Thanks as a Weapon and Sacrifice...
It's going to happen...
When there's enough people gathered together,
There's going to be that one someone,
That gets on your last nerve.
The one someone that just knows exactly,
How to dampen the mood and rain on your parade!
What do you do?
Give THANKS!
You heard me.
THANK God for them in your life.
An unexpected twist to the THANKS in "Thanksgiving Day", right?
Yes, this is the most counter-intuitive,
Makes your skin crawl,
The last thing you want to do,
Weird, wacky, backwards thing to do...
But it works.
How?
First, understand that this is an UNFORGIVENESS issue.
Anyone that gets on your nerve,
Or under your skin,
You hold some form of offense against them.
That is... just another word for UNFORGIVENESS.
It's the holding on of a grudge against someone,
And not letting it go.
Second, UNFORGIVENESS is straight from Satan's play book,
The play book called "How to Destroy Lives and Blame It On Others".
"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy"
One of Satan's biggest hitters in destroying lives is UNFORGIVENESS.
This is a spiritual battle.
A big one.
No wonder it's not easy!
So it's time to bust out the spiritual weapons,
And for this THANKSGIVING Day,
We're going to bust out giving THANKS!
As a matter of fact...
As a part of putting on your spiritual ARMOR,
I would recommend that you do this on your own BEFORE you see the people.
Give THANKS beforehand to posture your HEART in a right standing with God,
This is your breastplate of RIGHTEOUSNESS.
"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."
The REAL-life description of how this goes down...
At first you won't mean it,
At first you may even taste a little vommit in your mouth,
At first it's just words.
But by FAITH,
As you declare these THANKS,
Knowing it's in obedience to God,
Knowing that you are sacrificing your ego, judgement and comfort,
It will please the Lord to see you dying to self.
As you declare these THANKS,
Even if you may not feel it,
Even if you may not agree with it,
It will strike as a blow to the enemy,
It will be a punch to his gut,
Because these words of THANKS are actually tear down Satan's plan.
It's like a nuclear missle into his camp and destroying his plan, schemes and devices against you.
Imagine all of Satan's unforgiveness plans being glown to smitherines!
Good job!
Keep up the good fight,
Keep declaring those things you know pleases God,
Whether you "feel" it or not,
Even though it may grade against your flesh,
You may even want to twitch,
Just know you're on the right track.
Perhaps it sounds something like this...
"Thank You God for John Smith and how he frustrates me,
Thank You God Jane Doe and all my triggers around her!
Thank You for Sally who knows how to say the perfectly wrong things!
Thank You for the challenges,
Thank You for the success!
Thank You for the growth around this,
Thank You for the victory!"
You get the picture.
Anything that gets on your nerve,
THANK God for it.
It may sound ridiculous at first,
It may feel weird,
But just keep doing it.
At some point, it may become comical,
At some point, it's so crazy it's kinda fun,
At some point, you feel yourself getting lighter,
Because God is near when you are dying to self.
There were some very old grudges I had that I wanted to get rid of,
I knew they were strongholds in my life,
I knew they were creating a barrier between God and I,
I wanted to tear it down with a wrecking ball,
So everyday I went after it with THANKSGIVING.
Everything that annoyed, triggered or angered me,
I just put THANK YOU in front of it and praised God for it.
The more I did it,
The more things I would think of that annoyed or frustrated me,
But I kept on THANKING God for it.
After a while, the weight of frustration wore off,
And a new tune began to flow,
I began to see what God was working out of me and working in me,
I began to see how this can help me grow,
I began to see victory spread out between these situations,
I began to SEE more of what God was seeing,
So I THANKED God for those things also.
The next day, I did it again,
At first my flesh was still fighting the words,
My skin was still crawling,
But it came a bit easier than the previous day,
Soon that second flow came,
Where I got to see the blessings hidden in these challenging people and situations.
The third, fourth, fifth day....
I did this for 40 days,
And by the 40th day,
I felt totally different about the people and situations I had issues with.
It was definitely different,
It was definitely lighter.
I'm not saying that's the magic formula,
But repetition is key.
This is definitely not a one and done thing.
UNFORGIVENESS is poison for the soul,
It's like barbed wire between you and God,
It's designed to steal your joy,
Kill your soul and destroy your life,
While do nothing to the person you're mad at.
So interrupt Satan's pattern with THANKSGIVING!
"THANK YOU JESUS FOR ALL THE AGGRAVATING PEOPLE YOU SENT ME!
TEACH ME HOW TO LOVE,
TEACH ME HOW TO FORGIVE,
AND CHERISH EVERY MOMENT WITH THEM!
I GIVE YOU ALL THE GLORY AND PRAISE,
FOR WHAT YOU'RE DOING IN ME!
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
IN JESUS NAME AMEN!"
Something like this you just need to shout on top of the mountain, right?
Or maybe into your pillow,
Or alone in the car. ^_^
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God."
Breathe,
Relax,
Let Go,
THANK God.
Cheers to a THANKS-giving twist on forgiveness. ^_^
May all the wounds of the soul be turned into laughter and thanksgiving, in Jesus name Amen!
