We watched a nature program yesterday in which we were shown how an amazing, but unseen, event takes place in the rainforest, that causes the torrential rain to fall. We were shown, in this program, how the apparently insignificant fungus, which lives on, or sometimes unseen below the forest floor, is actually the agent that causes the torrential rain to fall. This happens because the tiny microscopic spores that the fungus releases become airborne and they are so light that they are carried up, on the slightest breeze, into the damp atmosphere where they ‘seed’ the water vapour. This causes the droplets of rain to form, which then fall, as vast quantities of rain.
We spoke yesterday of how our thanksgiving can ‘magnify the Lord’. It focuses our attention and that of others onto the goodness of God, so that we see Him and all His kindness, goodness, power and might more clearly. As I was praying this morning, I believe that, today, the Lord would speak to us prophetically through the powerful effect of those tiny fungus spores, that He wants us to know that our thanksgiving does more than magnify Him to the world, our thanksgiving rises up to heaven, and then becomes a significant part of releasing all that God has in His heart for us into our world.
As we give thanks, we magnify the Lord and focus our attention on His story, not the enemy’s. As our thanks is received in heaven it ‘seeds’ the vast amount of blessing that is stored up there for us, and we can therefore be the agent which causes the ‘rain of heaven’, the blessings of God to ‘fall’ upon the earth.
I just feel this is such an important lesson from nature. I might feel that my thanksgiving is small, even weak and insignificant, or I may feel that I have very little to give thanks for today, but if I can see that all those small, even insignificant moments, of ‘giving thanks’ are rising up to the Father’s heart, and they are seeding the blessing that He wants to pour out, then I think I will want to join in that wonderful hymn that Frances Ridley Havergal wrote 150 years ago, ‘Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord to thee; Take my moments and my days let them flow in ceaseless praise.’
And when we are praying for others, or for any situation that is on our hearts, let us be like Paul. He writes to the saints in Ephesus, ‘I do not cease giving thanks for you in my prayers.’ Ephesians 1:16. Wouldn’t we all like to be prayed for, with thanksgiving, like that. So in our praying let us not just focus on the problems and difficulties in life, but let us magnify the Lord, by thanking Him for what He has already done or begun to do. Then, as we pray, our thanksgiving will be ‘seeding’ the further blessings that we are looking for from the Lord, for ourselves and others.
I believe the Lord wants us to grow into a 24/7 lifestyle of thanksgiving. Let it be ‘on earth as in heaven’ where we see the four living creatures ceaselessly honouring the Lord saying, ‘Holy, Holy, holy is the Lord God, The Lord Almighty who was and who is and who is to come.’ Revelation 4:8. NASB. Let us be ceaseless in our thanksgiving, and increasingly keep our hearts filled with gratitude at all times, and in all situations, for His glory, and for our further blessing.
‘Let your joy be a continual feast. Make your life a prayer. And in the midst of everything be always giving thanks, for this is God’s perfect plan for you in Christ Jesus.’ 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.TPT.
