Thanking God
Thanking God ~
By Tania Francis (Paraparaumu Beach, New Zealand)
“In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18, KJV).
“Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7, KJV).
“And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful” (Colossians 3:15, NKJV).
I recently received an E-Mail from someone thanking me for my testimony on our website. This person informed me that they had forwarded it to the people in their Bible study group. I was happy that my testimony had blessed so many people. I had written this testimony around 7 years ago. The next day I was pondering my testimony and remembered something I had written which was ‘God once told me that everyone is healed; they just have to walk in it’. I had asked Him about it at the time and this is what He had shown me. Not everyone is healed immediately, for there can be spiritual blockages and mind-sets that can get in the way. Opening yourself up, and allowing others to minister to you, can set you up for the beginnings of your healing to take place. He has pre-destined a specific time and place that you will receive your healing. As long as you continue to make Jesus the Lord of your life you will eventually end up at that pre-destined place. There just may be some obstacles you have to face before you receive your answered prayers.
BLOCKAGES
Coming back to the present day the part that said ‘Everyone is healed’ was bothering me. I asked God “What do You mean, everyone is healed?” I had been very unwell for many years and was waiting for healing. Well-meaning people were telling me that I was already healed when I was clearly suffering. This had always been something I struggled to understand and it really bothered me. Were these people correct after all in what they were telling me? Should I have been claiming I was healed when I was clearly suffering? The Lord then showed me that the moment you receive Jesus as your Lord and Saviour and are born-again you inherit every blessing from God because Jesus died to attain it for you. This includes health, wealth, wholeness, prosperity, love, joy, peace and much more. He showed me that every single person who received Jesus inherited all these things. In fact it was His personal guarantee that these things were yours – no ‘ifs, nor buts’! This includes everybody! He then spoke these words: “It is time to start thanking Me for what I have for you. I need you to focus on what I have inherited for you and I need you to really believe that these things are yours, and thank Me for them.” He then showed me a vision of myself sitting on the couch with a lotto ticket in my hand. I was marking them off and saw that I had all the winning numbers. In my vision I jumped up in the air screaming “I am rich!” In reality you are not actually considered ‘rich’ until you have cashed in the lotto ticket and received the cash, but the winning ticket gives you the absolute assurance you are going to receive the winnings.This is how He wants us to see our inheritance. He then went on to say: “You have not understood true faith. True faith is believing what I have for you, even though you cannot see it. You have an inheritance through Christ, do you believe this?” I said “Yes, absolutely.” He said: “It is a ‘guarantee’, an ‘absolute’ that wholeness, health, wealth and prosperity is yours. However, some don’t receive the fullness of their inheritance until they have passed from this earth into the Heavenly realm. This is because of blockages, and I am showing you how to access your inheritance by removing the blockages, so you can then teach others. The blockages are never on My end; they are on yours. Blockages are things like unyielded areas, sin, mind-sets, unforgiveness, curses, and entering into the occult. There are many factors involved that need keys to unlock these areas in order to receive all I have for you”.
FAITH
I then asked Him: “What about the people who told me to claim I was healed when I wasn’t? How does this fit in to all of this?” The Lord spoke: “It is all about perspective and the right context. If you had leprosy I wouldn’t expect you to go to your neighbour and tell them your leprosy was healed when you could clearly see it wasn’t, as this would be a lie. You can proclaim as an act of faith that you are healed as you ‘see’ the end picture which is the promise of your inheritance because you believe what you are shown, but to actually give a testimony that you have been healed when you haven’t yet received it becomes false testimony. Faith is about the belief. What does your heart believe? Faith believes so much that in your excitement you declare what you believe. People need to use the word of God in the correct context. There is a balance in all things in the ways of God. Declaring you are healed in the hope that you might be is not faith. Faith is 100% belief, with no room for doubt. You have an inheritance – it is yours. It is time to start focusing on this inheritance, believe in it and thank Me for it.”
SEEING AS GOD SEES
Getting this perspective from God enabled me to see in a whole new light. I now understood the difference between faith (truly believing and declaring the truth in your faith) and merely hoping. Faith previously did not come from my heart. My faith operated from hope. I hoped it would happen, but my heart was full of doubt because the promise of my healing had taken so long. I truly believe that every believer who has Jesus in their heart has been given an inheritance of blessing. God does not lie and the word of God shows us this truth. We need to see as God sees. God sees us as finished. He sees us from a God-perspective and not a human-perspective. We need to see ourselves from His perspective and start thanking Him for the finished result – even when we can’t see it yet! Faith is believing and seeing the end result, then walking in it. Focus on the end goal and ask God to take you there. See yourself as whole and start praising the Lord. In fact He once told a friend of mine that thanking Him (instead of complaining to Him) helps to release the keys faster in order to receive the blessings.
PRAY THIS PRAYER: “Father God I repent for lack of thanks. I repent for complaining and moaning. Help me to see the big picture, the end result. Help me to focus on my inheritance that Jesus attained for me. Help me to see ‘The finished result’, in the same way that You see. Thank You Father God for all the blessings and favour of God you have for me. Thank You Jesus for the health, wealth, prosperity, love, joy, peace, wholeness and favour of God you attained for me. Thank You for the inheritance. It is mine. I see it Lord, I see the end result - I am whole, I am healed, I am free, I am blessed – I believe this because I see the big picture. Thank You Jesus. Take me all the way Lord Jesus so I can be who You destined me to be. I pray this in the wonderful name of Jesus, Amen”.