I enjoy the holiday season. I'm sure you do as well. We buy special food, flood our homes with pumpkins and spice, and invite family members that we don't normally spend much time with to our homes. I sometimes fear that it's simply become the "American way" to be thankful for a season. Have we commercialized thankfulness in America? Please know, this question isn't meant to be a slight towards those who adorn their homes in decor and warmth. I realize that many people do understand the concept of being thankful, but I like to discover how well we understand it. We are a blessed nation. We have not experienced the level of calamity that many nations live with daily. The age of modernism came long ago and is here to stay. With modern ways comes modern thinking and can cause a generation to forget how the past has shaped us. Does what we go through shape the act of being thankful? Is thanksgiving conditional?
On a personal level, I look for places in my life where thanksgiving does not abide. I find that circumstances around me are often demonically orchestrated in order to spark emotion. This creates the war inside of us. Satan's domain is our soul. A situation arises, it hits our emotions and this leads to how we will respond. Emotion always leads to action. Proverbs 18:21 tells us:
Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof."
In every single situation, we have to make a choice over whether or not we will enter into thanksgiving. After someone has offended us, what will we release out of our mouths? After a financial battle, how will we respond to God? This is the struggle for many and it's the point of entry for Satan, the con. There is so much at stake in the moments leading to our choice.
I believe thanksgiving is directly connected to our love of God. Although we know His love for us to be unconditional, for many Christians, His love is conditional. I believe the same transpires when it comes to thankfulness. Each day, I have find myself in circumstances that has tested my faith, endurance, and thankfulness. So, what is the true test? CHOICE. Our choice is the true test. When we have experienced loss, abandonment, financial struggle, divorce, betrayal, or infirmity...what does the heart say? Will our emotions win and cause us to curse God? Or will we release a sacrificial sound of praise that unlocks our next portion? Thanksgiving is not seasonal. Thanksgiving is a lifestyle. It is a significant key that is often overlooked, but it has the potential to unlock new authority.