When you speak to people around you or even watch the news, one thing is clear. Life is hard. Most people are hurting.
So we do what we do best – we cry and we vent to people. Repeat. In between, we complain to God. But complaining does not open heaven’s gate, PRAISE does. “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise!” (Psalm 100:4)
Thanksgiving is not what you give God after the gate of blessing opens. Thanksgiving is the key that opens heaven’s gate to us.
When a vast eastern coalition threatened Judah, King Jehoshaphat went straight to God. God told him: “The battle is not yours, but God’s.”
God fights for his covenant people.
These three armies came against Jehoshaphat. King Jehoshaphat appointed singers to walk ahead of the army, singing praise before the battle: “Give thanks to the Lord, for His steadfast love endures forever” (2 Chronicles 20:21)
As God’s people began to sing words of praise, God intervened. As a result, the eastern coalition armies destroyed each other without any action on the part of Jehoshaphat’s army.
Judah never even swung a sword. Yet, it took them three days to carry off the spoils of war.
Victory did not come after the praise. It came while they were praising.
We often get it wrong. We pray, worry and wait to thank Jesus AFTER we get our miracle.
We complain to Jesus about our current health challenges, but we never appreciated years of pain-free life and perfect health. We never thank God for electricity and wifi, but we whine the minute we lose either. Family and friends – both blessings that many do not have – are taken for granted. A warm bed, your home, car, job, books, music, a good meal – are all things that JESUS planned for you today.
No thanks from the majority of us. We complain and we squeeze a prayer in between.
And we persistently speak death over the very thing we are asking God to fix.
“My family will never change, this kid will never be successful, I will never get that promotion, I will never own a house, life will always be hard for me”.
Pick one thing that you complain about the most. Thank God for it. Not for the problem, but for His steadfast love and grace that is helping you through it.
Keep going until your life becomes a living chorus of thanksgiving to Jesus. The enemy cannot win against a person of praise.
Place praise in front of each battle. Daily.
Praise first. Act second.
#PraiseGod #JesusPeople
