When We Give Thanks (Part 1)

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GOG - 18 - 244 - When We Give Thanks (Part 1)

When We

GIVE THANKS (Part 1)

Pastor Charles Omofomah 41 Then they took away the stone from

Bibles and state all that happened there

And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 And I know that You always hear Me,

by heart. God opened my eyes to certain

but because of the people who are

heard Me.”

truths embedded in those verses of

standing by I said this, that they may

The story of Lazarus in John chapter 11 is a story that most Christians can close their

Scripture. These truths I will share with

the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have John 11:41

believe that You sent Me.” 43 Now when He had said these things,

Thanksgiving Will Bring You Out Of The Grave

you in this article and the next. Also I

He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus,

believe that this will prepare you for the

come forth!”

The ^irst thing that thanksgiving will do

44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”

John 11:34-44

for you is that it will bring you out of the

Thanksgiving could be done with your

describes his grave as a cave sealed with a

mouth through singing, when you bring

stone after he was buried. Not just that,

offerings to the Lord or give whatever

four days had gone by, and his body had

kind of thanks as recommended by the

started smelling. Putting it in a cave made

this Man, who opened the eyes of the

Word of God. A lot of people give thanks

it even worse as there was no room for

blind, also have kept this man from

only when a pastor says, “Lift your hands

dying?”

fresh air to circulate, thus accelerating the

and give God thanks,” and they respond

process of decay! So his sisters were right

season of thanksgiving we are entering into. What happens when we give thanks?

34 And He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.”

35 Jesus wept.

36 Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!”

37 And some of them said, “Could not

38 Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a

with: “Hallelujah.” Thanksgiving is a

stone lay against it.

routine for such persons. That is not the

39 Jesus said: “Take away the stone.”

Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”

40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” 41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying.

kind of thanksgiving I am talking about. I am talking about the kind of thanks that comes from your heart; the kind that you give fully aware of what you are saying. I pray that you will commit these truths to heart and practice them and you will get

grave. The situation in our text was one in which the sisters of Lazarus who loved him so much had given up on. The Bible

when they told Jesus that it was already stinking by that time.

Maybe your situation is such that it has begun to stink. It may have gotten so bad that you are not the only one who can perceive the smell; even people around

your desired change because that is what

you can smell the foul odour of your

happened here when Jesus gave thanks.

situation.

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GOG - 18 - 244 - When We Give Thanks (Part 1)

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Your name may have become synonymous

“deader” than the dead, Jesus refused to

joker. In the midst of this mess, I will give

with the word “reproach.” Your situation not withstanding: I have good news for you!

Lazarus’ situation was so bad that his sisters couldn’t believe that Jesus could do

look at the circumstance. He simply said, “Father, I thank you!” You may say, “It is because you don’t understand my situation.”

Just give God praise in that mess. When you

thanks to my God!”

anything. It was a hopeless situation. The Jews con^irmed it too. They said if Jesus had been there four days earlier, He would have

give praise in the mess, your praise or thanksgiving will bring you out of that mess!

The number of days Lazarus’ body stayed in the grave was not the issue. The issue was that the situation got to the point of hopelessness within four days. Four days could be one month for you, or a

stopped Lazarus from dying. In essence, they were saying: “It is too late, he smells and we can perceive

year for another person. The situation was such that in re fe re n c e to t i m e i t wa s

the smell. You are late Jesus.” I don’t know what people are saying to you about your situation; but I have good news for you. When you give

hopeless and useless. Friend, there is a way out of that absolutely hopeless and useless situation. That’s your praise.

thanks, your thanksgiving will bring you out of that stinking grave situation.

Thanksgiving Will Cause You To Prosper

Jesus gave thanks in the presence of everybody. He thanked the Father

Not only will thanksgiving bring

for hearing Him and that the body that had begun to decompose will not only come together; it would come out of the grave too. When you give thanks, you will

can put it to something and

come out of the grave. A grave hides something; nobody even notices what is there. Men can see a graveside but nobody really notices what is there. That may be what you have become in life. Nobody notices, recognizes, and reckons with you because you are just a number. You have become mere statistics. When you give thanks, you will come out of the grave.

Paul and Silas were in prison. Their feet were fastened in the stocks (Acts 16:24).

When they began to give praise, those stocks parted and gave way; the chains were broken and they came out of that situation just by their praise. A habit of thanksgiving will cause you not to remain in the grave.

There will be a lot of things that will come against your praise. After Jesus brought back Lazarus to life, He did not tell the people to lift up their hands and praise God, nor jump up and salute God. No! That is not what Jesus did in that mess. In the mess, when there was no way out and Lazarus’ situation was such that the dead was

you out of the grave, it will also release your hands so that you

I cannot assure you that messy things won’t come or happen to you. Nobody can tell you that. That you go to church and the place is so anointed doesn’t guarantee that messy situations won’t come to you. I cannot tell you that and God cannot tell you that.

Messy situations come to all! Haven’t you experienced a messy situation in which you swore that if only you could get through it, or come out of it, no other messy situation will happen to you again? Yet a greater mess may have happened or will happen; but when you give thanks, you will come out of that mess.

Knowing the secret of coming out of the grave and out of a mess should be a reason for rejoicing! That is what you should be excited about. As long as there is a devil, he will bring you a messy or a grave situation, but in the midst of it, while you are down there in the pit, give thanks! The grave, the pit and the mess are not your last bus stops.

They are not the joker in the game. You hold the joker and the joker is your thanksgiving.

I want you to know that in the midst of the mess you can laugh. You can look at the devil and the grave straight in the eyes and say, “I have found the secret and this is my

prosper in it. Thanksgiving should bring you out of the grave, but thanksgiving shouldn’t stop there.

Like we read in our text, when you come out of the grave, your hands and feet may be bound (John 11:44). The hands being bound means you cannot do anything. The Bible says that the Lord will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hands on will prosper (Deuteronomy 28:8). How can you put your hands to something when your hands are bound? Yet God says, “Whoever offers praise glori0ies Me; and to him who orders his conduct aright I will show the salvation of God” (Psalms 50:23). This means that by simply giving thanks you connect with all of God’s plenty, prosperity and abundance!

As you commit these truths about thanksgiving to heart and make thanksgiving your lifestyle, your change will come and your dead situations will come alive. Just like Lazarus, you will live again, free and full of God’s goodness. It will change your life because that was exactly what happened in Lazarus’ situation.

The Carpenterʼs Ministry: All rights reserved. No portion of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means- electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or any other, without the prior permission of the above.