For
the past weeks and months the Lord has shifted my focus to thanksgiving
prayers and to pray for others more. As you all are aware, my firstborn
son Jean-Luc has been back at school since February and we have been
praying that he will settle in nicely in school and enjoy learning in a
calm manner. He had been quite a handful on a few occasions a few months
ago but praise be to God ever since I learned about the power of
thanksgiving prayer and interceding for other children who have
challenges in their behavior, Jean-Luc's behaviour in school has
improved a lot. He's no longer on "time-out" and enjoys going to school
although he prefers going to visit his grandma and Uncle David's house
(he has been saying that everyday to his school friends and neighbours
too
since we last visited my mother-in-law earlier this month, he even wants
to bring his best friend with him to visit his grandma and Uncle
David).
Whenever Jean-Luc comes home from
school, I'll ask him about his day in school and he has been telling me
who were on "time-out" and what they did and Jean-Luc sometimes would
get hurt almost everyday by other children. So I decided at the
beginning of this week to pray specifically for those children my son
had mentioned to me. I prayed with thanksgiving and prayed in the spirit
for those children. I do pray for Jean-Luc, his teachers and his
schoolmates and their family everyday but it's more powerful and
targeted when we intercede for specific persons. I believe what we have
experienced with Jean-Luc and his behaviour in the past make us more
compassionate and understanding towards children who face challenges in a
class setting and also for their parents. So I prayed and thanked God
that those children are calm and change in their mind and heart, hence
behaviour, and for wisdom and patience upon their parents and teachers.
Also that they find favour with their parents and teachers and vice
versa. It's in fact quite limited to what we can pray with words so I
prayed in the Spirit (in tongues) as the Holy Spirit leads me. So since I
started praying for those children and also children that my son
mentioned who hurt him almost everyday, Jean-Luc came back and told me
those children were no longer on time-out and they no longer hurt him
and other children. I also could see from the face of his class teacher
yesterday and the day before when I fetched Jean-Luc from school that
she was all smiles and happy for the first time in a long time, no
longer looking stressed. That's the power of thankfulness prayer and
praying in the Spirit.
You'll be surprised too how powerful thanksgiving prayers and praying in
the Spirit are when you pray for others who are undergoing the same
challenges you faced and see them receiving their miracles. It
encourages you to believe and trust the Lord even more. The less we
focus on self and our own needs but instead entrusting all our cares to
God and giving Him the liberty to use us to pray for others, the happier
we become and worries and anxieties just dissipate.
Instead of worrying and making worried
prayers, let us count our blessings and thank God for all He has done -
His daily protection and provision for us and our loved ones, for good
health, good weather, for friendships and relationships, for our spouse
and children, etc. So many things to be thankful for. I remember that
my window cleaner told me sometime last year when he was telling me
about his lung or kidney cancer etc. I encouraged him to pray
and believe in God for strength so that he will get better. He said to
me no he doesn't want to believe in God or prayer anymore. So I asked
him why. He said to me it's because he prayed to God years ago to save
his baby grandson but he died. So I asked him how many grandchildren he
has, he said he has 8 other grandchildren. So in my heart I said what
about thanking God for your 8 other healthy grandchildren. Why do we
humans tend to dwell on the bad and negatives instead of thanking God
for so many good things He has graciously given to us on a daily basis.
We blame God when things look bad but what about when things have been
consistently good do we thank God? By the way, my window cleaner is
still recovering from cancer and still looks healthy to me although he
has been complaining about his health, he even recovered from Covid 19
last year together with his wife. So what about thanking God that his
own and his wife's lives were spared? 
Daniel 2:23
I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors:
You have given me wisdom and power,
you have made known to me what we asked of you,
I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors:
You have given me wisdom and power,
you have made known to me what we asked of you,
Whenever we give thanks to God, even by faith for prayers that yet to be answered, faith arises and we become happier.
Proverbs 17:22 tells us, "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones."
Burdens, anxieties and stress will just leave the more thankful
we are. We will see miracles and breakthroughs happening sooner than
expected. Few weeks ago I had a slight feeling of resentment towards my
husband. It seldom happens but if you ask me I can't recall what it was
exactly but I remember feeling not being appreciated. (By the way my
husband does thank me from time to time.) Anyway, at that moment of
discouragement as I lay on my bed to sleep the Lord gave me a thought to
thank God for my spouse and children and be grateful for my husband and
all he has done and ponder on the positives and the goodness of God in
my life through my husband and children eventhough all of us are not
perfect. I also pray for favour with my spouse and children and vise-
versa. I believe the Lord wants us to be grateful to God for our spouse
and children as often as we can as this will lift and remove resentment
and cultivate a more forgiving and loving relationship in our family.
When we are people who are thankful we become people of faith and will attract good things into our lives.
Proverb 13:22 From the fruit of his lips a man enjoys good things,
Proverb 18:20
A man's belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled.
Last
week I realised that Janick's third digit toes curled downwards. It did
cross my mind to bring him to see the doctor and get a referral to be
seen by a specialist but first I decided to pray and believe in God for
healing and restoration. I also did my own research to find out what can
be done to treat this condition. I found out that some children do
recover from it as they grow but some will need surgery. I thank the
Lord for healing Janick since I discovered and as of yesterday I saw
improvement that his third digit toes are getting more aligned with the
rest of his toes and definitely looking much better. Praise the Lord!
Above picture was taken last week while the bottom picture taken today.
When
problems arise, do know it's an opportunity for us to strengthen our
faith and see the wonderful miracles of our Lord. Don't resort to
complaining as complaining is the opposite of thankfulness which does us
no good but makes us even more miserable. Give the Lord thanks and
praise for all that He has blessed us with and His deliverance and for answering our prayers.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 5:18-20
Do
not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled
with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs
from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always
giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
Beautiful songs to share with all of you:
Thank you for the cross LordThank you Lord
Give Thanks
Finally a song that Jean-Luc sang out of the blue without anyone teaching him to sing but he must have heard it on youtube - This is The Day.
I thank God for all of you and for all good things He has done and going to do for us.
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