Category: Devotions

And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:20

I know sometimes in life we all experience difficulty. In the midst of those situations, the absolute last thing on your mind is thanking God. So I encourage you today, to start approaching life from a place of gratitude and see your perspective change right before your eyes.

I began doing my gratitude/thankfulness jar back in January, as a challenge to myself. God used my daily writing down things that I am grateful for to change who I am. At one point, I had a victim mentality and felt like bad things were always happening to me. I struggled to see the good in life. I struggled to see how blessed I was because the lenses I saw life through were distorted. And that is often the case for us all. If we have experienced something bad, we see life through the hurt. This is why it is critical for us to renew our minds. It is essential for us pull and pluck the lies that have become overgrowth in our mind. Those lies have tainted how we see the future and have become barriers to our living in the now with a positive outlook. In situations like this, it is critical to overcome the lies by resetting our minds. Telling God thank you and counting our blessings is a great way to start.

Today, I encourage you to write down things you are thankful for, from the most minute to the big things. Allow God to reshape and mold your mind and to tear down those strongholds and negative mindsets that are keeping you from His greatness.

We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:4-5

But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. Genesis 19:26
How many times have you looked back and said "I don’t want to let go?" Maybe never verbally said those words, but your actions speak loudly enough for you. Your choosing to stay in a relationship God did not intend for you to be in, your being too afraid to apply for that job, your being too skeptical and not trying alternate treatments or getting a second opinion…these are often ways we say I don’t want to let go and move forward.

But today I encourage you to look at Lot’s wife. Her refusing to let go cost a deadly price. Don’t let the past keep you stagnant and paralyzed there to the point that you cannot see the blessings that are in front of you. The devil intended those things that happened to you for evil against you, to break you and to defeat you. But you are more than a conqueror! You have already received the victory in Jesus. You are a victor and in letting go and moving forward, you open your hands and heart for the blessing of the Lord to fall upon you.

~Marquita