Joyce Meyer - Thankful... For What? (08/19/2019)
The Israelites turned an 11-day journey into 40 years of wilderness wandering largely because of constant murmuring and complaining instead of thankfulness. Drawing from 1 Thessalonians 5:18, Daniel's habit of giving thanks three times a day, and her own journey from an abusive childhood to victory through gratitude, the preacher stresses that aggressively giving thanks—even in the mess—adds power to our lives, changes atmospheres, blocks the enemy's work, and positions us for a great finish no matter how bad the start was.
Thankfulness Can Change Your Life
I believe that what you hear tonight, if you really take it into your life and you put it to work in your everyday life, I believe it has the power to change your life.
The Israelites spent 40 years in the wilderness trying to make what the Bible says was an 11-day journey. Now, that is really pretty dumb. But which one of us cannot say, been there, done that?
One of their big problems was they kept murmuring and complaining. Instead of being thankful, they complained a lot.
If we can only be thankful when we have got everything we want, then we do not even begin to know anything about having Christ-like character.
True Character Shows in Hard Times
Anybody—even a sinner that does not know a thing about God—can be thankful when everything is going their way.
So the big thing for us is to learn how to be just as thankful when things are not going good as we are when things are going good.
Because even when things are not going good in our life, we still have hope. We know that there is nothing that God cannot fix.
So we do not wait until it is fixed to start being thankful. We start thanking God in the middle of our mess.
We find something else in our life that is working. We find some body part that does feel okay. We find something our spouse is doing right. We find something about our job that we can endure and be happy about. Amen?
There is always something to be happy about. I said there is always something.
Give Thanks in Everything
1 Thessalonians 5:18 and 19. Thank God in everything. In everything.
So let me just stop and ask, what is going on in your life that you have been murmuring about and you have not once taken the time in that situation to say, well, God, this is happening and this is not fun and this hurts, but here are 10 things I am thankful for.
Thank God in everything, no matter what the circumstances might be—be thankful and give thanks.
This is something that I want to press tonight: the giving of thanks.
I think if I said, how many of you are thankful, you would all put your hand up. I am thankful.
Being Thankful vs. Giving Thanks
But you know what I am learning? Being thankful and giving thanks are two entirely different things.
We not only need to give thanks to God, but we need to thank people that are in our lives that are a blessing to us.
Do not take people for granted.
Do you know how many divorces could be eliminated if people in their homes were just using good manners within the family? Just being thankful.
76 times in the Bible it says give thanks.
So be thankful and give thanks. For this is the will of God for you who are in Christ Jesus.
From a Bad Start to a Good Finish
Even though I was abused as a child and had a very lousy start in life—never got to really be a child, do not ever remember being happy until I was in my 20s, did not ever get to have any fun, got in trouble for laughing as a child—I mean, I had a really bad beginning.
I was getting nowhere as long as I was grumbling and murmuring and complaining and feeling sorry for myself and being mad at everybody who had a good life.
It was only when I started finding things to be thankful for.
When God asked me to start taking care of my mom and dad as they got older, I mean, I thought that was just about the most unfair thing that God could possibly ask me to do. You have got to be kidding.
A Personal Turning Point
This is what I said: What did they ever do for me?
You know what I heard in my spirit? You are breathing, are you not?
I mean, they had me. So here I am. Did not have a good beginning, but I am having a good finish. And so can you!
It is not too late for you. No matter what kind of a lousy beginning you had or how lousy life is right now, you can still have a great finish.
There is more than one thing that God will lead you to do, but I am telling you, if you do not start being thankful—I mean, on purpose, aggressively thankful for the things that God is doing for you—and God is doing good things for everybody, even people who do not know Him.
The sun shines on the wicked and the good, on the just and the unjust.
Rip the Devil Apart with Gratitude
This is the part of this I am wanting somebody to get. I feel in my spirit that if somebody can just get this—you have had a lot of bad stuff happen to you. You have been negative. You are almost afraid to believe that good things are going to happen because you do not want to be disappointed. That is exactly where I was at.
If that is your attitude, I get it. I understand.
But I am also telling you, if you want your life to change—does anybody want their life to change?—you can literally rip the devil to shreds just through the power of being thankful.
Daniel's Habit of Thanksgiving
Daniel, in Daniel chapter 6, verse 10—three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed and gave thanks to God.
Even when the law came out that if anybody bowed down to any God except the king, they were going to be put in a lion's den—he still, and I love what the Bible says, he still, as was his custom.
That is why I am saying maybe we just need to form some new habits.
Maybe it would not be a bad idea to set an alarm and every hour stop and give thanks. Or three times a day, stop and give thanks.
We can form good habits and it is amazing how the bad habits have no room to work in our life just by forming good habits.
Instead of trying not to complain, why do you not just increase your gratitude and thanksgiving?
The Power of a Thankful Heart
I love what it says in Daniel 6:10—three times a day Daniel bowed down as was his custom with his windows open. He did not even become a sneaky grateful giver because he was afraid of the king.
He knew the power of gratitude. Sure enough, he slept all night in the lion's den—came out the next day unharmed.
We have added power to our lives as we become grateful.
If you want to increase the anointing on your life, be thankful.
If you want to increase the anointing on your church, just encourage everybody in it to get thankful.
