The word ‘Thankful’, gives it away. Thank FULL. If you are FULL of thanks it is so honoring to God and stops us being filled by other thoughts that the enemy would want o put into our minds, the negative stuff about ourselves, each other, God and life.
It also drives those negatives away if they are already there. If you want to get the air out of a glass, a vacuum pump won’t do it. The air will rush in when you remove the pump, much simpler to just fill the glass with a liquid. It’s called displacement.
As a young Christian, I was going through a difficult time, experiencing a lot of perplexity with the Lord over things that were happening (or not happening) in my life and so was not in a peaceful place with the Lord.
During that time a very dear christian friend, Dena, sent me a cassette (yes I’m that old) with some Christian songs to listen to. The words of the song through which the Lord spoke strongly to me that day is still etched in my memory, and they are:-
‘With my hands lifted up and my mouth filled with praise, with a heart of thanksgiving I will bless you always’.
It restored my peace, I think because as I listened and allowed the Holy Spirit to fill my heart, it drove out all the disagreement I was harbouring with God over the way life was going for me. Being thankFULL, (not just a gritted teeth job), keeps us in harmony with the Lord, keeps us enjoying His friendship and keeps us filled with His joy.
ThankFULLness is so different to just ‘saying’ thank you. We all know what it is like to give someone something or to ’do’ something special for someone, and to have a ‘thank you…but I’d rather have…….’ in response. ThankFULLness expresses our agreement with the heart of God and ‘Can two walk together unless they be agreed’ (Amos chapter 3 vs 3)
ThankFULLness, leaves no room for the negative, doubts and fears, the suspicions that God is not quite doing it right by us. The little foxes that spoil the Vineyard. (Song of Songs Chapter2 vs 15). ThankFULLness then also allows us to talk with the Lord and share with Him, as with a loving Father those things which we don’t understand.
