The Power of ‘Thank You’

Outfit Deets: Dress-Custom made by Kifahari Kouture Kenya

(Shoes and Earring details- linked in previous blogs)

I said ‘Thank You’ recently and it felt so good. It was a thank you that held so much weight. I said it with tears of actual joy and gratitude. I had never felt such a wave cover my spirit.

I had come from a period of a somewhat dry prayer life. My circumstances seemed like they were extending longer than they should have-rude, if you ask me (rolls eyes). My much prophesied ‘breakthrough season’ looked like it was being toggled way above my head and I could not reach it successfully. So I drew back from my prayer closet because I started to doubt whether God really did have good plans for my life.

As I was mindlessly scrolling through my Social Media feed, I came across a lady who said that 2021 had started as a hellish one for her but God had started turning the tables for her and that the end of 2021 was looking like it would be better than she had ever imagined. (I hope my paraphrase earns this expression the weight it deserves).

I was forced to look back on my own life-not just 2021-but my whole existence from childhood. I had survived things that ordinarily break people forever. I had overcome deep losses and hurtful seasons without showing as much as a wrinkle on my face. I had been the unworthy beneficiary of so many blessings and the target of unmerited favor on countless occasions. It hit me that I actually had so much to thank God for!

Something suddenly shifted in my spirit and I started to break out in prayer and gratitude. I could not stop the tears from flowing. God had indeed shown Himself as faithful!

As I praised God and magnified His name for His love over my life, I got a fresh revelation of who God is to me: A Promise Keeper. He revealed how steadily He had been in keeping me safe and sound despite the pressure of life in my past season. I thought I was still in my wilderness while in fact I was stepping into my promise!

Allow me to share what God has revealed to me about thankfulness/gratitude:

1. Gratitude shifts your focus from your problems to the faithfulness of God

Let’s face it; when we are busy sulking, our problems take center stage and tower above God. Whatever problem keeps looming in your heart becomes the “imaginations” and “high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God..." according to 2 Cor 10:5. In summary, the problem you obsess over becomes an idol that displaces God’s place in your heart. The more you bow down to it, the smaller God looks. Thankfully we have a solution that helps us to cast those idols down. And that is gratitude. Saying ‘Thank you for my job’ when your employer is stressing you to bits or ‘Thank you for this, my marriage that you ordained’ when your spouse just hurt you deeply shifts your focus, no matter how temporary. It tells your heart, “God has still been good in blessing me with this, despite how ugly it looks right now” and it reminds you that God is still who He said He is- A covenant keeping God. Although your struggles are present, God is even more present and has never left.

2. Gratitude shuts down the lies of the Devil

John 8:44 clearly tells us something about the devil: “When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

Satan is ALWAYS up to no good and he wants to kill, still and destroy you and your destiny. He does not play fair!

He gives whole lies and half truths and if you are not careful, you will believe each one that is spoken over your life.

One of the biggest lies in his artillery is, “If God was really good to you, you would not be here.” This applies to loss, rejection, negative consequences and strings of ‘bad luck’.

He uses this to lure you into what we call a ‘stony heart’ that hardens itself to God such that even His word cannot bear fruit in us and cannot deliver us. A stony heart cannot see God’s goodness and as a result, cannot receive God’s blessings.

Telling God thank you warms up your heart towards God and shatters that stronghold. ‘Thank you’ speaks joy despite persecution and peace despite a storm.

As your heart warms up towards God’s infinite goodness, you see His blessings in disguise and you start to see the silver lining. You start to see that truly “all things work for the good of all those who love the Lord.'" (Rom 8:28).

As you warm up, you start to believe what God is saying over your current circumstances and only then can you truly receive His perspective for your life.

3. Gratitude Breeds Intimacy

Whether we like to admit it or not, God tests us. Tests are part and parcel of God’s modus operandi. He will test your faith, your loyalty to Him, your love and your perseverance (just to name but a few of the things, lol).

He tests us so much that there are so many scriptures that encourage us to stay strong in the midst of trial and testing. It is almost as if they say, “Yeah, we know it is ugly out there, but hang on guys, y’all know that God is a tester and He won’t change soon, okay? So take this survival kit and handle life as we wait for a time of calm at the end of time.”

One such scripture is James 1:2-3: “Consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know the testing of your faith develops perseverance”. The last thing I want to do when I am encountering a test of faith is to consider it pure joy, that’s what I’ll tell you. :D.

Back to the point. Gratitude to God shows Him that your heart is in the right place; postured in awareness that you have still been blessed regardless of the issues that have plagued your life. There’s nothing that pleases God more than a rightly postured heart because He moves on behalf of it!

Think of it this way: You are in a romantic relationship with your person and they never appreciate anything you do. Not even the biggest sacrifice! Will you really want to do anything more for that person?-No, you won’t. On top of this, this partner is always asking for stuff from you-again, nope.

Now imagine that you are in a romantic union where your partner appreciates the smallest gestures and takes time to honor you and appreciate your presence in their lives. You would be more than willing to help them out even in the difficult tasks. You want to see them through their next level, whatever that looks like.

Although God’s love for us is not conditional like romantic love, it carries more or less the same emotion. God feels good when we just appreciate His presence and do not just flock towards Him when we need something. He desires companionship-the one that does not need ‘stuff’ to be given in order to be had.

He breaks through and wars on your behalf all the time but especially so when you are His companion. God says, “Hey! Don’t touch this one, they’re mine.” And the devil will not! (See Job 1). He guards you jealously and does not let “your foot dash itself against a stone” (Ps 91:12). Listen, it’s fact! "Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation." (Ps 91:14)

Perhaps that’s why David was such a sweetheart to God. Because ‘thank you’ for him was not too far from his lips.

When God calls you ‘friend’, you never have to worry because you will never lack and you will never drown in sorrow. Those terms are unfamiliar in the books of heaven. Just saying.

If you are going through a rough patch, keep pressing onto God. Maybe the pressing is hard. But though it be inexplicably painful, know that God will make the sweetest wine because He is the vine.

Prayer:

Jehovah Adonai, I just thank you for all you have done for me, for all you have delivered me from and for where you are taking me to.

My life is bare before you. You know me from my rising to my lying down and so you know exactly where I need to be at this moment. Thank you for your grace, mercy and for your love that never lets me go and never counts favors. Thank you for the pressing that comes from having faith in you. Thank you for joy in this season that you promise me will never run dry. Please forgive me for ever being ungrateful and please give me a fresh revelation of you today. May I never forget on my darkest days that you were the wind behind my sails on my best ones. Amen.