From the desk of Steve Shultz:
The spirit of Thanksgiving is alive today! You'll read about it in this word by John Belt below.
John shares: A heart of thanksgiving is of utmost importance to see God move in our lives and in the lives of others. Thanksgiving opens the gate of Heaven and the gate of our hearts to receive His activity in our lives.
From all of us here at the Elijah List - Happy Thanksgiving. We pray today is filled with great blessings from the Father and amongst dear friends and family.
John Belt:
Today - Give Him Honor and Thanks
Eyes That Recognize
Matthew 13:16-17 But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
We need eyes that see and ears that hear, that perceive and understand what God is doing. Having the ability to recognize the Lord's work in our midst enables us to give Him honor and thanks. If we cannot value what is going on, then we don't have a launching pad for thanksgiving.
A heart of thanksgiving is of utmost importance to see God move in our lives and in the lives of others. Thanksgiving opens the gate of Heaven and the gate of our hearts to receive His activity in our lives. Without the gate-opener of praise and thanksgiving, we are left in a place of stagnation. The river of God's life is dammed up because of our lack of appreciation for what He has done and is doing.
If we cannot think of the good things He has done in our lives we have been stolen from. We all have the gift of life. We all have the ability to connect with God and be filled with His presence. We all have the choice to choose Him. Just to have the ability to choose is one of the greatest gifts of all. We can choose to enter into His life through our own spiritual hunger. Being hungry for God will bring us into a place of life and thanksgiving and open up the gates of Heaven, making us truly a people who are blessed to be a blessing.
Receiving His Glory
Isaiah 12:2-3 Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; "For YAH, the LORD, is my strength and song; He also has become my salvation. Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation."
When we see what God is doing we need to have a heart that can receive what He is doing that we may be the beneficiaries of what is happening. There is no striving in receiving from the Lord, but rather a laying down of our lives to receive His life.
There is a letting go of things that hinder so that we can lay hold of things eternal. Our own flesh tries to work to earn God's blessings but they are given to us because we cannot begin to pay the price. The price we pay is spiritual hunger. We become hungry and pursue the Lord, being transformed into the habitations of God.
The Holy Spirit is the distributor of all the goodness and gifts of God. When we learn to draw from the wells of the Holy Spirit, we are able to gain access to the unlimited treasures of His presence and life. He freely gives us all things that pertain to life and godliness.
We should desire to be "like God" in the context of being reflectors of His glorious face. We are to be imitators of Christ in all that He lived out before us in the earth, not just bearing the fruit of the Spirit but demonstrating the Kingdom of God in power.
Deeper Thanks Equals Deeper Glory
Psalm 140:13 Surely the righteous shall give thanks to Your name; the upright shall dwell in Your presence.
Being receptors of His glory and presence, we then should enter into deeper thanksgiving, higher praise and greater commitment to His heart. In remembering the works of God we more and more experience His works in our midst. The more we recognize what He is doing, the more He pours out. It is the recognition, not taking things lightly, that He continues doing what He does, and bringing it up a level continues to increase His activity in our lives.
Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness shall be filled. Everything that God does is an act of His loving goodness and righteousness. The ability to see what God is doing, to honor Him for it through thanksgiving, and the hunger for more of His activity pay great dividends!
The more we recognize what God is doing, the more we can enter into gratefulness and the more He will pour out because of thankful hearts! More Lord!
John Belt
Live In His Presence Ministries
Email: admin@liveinhispresence.com
