Power Of A Thanksgiving Prayer

Dear Father,

     Today I want to say a big "Thank You!” for all that You have given me in Jesus.  Thank You for living in me through Your own Holy Spirit. Thank You for the opportunity of having a brand new Resurrection Life through Him, and becoming a brand new creation! Jesus said that Holy Spirit is the Promised One from the Father and He brings me all the promises for my life ready and waiting to be given and fulfilled.  Thank You for giving me the promised power of the Spirit of Grace and Peace every single day so that I never have to live another day depressed or in want.

      Thank You that You haven’t just given me “promises” but You have given to me, great and precious promises, so that I can become just like Jesus; so that the Kingdom that is in me, becomes the kingdom that rules and reigns in me as I ask for, receive, and live in those promises. Thank You that You are The Promise Keeper working diligently and persistently in me, to bring me in to that wonderful place called the Land Full of Promises.

     Thank You for making Your Word alive to me.  Thank You that every plan you have is good and it is kind and it is meant to give me hope.  Thank You that every word You speak is loving and patient and full of grace and mercy.

Thank You that the greatest encourager in the Kingdom of God lives right inside me, because You knew that I would need Him on a regular basis.

Thank You for the promised power of the Holy Spirit. Thank You for His anointing that releases that power.  Thank You for that power being released today over my future, the future of my family, and each day You have set before me.

    Thank You for an increase of Your peace in every situation. Thank You for an increase of promises fulfilled, as I lift them to You. Thank You for dreams fulfilled today and more to come tomorrow.

You are an amazing, generous, kind, and lovely God.  Thank You for changing my life and preparing me for a glorious future in heaven with You. And thank You, dearest Father, for giving me what I need today to change my little corner of the world as I live anointed, empowered, embraced by, and encouraged by Your promises to me. I am especially thankful for the Promise I have that when I give my heartfelt thanks to You, it is a great delight to You and allow me to delight in Your presence.

Thankfully,

Your very grateful child.

Power Of Please and Thank You!

Key Scripture:  “Enter His gates with Thanksgiving”.  Psalm 100

Power Point:

     I know you’ve probably seen this scripture a lot of times in the last few weeks.  Everyone is thinking about celebrating Thanksgiving. At our family celebrations when the children were growing up, I would always ask them what they were thankful for.  They would grimace and look at me with that “Oh Mom, not AGAIN!” look and finally come up with some sort of answer.

     If you think about it, we have become a “thankless” society haven’t we?  Even Christians, who are continually encouraged to “Be thankful in all things” sometimes forget. People have lost their awareness of the joy that comes from being thankful. They simply take their blessings for granted. In fact, I guess you could say that being thankful is a lost art.

     In Ecclesiastes, Solomon writes about the man that God has given riches and wealth, and the power to eat of it.  In other words, he is able to be grateful to God and enjoys the blessings in his life. If I asked you today, that question that made my kids grimace, “What are you thankful for”, would you have a ready answer?  Is your heart filled with gratitude to God for His blessings? Have you taken time to list them recently? 

     My grandchildren have been taught (thankfully) to say “thank you”.  My daughter met a family the other day and the highest praise she could give them was “Mom, they said “please and thank you”. Isn’t it sad that those words have become a rarity in our society? Scripture says that we enter into God’s presence with Thanksgiving. What does that say about us? Are we living in His presence? What a large difference there would be in our society, if we taught our children the value of saying, “please and thank you.”

     Have you ever thought about how you can demonstrate your thankful heart to him? Beyond the obvious way of speaking it out, the greatest way  we can show our gratitude to Him, is to live our lives FOR Him; following the wisdom He has given us, and using the gifts He has given us to bring Him glory. We can let His goodness be obvious in us and through us. You can be the one to bring heaven to earth on a daily basis for someone.  (And I hope they say “thank you!”)

    You are His ambassador, His beloved child, His adoring Bride and His Chosen Way to show His goodness, and change people’s lives. He’s chosen to limit Himself to your asking, your receiving, and your Blessing, because He absolutely loves His partnership with you. What powerful potential each of us has!  We should at least say “Thank You”, don’t you think?

Power Thought:

“The unthankful heart discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!”

Henry Ward Beecher

Copyright © 2014, Suzanne Roberts, Unpublished Work.

Power of The Effect Of Righteousness

Key Scripture:  “The work of righteousness will be peace.The effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever."  Isaiah 32:17

Power Point:

     There is a very valuable lesson to be learned from the wilderness journey of the Children of Israel. It’s chronicled in 1 Corinthians 10:1-5.

To summarize:

They all walked under the same cloud of the Presence of God.

They all ate the same spiritual food.

They all drank the same spiritual drink, because they drank Living Water from the spiritual Rock, which was Christ.

But out of the millions, only a few were allowed to enter the land of Promises. Why?

"But just experiencing God’s wonder and grace didn’t seem to mean much—most of them were defeated by temptation during the hard times in the desert, and God was not pleased."

