No Thanks, No Extra

Text: Luke 17:12 – 19
MORE LESSON: Psa. 103:1-5

There is no one that God has not blessed; there are only people that think He has not blessed them enough. If you think that there are some things you have not got and so you refuse to give thanks, then you are missing a very vital spiritual principle. God's principle for receiving more is thanking Him for the ones you already have. If you are prevented from thanking God for what you have because of what you don't, you will be denied receiving those things you don't have yet. In other words, the extra you want is in thanking Him for what He has given already; so, ‘no thanks, no extra.’ I charge you today that if you want more of God's blessings, begin to thank Him vigorously and sincerely for all He has ever done for you.

In Luke 17:12 -19, we see ten lepers healed by Jesus and then only one returned to give Him thanks. The other nine hurried away to pursue the next blessing; they were focussed on going to the priest so that they might be restored to their families and communities. But the one that was more focussed on giving thanks for what he was given went back to the Great High Priest. The result is that Jesus said to him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole (Luke 17:19 KJV). The others were just healed but he was made whole. Being made whole means that the sickness was not just removed; every loss he had experienced as a result of the sickness was reversed and all blessings the sickness denied him were now endowed on him. He was given total restoration as an extra over the others because he gave thanks.

The following are ways to thank God so that you can connect with the extra from Him.
1. Constantly give testimonies of God's goodness to you. A testimony is a tool for the duplication of miracles. When you tell people about what God did for you yesterday, He will do more tomorrow.

2. Write down the things God has done for you and praise Him for them. Many people have books where they write what they want God to do for them but no book to write what He has done.
3. Create a memorial of what God has done. You can immortalise what God has done for you by doing something that will remind you and others that God did something for you.

4. Make a sacrifice to God that will cost you something. When God gave Samuel to Hannah, she brought him back to God- that is a sacrifice. God gave her other wonderful children as extra. When you give something that ‘leaves a scar' on your bank account, time, energy or property, then you are making a sacrifice.
Today is the day to thank God and as you do, extra blessings are on your way.

Prayer/Action
* Give God thanks for seeing the end of the first month of the new year.
* Ask God for His forgiveness over any act of ingratitude you have done in the past.
* Ask God that as you give Him thanks today, He will keep your blessings and also add to it.
* Ask God to grant you mercies to also see the end of the last month of this year.
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PROPHETIC PRAYER
Father, bring me into a good land, where my water will be sure, eat my bread without scarcity and have no lack of anything.