Sow to Grow
Sowing Thankfulness
Today, our focus is going to be on sowing thankfulness.
II Corinthians 9:6-7 NKJV
6 But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.
You can’t be a cheerful giver without being thankful.
You are never more like God than when you give.
II Corinthians 9:10 NKJV
10 Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness,
God has given you everything you need to sow—whether it’s the giving of your money, forgiveness, mercy, thankfulness, or any good thing that you can do for somebody else.
II Corinthians 9:11 NKJV
11 while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God.
When we are shown mercy, it should provoke thanksgiving in our hearts. When we show mercy towards someone else, they should be thankful.
Psalms 100:4-5 NKJV
4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. 5 For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations.
The translation of the root word of “thanksgiving” is “grace”.
Ephesians 5:18 NKJV
18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,
One evidence of being filled with the Spirit is thankfulness.
Ephesians 5:20 NKJV
20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
“For” in the Greek is “huper”. In English, the word means “over” or “upper”. We are to give thanks “over” all things. God doesn’t want you under your circumstances. He doesn’t want you down and defeated. He wants you to praise and thank Him over your circumstances.
Let’s stop getting angry at God for difficulties! Instead, let’s get angry at the devil and rebuke him, thanking God over our circumstances.
I Thessalonians 5:18 NKJV
18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
We are not to give God thanks for everything—which would include bad things—but in the midst of everything.
As we start to give thanks to God in the midst of everything, especially the bad, a divine transformation takes place in our lives; Romans 8:28 is activated:
28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
Do not passively accept bad things! Go into action. Start thanking God. Start praising Him. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise.
Too many people enter His gates with anger and enter His courts with complaining. Don’t get mad at God. Get mad at the enemy of our soul.
When Lazarus died, the Bible says Jesus wept and groaned. “Groan” denotes deep displeasure. The Lord was angry at the one behind this death
In the midst of our groaning, start thanking God.
Romans 8:37 NKJV
37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
Romans 8:35 NKJV
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
It doesn’t say in verse 37 that we are conquerors after we have come through these things, but rather before, during, and after we face these and similar problems in life.
1. God has more love for you than you can ever fathom.
2. God lives to make intercession for you. He’s praying for you even before the difficult times. He told Peter that He had prayed for Him even before Peter denied Him.
3. Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.
4. Be a thankful person now, so when bad things come, you’re already practicing thankfulness.
Romans 8:37 NKJV
37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
My Beginning. My Forever. 