Spiritual Warfare – Thankfulness

Spiritual Warfare – Thankfulness

“Enter into his gates with thanksgiving,
and into his courts with praise:
be thankful unto him, and bless his name”
Psalm 100:4

SELAH

“Do all things without complaining and arguing”
Philippians 2:14

To what end?

“that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without defect in the middle of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world”
Philippians 2:15

I am slowly discovering (and I do mean slowly) the power of thankfulness. Thankfulness is a major weapon in warfare for the child of God. It is a disposition which protects us from bitterness and self-pity. There is a resiliency in the thankful heart; in its hold the child of God can overcome many obstacles. Bitterness and acrimony undermine God’s graces; they rob us of the power to see clearly. There is a buoyancy and a freedom that comes if we can remain untouched by the contagion of self. The nature of self is prone to complaining and resentment. These can easily gravitate to animosity, anger and the deadly sins which lurk in those dark places. Prayer is a vital link to overcoming bitterness.

“Continue in prayer,
and watch in the same with thanksgiving”
Colossians 4:2

One of the greatest miracles of God in His work within His children is to create a life which walks uprightly in this world full of compromise and sin. It takes the power of Grace to so enable us to hold to the way of God. Temptation and darkness without, weakness and frailty within is the everyday conflict of the Christian life. Let us consider and give thanks unto Him who alone can make us stand as lights in the growing darkness.

In this Day of growing hostility, it is essential that we be arrayed with thankfulness unto Him who, by His grace, can make us stand. It is a Grace by which we can be untouched by all of the stratagems of Satan himself.

“Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled”
Hebrews 12:15

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“In every thing give thanks:
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you”
1 Thessalonians 5:18

Brian Troxel