TOPIC: THE POWER OF THANKSGIVING
When we read the Old Testament, we may wonder about the significance of feasts, sacrifices, and thanksgiving offerings. However, I have come to understand that supernatural abundance often accompanies them.
v John 6:11(TLB)Then Jesus took the loaves and gave thanks to God and passed them out to the people. Afterwards he did the same with the fish. And everyone ate until full
Thanksgiving is not ordinary; it is a divine principle that facilitates supernatural multiplication.
Where thanksgiving ceases, blessings often diminish.
John 6:2-13(NLT)2 A huge crowd kept following him wherever he went, because they saw his miraculous signs as he healed the sick. 3 Then Jesus climbed a hill and sat down with his disciples around him. 4 (It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration.) 5 Jesus soon saw a huge crowd of people coming to look for him. Turning to Philip, he asked, “Where can we buy bread to feed all these people?” 6 He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do.7 Philip replied, “Even if we worked for months, we wouldn’t have enough money to feed them!”8 Then Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up. 9 “There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?”10 “Tell everyone to sit down,” Jesus said. So they all sat down on the grassy slopes. (The men alone numbered 5,000.) 11 Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people. Afterward he did the same with the fish. And they all ate as much as they wanted. 12 After everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, “Now gather the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted.” 13 So they picked up the pieces and filled twelve baskets with scraps left by the people who had eaten from the five barley loaves.
In the ministry of Jesus, thanksgiving unveils spiritual truths about the secrets of miracles – whether healing, provision, or salvation.
It demonstrates the heart of God in action.
John 11:41-45(NIV)41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
Thanksgiving for salvation is especially profound. . We cannot thank Jesus enough for His ultimate sacrifice – His blood shed for our redemption.
Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin.
When God accepts a blood sacrifice, it signifies that the life within that sacrifice possesses the power to cleanse the evil—death—that courses through our veins.
For the life of the flesh is in the blood.
Lev 17:11-12(NLT)11 for the life of the body is in its blood. I have given you the blood on the altar to purify you, making you right with the Lord. It is the blood, given in exchange for a life, that makes purification possible.
Thanksgiving and sacrifice are part of God’s divine agenda to sustain and preserve His blessings in our lives.
Gen 8:20-22(NLT)20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and there he sacrificed as burnt offerings the animals and birds that had been approved for that purpose. 21 And the Lord was pleased with the aroma of the sacrifice and said to himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of the human race, even though everything they think or imagine is bent toward evil from childhood. I will never again destroy all living things. 22 As long as the earth remains, there will be planting and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night.”
Receiving a revelation of thanksgiving can move God on your behalf as well as for your family, Church, and nation.
Ps 50:14-15(NLT)14 Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God, and keep the vows you made to the Most High. 15 Then call on me when you are in trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory.
Ps 116:17-19 (NLT)17 I will offer you a sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord. 18 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people— 19 in the house of the Lord in the heart of Jerusalem. Praise the Lord!
You can only break through the gate of a great king with thanksgiving
100:4-5(KJV) Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.5 For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.
Solomon’s offering of a thousand burnt sacrifices transformed his life and translated him into supernatural realm.
1 Kings 3:3-15(NLT)3 Solomon loved the Lord and followed all the decrees of his father, David, except that Solomon, too, offered sacrifices and burned incense at the local places of worship. 4 The most important of these places of worship was at Gibeon, so the king went there and sacrificed 1,000 burnt offerings. 5 That night the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream, and God said, “What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you!”
Developing a life style of thanksgiving.
Ps 107:1-20 (KJV) O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy;3 And gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south.4 They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in.5 Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them.6 Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.7 And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation.8 Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!9 For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.10 Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron;11 Because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of the most High:12 Therefore he brought down their heart with labour; they fell down, and there was none to help.13 Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses.14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder.15 Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!16 For he hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder.17 Fools because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted.18 Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat; and they draw near unto the gates of death.19 Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses.20 He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions. 21 Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!22 And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.
Thanksgiving as a warfare.
1 Sam 7:7-13(NIV)7 When the Philistines heard that Israel had assembled at Mizpah, the rulers of the Philistines came up to attack them. And when the Israelites heard of it, they were afraid because of the Philistines. 8 They said to Samuel, “Do not stop crying out to the Lord our God for us, that he may rescue us from the hand of the Philistines.” 9 Then Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it up as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. He cried out to the Lord on Israel’s behalf, and the Lord answered him. 10 While Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle. But that day the Lord thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites. 11 The men of Israel rushed out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, slaughtering them along the way to a point below Beth Car. 12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far has the Lord helped us.” 13 So the Philistines were subdued and did not invade Israelite territory again.
We read these accounts in Scripture – Are they real, or have they become mere religious jargon?
Let us believe and act on the truths of thanksgiving and sacrifice to unlock the fullness of God’s blessings.
