THE SACRIFICE OF THANKSGIVING

THE SACRIFICE OF THANKSGIVING

Friday 18th October 2024

Exodus 3:7-8

God delivered close to three million Israelites from bondage in Egypt and all of them had the promise to enter the promised land, yet not all of them entered it because of ingratitude.

They began well but along the way, the desert heat and hunger exposed their hearts and character: they were a generation that loved to complain and murmur.

One thing that will keep you in the same place for a long time is a heart filled with ingratitude, complaining and murmuring.

Exodus 16:2-3 Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness...

Every time the Israelites lacked something, they complained and murmured to Moses. They had forgotten the pain, beatings, bondage, suffering and shame which they had been delivered from in Egypt.

They were so focused on their current condition that was only for a season, to change their confessions. This led to millions of them perishing without seeing the promised land yet it was God’s will for them to enter it.(Numbers 14:29-39, 1 Corinthians 10:9)

Don't rob yourself of the promises of God because of your current situation. God does not relent on His Word, let your heart know that it is done and praise be upon your lips despite the desert you are in today.

Hebrews 13:15 Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of [our] lips, giving thanks to His name.

The sacrifice of thanksgiving is when people expect you to cry and complain but you lift up your hands and praise the Lord, no matter the hardship or pressure around you.

The children of Israel forgot. They were blinded by their condition in the wilderness to a point of despising the very food God was giving them by asking Moses, ‘what is this mana?’

Have you reached that place where you are downplaying that little miracle that God did for you? That is a trap of Satan to keep you in the wilderness longer than you should.

Anyone will lift their voice and thank God because of something big and great. There is nothing special about that because God doesn't judge us based on big things.

He says this in Luke 16:10, He who [is] faithful in [what is] least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in [what is] least is unjust also in much.

If you can't give God true praise and thanksgiving for what you call the little, but when the big happens, you lift your hands in praise, that's fake!

One of the things we need to develop is to be deliberate about the heart of gratitude. Be the kind of believer who is always grateful for the least and I guarantee you that you will qualify for the big.

Always remember that one of the greatest instruments that God uses to lift a man is a grateful heart. Judgment is not made when the big things come, it's made when the small things are happening in your life.

Psalms 75:6-7(KJV) For promotion [cometh] neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God [is] the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.

God is a just judge. However, the reason most of us disqualify ourselves from promotions in life, is because we have not learnt that God judges us on the small things.

If you do not have it, don't fake it. Just break down before the Lord and tell Him; 'Lord, forgive me, I need that heart that rejoices honestly in the little.' Then, you will begin to see things quicken in your life.

Further study

1 Kings 18:43-44

STAY BLESSED AND HIGHLY FAVORED, WE LOVE YOU. PASTOR BEN OCHOLA!