Prayer: Day 8

“Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Jesus Christ.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NLT)
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There have been times in my life when it was not easy to be thankful in all circumstances.  When relationships, finances, jobs loss or health issues were crumbling all around me, how could I give thanks?

How can we give thanks for all the bad or hard things in our lives?

“But giving thanks is a sacrifice that honors me.  If you keep to my path, I will reveal to you to the Salvation of God”  (Psalm 50:23).  Did you catch that? When we give thanks to the Lord, He recognizes it as a sacrifice that honors Him. Think of giving thanks in a similar light to what Old Testament Jews experienced when they had to sacrifice their very best animals to the Lord.

Lay your sacrifice, your painstaking words of thanksgiving on the altar. Give your very best thanksgiving to the Lord.  God will be honored by it.  Once you lay your sacrifice of thanksgiving on the altar, “Offer it as an aroma pleasing to the Lord” (Numbers 15:76).  
Even if we do not understand, there is a reason the Lord is asking us to sacrifice, whether it happens in the spiritual or physical. Your situation may not change today, tomorrow or in a month, but your heart will be forever changed.  You will see the blessings of the Lord rain down on you in showers of love, peace, guidance, and the truth of God’s care for you.

Let us give thanks to the Lord right now in whatever situation we are in. 

​-Johanna
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