When you thank Him, you are directing your focus on Him.

When you thank Him, you are acknowledging His presence and His power that is effectually at work in you.

When you thank Him, you are recognizing the truth that IN HIM ALL THINGS consist.

When you thank Him, your heart is constantly and consistently connected to Him, our constant Companion.

Thankfulness denotes humility. It is our expression that apart from Him, we are nothing. He created us! He created everything around us! Without Him, nothing exists that exists.

“Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” John 1:3 NIV

The power of thanksgiving allows us to experience His beauty and brightness in spite of adversity. The greater truth of Who He is displaces the grayness of our challenges for His light shines best in dark places.

We live in a fallen world where blessings and afflictions co-exist, but the good news is, we have a PERFECT FATHER Who perfects that which concerns us.  He takes us from glory to glory.  It is He Who is turning our ashes to beauty, our mourning to dancing, our sadness to gladness, our darkness to light, our filthy rags into robe of righteousness, by the power of His love perfectly demonstrated at the cross when He sent us Jesus Who is our HOPE OF GLORY.  He is our confidence, our steadfast Rock that cannot be shaken, our God-keeping covenant who is faithful and true to fulfill the promises that He has spoken.

I was meditating one day on this verse from Amos 9:13 MSG.

“Yes indeed, it won’t be long now.” GOD ’s Decree. “Things are going to happen so fast your head will swim, one thing fast on the heels of the other. You won’t be able to keep up. Everything will be happening at once—and everywhere you look, blessings! Blessings like wine pouring off the mountains and hills. I’ll make everything right again for my people Israel: “They’ll rebuild their ruined cities. They’ll plant vineyards and drink good wine. They’ll work their gardens and eat fresh vegetables. And I’ll plant them, plant them on their own land. They’ll never again be uprooted from the land I’ve given them.” GOD, your God, says so.”

I stopped at the line, EVERYWHERE YOU LOOK, BLESSINGS! I said, oh wow … that time must be the best, most blessed, most glorious time one could ever experience. But the Lord put a strong impression in my heart and He said, “You can experience that TODAY, where you are, in spite of what’s going on around you.” I pondered and smiled. “He said, when you look at what’s around you in the lens of the finished work of Jesus Christ and the exceeding greatness of the Holy Spirit Who is at work in you, Who made you sit IN HIM at the right hand of the Father where pleasures are forevermore, your whole perspective changes. As you come up higher with your thoughts of Me, worries and complains grow dim in the light of My presence where there is FULLNESS OF JOY. Your negative thoughts will grow weaker and weaker.  When your mind is fully focused on continually seeking Me, there will be no more room for negativity.”

One of the most powerful ways to pray without ceasing is to have a thankful heart. Thankfulness allows and positions us to ENTER HIS GATES, His presence, the Secret Place.  It is our password into the secret place of the Most High God, where heaven-on-earth is found and is made available for us to experience and explore by faith.

“Enter with the password: “Thank you!” Make yourselves at home, talking praise. Thank him. Worship him.” (Psalm 100:4 MSG)

We are His children that He delights in.  He gave us THE WAY who is JESUS to have full access into His heart.  He gave us GRACE, the empowerment to enter in by the Holy Spirit dwelling in us.  What are we waiting for?  Let’s jump in into the river of His presence, His love, His beauty, His majesty, His glory and be spiritually transformed, renewed and made ready for His use, to walk in the path that He ordained us to walk according to who He created us to be, “living the good life that He has prearranged and make ready for us to live.” (Ephesians 2:10 AMPC)

Jesus Christ didn’t just pave the way but He paid the utmost price that you and I can enter in into God’s loving presence anytime, anywhere and in any situation, that changes our outlook in life and eventually changes our tests to become testimonies of His everlasting goodness, not by might nor by power, but by the Spirit of God.  THANK YOU, JESUS!

Prayer:   Heavenly Father, THANK YOU for making Yourself accessible and approachable for us to come boldly into Your throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace in time of need all because of Your great love for us.  Thank You for sending us Your only Beloved Son Who powerfully demonstrated Your love that opened the way for us to enter in into Your very Presence.  Thank You, Holy Spirit for unveiling our eyes to see that when Jesus said, “IT IS FINISHED!”, we have been issued an invitation to sit and feast at the table of the Your goodness and faithfulness, experiencing how great, how wide, how long, how high and how deep Your love is. Amen!