for yourself and on your own. You can call on to a God who never slumbers and He will answer you!

When worry becomes worship, the enemy trembles at the strength of your armor.

When worry becomes worship, your brokenness becomes a breakthrough.

When worry becomes worship, the worrier in you becomes a warrior because God pours out a refreshing anointment of His strength and power on you.

Yes, it’s easier said than done, but I urge you today to worry less and worship more. God is still in control. HE never once gave the control to your circumstance, you did. And now it’s time to take it back through worship.

May God Almighty send down a refreshing reminder of His promises to you as you walk or even crawl in faith today. I pray that you are filled with a renewed strength to worship more and worry less in Jesus name. Amen.