    I’ve seen and I've been the person who forgets that God is there and is ready to deliver us from any temptation and give us victory for any battle.  Not only that, but He has good plans for us.  All the Children of Israel thought about was the next step.  In spite of all of the Miracles that God did for them, they quickly forgot them and focused on the problems they faced.  You can understand that God was not pleased. They refused to walk by faith.  They grumbled and complained and never once thanked God that in spite of the giants they faced, they knew He would be faithful and He would deliver them.

  God wanted peace for them but they chose to ignore it. Peace comes from a vital relationship with Him.

God’s plan for them was quietness and assurance forever.  What happened?

Beloved, we have to fight for peace.  We have to fight those negative, unfaithful thoughts that come.  We have to pick up our swords and FIGHT BACK!

I see Christians who consider themselves victims, because of the poor choices they have made.  How can that be?

I see people who refuse to search for the Kingdom treasures and then fall by the wayside.  How can that be? It certainly is not God's plan.

God's plan for you.

     Beloved, if you are in a place where confusion and doubt, and chaos are screaming at you, you need to go back to where you lost your peace. Your peace comes from knowing that God is on your side and that He is amazing at doing the miraculous for you.  Have you forgotten that?  Is a  piece of your peace missing?

    Might I lovingly suggest that you go back to where you lost your piece of peace; where you began to go your own direction instead of His?  How can you tell?

Peace reigns or chaos reigns.

Faith reigns or fear reigns.

Hope reigns or discouragement reigns.

     You have been called to reign in this life by the power of the Holy Spirit. You’ve been called to use all the power and authority of heaven to rule over all the power of the enemy.

There are no victims in the kingdom Beloved, only winners, victors, and conquerors.

We all have the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead living in us.  We all have the same God around us at all times.  We all have the same opportunity to eat heavenly food and drink Living Water.

Is your life scattered in your wilderness right now, or are you preparing the way for God to show up? Is peace having a good effect?

Power Thought:

Our lives should be living proof of the goodness, the power, and the victory of God over every single thing that satan throws at us. NO weapon can prosper against the child of God, who Knows their God and trusts Him.

Copyright © 2014, Suzanne Roberts, Unpublished Work

Power Of Balance

Key Scripture:  “Direct my steps by Your Word.” Psalm 119:133

Power Point:

     Jesus had a kind heart.  He took such joy in whatever He did, didn’t He?  He loved extravagantly and patiently.  When He offered His peace, He was offering to us the exact same relationship that He had with His Father.  He was offering us the same opportunities to walk out of lack into heavenly provision.  He offered to actually let us see through the windows of heaven into a life filled with the love and power and presence of God every single moment of every single day.

     Unfortunately, sometimes we keep one foot in the provision of the world, and one in the kingdom of heaven don’t we?   Then we wonder why things aren’t going so well.  Beloved, that never works.  Once you enter into the kingdom of God, you must close the door to the world behind you. All the life and power and promises of God are ahead of you. You cannot live trying to balance between two worlds. 

     I recently watched as Nik Wallenda walked a tightrope between some buildings in Chicago.  He has a family history of doing that and his whole life has been dedicated to training himself to walk that tiny little rope over a huge world below him. He obviously has learned to become as comfortable as possible, walking above what he sees.  On this walk, he even did a portion of the walk blindfolded.   He's learned how to keep his balance even though he can't see the next step.  As he walks, you can hear his prayers and his praises to His father.

     Isn't that a good balance for us too?  Kingdom children learn to walk

wherever they are by balancing themselves between God's promises and His character. Over time they learn that it doesn't matter how small and narrow the path is, or how difficult it is. They keep their balance. They have learned to exercise their faith and it grounds them in heavenly places. They have learned to know their God and He steadies them.  It doesn't matter where they walk; they have a family history of walking on water or any other substance. They have "water-walker" DNA in their blood. They know they will find the perfect balance.

    Just for a moment, close your eyes and imagine yourself walking above the world, above your circumstances, taking one step at a time until you find yourself at the other side. Imagine yourself feeling the wind of the Holy Spirit blowing gently at your back as He encourages you to move forward.  Imagine Jesus walking backward on the rope in front of you, holding both your hands, encouraging you to "Come on Beloved!"  Imagine the freedom of walking by faith, not doubt.  Imagine the joy of your heavenly Father as you continue step after step after step, trusting Him.

Imagine yourself becoming so assured and so confident that you begin running to the other side and find yourself being hugged by your Father.

You can keep your balance even if you can’t see the next step.

Power Thought:

It's actually pretty crowded on that tightrope when you think about it. If you could see those angels around you, holding you up; the Holy Spirit hovering behind you and Jesus walking ahead of you.  And then, of course, there’s your Father waiting at the other side, arms wide open. What a glorious cloud of witnesses!



Copyright (c) 2014, Unpublished Work, Suzanne Roberts