He Has You

This has been a hard week for me. My house got flooded, and it did a lot of damage. As I was cleaning up the night of the flood, I hurt my back. My autoimmune disorder kicked into full gear, attacking me at my injury, and it made the pain much worse. Yet I was thankful.

There is power in giving thanks, as it removes the negativity from your life. “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6 NKJV). Let the power of thankfulness wreck every thought of anxiousness in you. Give thanks and receive peace.

The secret power of thankfulness comes because it places you in the presence of God. It takes your eyes off yourself and your circumstances, and it causes you to look to God and know how much He truly loves you. When you look to Him, His peace will pour into you.

The Lord will reign in your life as much as you will let Him. “And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful” (Colossians 3:15 NLT).

There are some verses in the Bible that at first glance sound impossible. When Scripture tells us to be thankful in all circumstances, we don’t really believe that God meant that for even the worst circumstances. Yet He did.

Until you can thank God even in the bad times, your love for Him is only conditional on your circumstances. “Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NLT).

You cannot get close to God in your complaining, and you will never be far from God in your thankfulness. God is light, and the lack of thankfulness is darkness, and the two will never belong together. The more thankful you are, the brighter your light will shine.

Just as the Lord inhabits our praises, the Devil makes his camp in our complaints. “But You are holy, O You who inhabits the praises of Israel” (Psalm 22:3 MEV).

The roots of bitterness can only produce bitter fruit. Nothing good comes from always focusing on the bad. When you’re only angry at God, you are not in a place to know how much He loves you. You are filled with whatever you pour out.

Your struggles will either make you bitter or better; the choice is up to you. “Look after each other so that not one of you will fail to find God’s best blessings. Watch out that no bitterness takes root among you, for as it springs up it causes deep trouble, hurting many in their spiritual lives” (Hebrews 12:15 TLB).

Being thankful always doesn’t mean you’re thankful for everything. I’m not thankful for my pain, but that He helps me through it. I’m not thankful I was laid up in bed all week, but I’m thankful I have a bed. You can be thankful if you want to be.

You can either be thankful for what you have or bitter about what you don’t have, and your choice will determine your happiness and contentment. “It is better to be happy with what you have than to always want more and more. Always wanting more and more is useless. It is like trying to catch the wind” (Ecclesiastes 6:9 ERV).

You don’t have to be thankful for the circumstance to be thankful in the circumstance. When you do learn to be thankful, even in the worst times, the Lord will fill you with a joy that doesn’t make sense to anyone in this world. Thankful roots bear sweet fruits.

Go to God with your problems and let Him determine the best solutions. “Don’t worry about anything, but pray about everything. With thankful hearts offer up your prayers and requests to God” (Philippians 4:6 CEV).

I have a daily routine where each night, before I go to bed, I write down three things that I am thankful for. I almost always have new things every night. It is a practice that sets the direction of my heart. Then I write a short prayer of thankfulness to God.

Thankfulness is a choice. “Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18 NLT).

Can you imagine your life filled with thankfulness and the peace of God overwhelming you? It is not a hard thing to do, because all you have to do is let God help you. Not one Scripture in the Bible teaches us that we must do everything on our own. So ask Him.

If you don’t fix the problem at the root, then you still have the problem. “Let your roots grow down into him [Jesus], and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness” (Colossians 2:7 NLT).

The secret power of thankfulness can change your life and fill you with a peace and a power you never imagined possible. If you were to determine in your will to live a thankful life, and let God help you do that, I promise you that your life will change forever.

Be as fervent in your thankfulness to God as you were in your request. “Give thanks to Yahweh. Call on his name. Make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him. Make music to praise him. Meditate on all the miracles he has done” (1 Chronicles 16:8-9 NOG).

Child of God, I don’t know what great trial you are going through right now. But I pray that God would show you all the things in your life that you can be thankful for. At a minimum, for all of us, we can be thankful that Jesus saved us for all of eternity.

The more you kneel in prayer, the further you will go. “Be persistent and devoted to prayer, being alert and focused in your prayer life with an attitude of thanksgiving” (Colossians 4:2 AMP).

Here are some words the Lord gave me many years ago on this topic:

When you’re thankful, you’re looking up. When you’re unthankful, you’re looking down.

When you’re thankful, you’re recognizing all God does for you. When you’re unthankful, you’re blaming Him for anything He hasn’t done.

When you’re thankful, you recognize that God can do anything. When you’re unthankful, you question His integrity; you question whether He is right.

The reason prayers are more powerful with thankfulness is that our hearts are right with God in our prayers. When we are unthankful towards God, we are in no position to ask for anything.

I’m praying for you, friends, that you would let the Lord help you enter into a season of thankfulness, and that your life would shine brightly for the Kingdom of God. May the Lord bless you on this journey to finding peace and contentment in your life.

Blessings to you always,

Paul Balius