This Is How I Fight My Battles
August 15, 2018·Lisa Bolar
The Lord has been teaching me recently that one of the most powerful weapons we have in the face of difficulty is thanksgiving. I’m not talking about the holiday (although it is my favorite!) … I’m talking about telling God, “thank you.”
When I face a problem, my first inclination is not to stop and thank God. In fact, it might even seem counter-intuitive. We’re supposed to thank God after He gets us through the tough situation, right?
Crying out to the Lord for help is exactly what we should do when we face a challenge. But there’s something about stopping to thank and praise God first that’s incredibly powerful. It’s a way of reminding ourselves that the battle is His — there’s nothing we can do in our own strength. When we first pause to thank the One who fights our battles for us, we are being still and knowing that He is God.
David knew this well, and he was very often in the midst of overwhelming circumstances. In Psalm 100, he writes these memorable words:
Enter His gates with thanksgiving,
and His courts with praise!
Give thanks to Him; bless His name!
For the Lord is good;
His steadfast love endures forever,
snd His faithfulness to all generations.
Pausing to praise and thank God instantly reminds our hearts of the big picture. Yes, this situation is hard. But God is good, His love never fails, and He is always faithful. Here are Paul’s words in the face of life-threatening persecution:
“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
– I Thessalonians 5:18
When we practice thanksgiving in all things, all the small stuff we allow ourselves to get worked up about starts to seem less significant — even something as simple as thanking God that I have a car when I’m finding myself frustrated in traffic. This isn’t living in denial, putting on a fake grin and pretending everything is perfect; it’s allowing the Holy Spirit to work real gratitude in us.
John Piper puts it this way, “God is not after the kind of thanks a six-year-old is forced to say to his grandma after getting black socks for Christmas. God wants us to look past the things that frustrate, anger, disappoint, discourage, sadden, and depress us, and to see His grace — His all-sufficient, abounding grace, the grace flowing to us right now, whatever our circumstances.”
Jesus modeled this too. What did He do before the fish and loaves were multiplied? What did He do before He raised Lazarus from the dead? What did He do before He faced the agony of the cross? He stopped and first gave thanks to His Father.
Thanksgiving in all circumstances cultivates a joy and a gratitude for God Himself, instead of merely for what He does. When we find all that we’re grateful for begins and ends with God, we realize that since He never changes, we always have something to be thankful for.
Pastor Lisa Bolar