Because gratitude adds power and complaining adds weakness to our lives. Amen?
Magnify the Lord in Affliction
Psalm 34, the first three verses: I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My life makes its boast in the Lord. Let the humble and afflicted hear and be glad.
Oh, magnify the Lord with me.
Who should be glad? The afflicted. Come on, we do not want to miss that.
Let the humble and the afflicted be glad. Let the afflicted be glad. Let the mistreated be glad.
The Danger of Complaining
I could go on and on and show you a lot more scriptures about thanksgiving, but I think I better take a little time and just chat at you for a few minutes about complaining.
1 Corinthians 10:9 through 11—We should not tempt the Lord, try His patience and become a trial to Him, critically appraising Him and exploiting His goodness—as some of them did and were killed by poisonous serpents.
He is talking about the Israelites when they were going through the desert.
Nor should you discontentedly complain as some of them did—and they were put entirely out of the way by the destroyer, which is death. 23,000 of them fell dead in one day.
Complaining Blocks Blessings
Serpents got into the camp through murmuring, grumbling, and complaining.
Thank God we live in the dispensation of grace, but I do not think we are going to drop dead if we complain—but I do think that we block our blessings, at least to some degree.
Thank God for His mercy and His goodness is not based on my ability to never complain, but I think it is a principle that if we do not learn to live with a grateful heart—and especially being grateful when things are not going our way—and to give thanks, not only to God but to people, I am telling you, I think you can change the atmosphere where you work, you can change the atmosphere in your home, you can change the atmosphere in a church, perhaps in a city, perhaps even in a nation.
What would happen if just the Christians got thankful?
We Should Be the Happiest People
We should be the happiest people on the face of the earth because we are not going to hell. I mean, that is something to be thankful for.
We are going to miss the whole brimstone and fire thing. Yeah, thank you. Amen.
If you are not happy now, you will get happy.
23,000 of them died and then they got a revelation: Moses, pray for us for we have sinned. Really? I wonder what gave you that clue.
I think if nothing else, we can at least go to bed at night and ask God to forgive us for any time we complained and murmured during the day. Amen.
The Israelites' Constant Grumbling
Numbers, chapter 14, verses 1 through 6—And all the congregation cried out with a loud voice and they wept all night.
All the Israelites grumbled and they hated their situation and they accused Moses and Aaron—to whom the whole congregation said, we just wish we would have died in Egypt or that we would have died in the wilderness.
These are the people that were begging God to get them out of bondage in Egypt.
Wonder how many times we begged God to change our situation—and He does not take us the route that we planned.
Transformation, Not Translation
We really do not want to be transformed. We want to be translated.
To get translated means I am here and then all of a sudden I am there. I get to skip all the going through part.
But when you are transformed, God arranges circumstances that force you to trust Him—and to stop being independent and stubborn and bullheaded.
There is a brokenness that has to take place in our life. Only God knows how to break us in the right places where we are not destroyed.
He breaks our pride. He breaks our stubbornness.
God Took the Long Way on Purpose
The Bible says that there was a shorter route that God could have taken them to the promised land but He took them the long hard way on purpose because they were not ready for war.
You think when you get into the promised land—when you are getting everything you want—there is going to be no more trouble from the devil? No—every new level is a new devil.
We have to learn how to do war and how to face our enemies while we are still in the wilderness because every level of new responsibility means you are going to have new things coming against you.
Heroes Respond Differently
Numbers 14 verse 3—Why does the Lord bring us to this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones are going to be a prey. It would just be better for us to return to Egypt.
Then they said to one another, let us choose a captain and return to Egypt.
The response of the men who became the leaders: Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the Israelites.
When they heard the complaining, it grieved them so much because they understood the danger of what they were doing that they just fell down flat on their faces before God and I am sure started praying for God to forgive them.
Choose to Be a Hero for God
Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephthah, who were among the scouts who had searched out the land—they rent their clothes. They were so grieved that they tore their clothes.
These are four men that get talked about in the Bible as being heroes. The rest of them, you never hear anything about again.
Do you want to be talked about as a hero for God? Or do you want to just get lost somewhere out in the wilderness and maybe, yes, end up in heaven, but never really do anything here that is going to count for anything?
Stop Complaining—Start Thanking
I know a lot of times we think we are looking for some deep, complicated answer to our intense, complicated burdens.
God, what is wrong? If You will just show me what kind of hierarchy demon this is.
God is just trying to say tonight, will you just stop complaining and be thankful?
This is something I can do! Amen?
Oh God, what is wrong with my life? I do not understand what is wrong with my life. God, what is wrong with my life? My lousy, stinking, terrible, miserable life that I hate. I wish I had somebody else’s life, God.
Now, thank You for my life, Lord. Thank You for everything that has even happened to me in my life. Because I trust You to work it out. Amen! For good.
Thank God Even for the Pain
If you are bold enough, you can even thank God for the pain that you are going through right now.
You know why? Because when you are hurting, you either go under or you go over.
But if you go over, you get to know God in a way that you could not possibly have known Him without that pain in your life.
You can have something in God that nobody can take away from you.
Are you seeing that this is not just a little message on being thankful? Is anybody seeing the difference?
I am saying this can change your life and add power to you that you might not ever have otherwise.
Come on, give God praise. Thank You, Jesus.