Victory Life KY

Give Thanks

Episode Summary

What if we were to live a life of thanksgiving? Let the holiday be and everyday.

Episode Notes

• In 1789 President George Washington made this statement to our nation, ‘It is our duty as a nation to acknowledge the providence of the Almighty God, to be humbly grateful for His protection and favor. And to render unto Him our sincere and humble thanks.

• As we enter another holiday season, for me personally, Thanksgiving is the kick off of the season, but at the heart of thanksgiving, it’s so much more than a holiday, it’s an attitude of our heart. It’s part of the nature of the born again.

• What if we were to live a life of thanksgiving? Let the holiday be and everyday.

• Psalm 9:1,AMP- I will give thanks and praise the LORD, with all my heart.

• Thanksgiving and praise go hand in hand.

• Hebrews 12:28,NIV- “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.” 

• Psalm 95, “Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the LORD is the great God, and the great King above all gods.”

• Psalm 100, “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.”

• When we take closer look into the scriptures, there are several Hebrew and Greek words that we pull our English word thanksgiving from; and the one word that they are all centered around is worship.

• And at the heart of worship our characteristics like humility, reverence, honor and adoration.

• What every born again needs to realize is that this kind of thankful, worshipful, reverent heart is truly the threshold for the supernatural.

• So be assured that this kind of heart truly demonstrates faith, and absolutely requires expressing.

• Daniel 6:10,NKJV- “Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and GAVE THANKS BEFORE HIS GOD, as was his custom since early days.”

• I honestly believe that as we embrace a more thankful heart, it will absolutely be a turning point in our life of faith.

• Psalm 116:17,NKJV- “I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving, And will call upon the name of the LORD.”

• This is the example Daniel demonstrated.

• Here’s something we should all keep in mind, faith inspired thankfulness simply acknowledges what God has already done for us.

• The Alabaster Box

• Luke 7:37,NLT- “I tell you, her sins, and they are many, have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.”

• A person forgiven little shows little gratitude.

• We see it all over today, an entitlement, complaining, ungrateful heart is always focused on self, focused on what we don’t have.

• We’ve gotta take this home with us today, a thankful, worshipful, reverent heart is truly the threshold for the supernatural, connecting us on a more authentic level with God’s presence.

• At the end of the day, the closer we grow in our relationship with Jesus, our natural response will be a more authentic worship.

• Psalm 34, “I worship GOD every chance I get; my lungs expand with his praise. I live and breathe GOD;

• David said, “Let the name of the Lord be praised, both now and forevermore. 
• From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised.”

• For the people of God, a thankful heart is at the forefront of worship.

• Psalm 95:2,CEV- “Come to worship Him with thankful hearts and songs of praise.

• Worship is a spiritual avenue for the people of God to connect with our Father on a more authentic level.

• To bring the one thing God’s creation can actually offer Him that He loves and enjoys.

• Psalm 89:5-7,NKJV- The heavens will praise Your wonders, O LORD; Your faithfulness also in the assembly of the saints. 
• For who in the heavens can be compared to the LORD? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened to the LORD? 
• God is greatly to be FEARED in the assembly of the saints, And to be held in REVERENCE by all those around Him.

• It was King David that said, “In my deepest reverence I will worship you.”

• I can’t help but wonder that in our self made, super comfortable atmosphere we’ve created in the 21st century church that we’ve allowed our times of worship to become more of a performance time, than true reverence for our God.

• With absolutely no condemnation, I’m asking everyone of us to take an honest look at our own attitude of reverence to our Father. 

• Psalm 29, Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

• Psalm 147, It is good to sing praises to our God, it is pleasing and beautiful to Him. Great is the Lord and mighty in power. He understands the infinite, He Numbers the stars and calls them by name.

• This is why Jesus told us that the Father is seeking those who will worship Him.

• It's really not so much about style and preference. It should never be about what kind of mood we're in, or what we think we might need from Him.

• Ultimately, our worship services are about us using our voices to exalt our God through a song.

• It's a place where we reverence our God with our words and our heart. A place every child of God can freely go at any time.

• Worship is one of the most spiritual things a Christian can take part in.

• John 4:24,NLT- “For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”

• And make no mistake about it, although we are not to rely on emotion, worship is meant to impact us emotionally.

• After all, we're emotional people.

• Don't kid yourself, when your spirit connects on a spiritual level with your Creator, there's no avoiding emotion.

• When King David brought the presence of God back to Jerusalem, he worship so emotionally that his wife was offended, and he said, 

• "And I am willing to look even more foolish than this"

• Throughout the scriptures we see that God's people are emotional people when it comes to worship.

• They would worship so loud that surrounding cities would not only hear them, they would feel it.

• This being said, we are never to rely on emotion to be our guide in how good worship is.

•  And at the end of the day, just like your life of faith, your life of worship comes down to nothing more than a mind set.

• Why don't you ask God to help you in your worship.

• Psalm 67 Let all the people praise You, O God. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy! LET ALL THE PEOPLE PRAISE YOU. Then the earth shall yield her increase, and our God will bless us.

• God's word is very clear that His blessing, His breakthrough, His victory, was always preceded by the praise of His people.

• We have to realize that a humble, thankful heart, offered to God through our worship, is something our Father loves, but knows that ultimately it’s more for us than Him.

• We humbly bring our worship before Him.

• AW Tozer said, "When we worship in those times when we don't feel like it, it's even more treasured."

• You see, it's in those times that we take a step of faith and offer our sacrifice of worship to God that we experience Him in new light.

• Another very significant component of us participating in public worship is that it creates such an atmosphere that when new people show up they actually feel His presence when they walk into the room.

• Let's help each other recognize and embrace the fact that one of the main reasons we were created was to worship. To bring God pleasure.

• Revelation 4:11,NLT- “You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and they exist because you created what you pleased.”

• This is why one of the very first thing we have to acknowledge is that thankful heart of worship will absolutely connect us on a more authentic level with God’s presence.

• Psalm 95, “Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the LORD is the great God, and the great King above all gods.”

• Psalm 100, “Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.”