Bondage Breaker! Thank God in All and for All

Do you ever need a bondage breaker that works without fail? I sure do!

A Mountain of Negativity

I woke up recently under a mountain of negative emotions, just hating it that I’d failed to find the sleep I badly needed. I felt so cut off from God–was He enjoying the snooze I missed? Being late in terms of getting up and out only made it worse.  I couldn’t find a shred of energy to get started with. Yet, I was bare moments away from starting my early morning motivational lesson for the men in recovery. Don’t think the irony was lost on me.

Normally, I take my time with an open Bible in my lap and a cup of hot tea to pray things through before rising into the day’s demands. No chance of that this day. Feelings of resentment were deeply embedded too far down for me to easily remove. Sleepy sluggishness fogged my weary mind. I looked up in desperation and said, “Lord, I don’t have TIME to pray these feelings off me!” He said, “Then, you’d better start thanking Me instead.”

Embrace the Challenge

How do you do that? Better yet, have you done that? Have you dropped everything in the midst of a mess you’re feeling lousy about and just started thanking God for all of it like there’s no tomorrow? Well, that’s exactly what I did! Less than two minutes later, my spiritual rockets were firing on all cylinders and I was sailing above the clouds. Sweet freedom! In-rushing energy. The bright Son-shine of His love. It all came flooding back.

Moments later, I was at the Mission pouring out a freshly brewed message on—you guessed it—thanking God in all things for all things. Boy, was I ever motivated to give that lesson! Let’s be clear about the sticking point. The challenge is not only to give thanks in all things, but for all things. Now, that will separate the warriors from the worriers! Here are the two texts:

In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 MKJV

Always giving thanks for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:20 MKJV

Perhaps the Biggest of the Big Five

I teach a lot on the necessity of working what I call the Big Five: Bible, prayer, worship, fellowship and service. These are the great grace-filled things we get to do in order to get connected and stay well-connected to Jesus. They are our life-line to the Living Vine. In fact, just the day before I was going over them with one of the new guys and admitting that of the five, worship was probably the one I used the least. It seems the Lord was listening… Oops.

Perhaps, you too have been under-using this powerful means of connecting with the Lord. I’m not talking about going to church on Sundays. I always do that. (OK, I have to. I’m the preacher!) Merely attending church doesn’t guarantee that we will be set free from our stuff and fly up into His Presence. Besides, I can’t take church with me into all the moments I need a quick-connect. What was I going to do that morning? Turn on TBN? No time!

Entry to Worship Is Always with You

Don’t think of worship as only taking place in a worship service, or you won’t “get” this. Anytime we want to we can “enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise” (Psalm 100:4). Incredibly, He guarantees that we have direct access to His throne of grace, anytime, anywhere. This makes it all the more powerful as a bondage breaker.

Therefore let us come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:16 MKJV

Of course, once we’re free, ideally, we’ll hang around (when there’s time) and bask in His Presence, offering Him adoration and praise. Nevertheless, the Lord delights in seeing us regain our freedom. And when it comes to a quick recovery of our freedom in Christ and our place at the Lord’s side, nothing works better than vigorously thanking God in all things and for all things.” It is the biggest and best of the Big Five when used as a bondage breaker. Now I know!

BONUS: Since “the Joy of the Lord is our strength,” why not get this free download about it at our website for living by faith, forerunners4him.org? It will show you more ways to joyfully thank God!

Why this Bondage Breaker Works so Well

You may ask, “Why does it work so well?” For starters, anything that reconnects us with Jesus sets us free. Saving help comes to us by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8). Grace is the given. Faith is the connector. Bible, prayer, worship, fellowship and service all warm up our faith, refreshing us with the ever-present, yet ever-elusive grace. But faith is at its best when it passes from mere believing in God (the devils can do that) to trusting Jesus enough to surrender ourselves and all our cares to Him. It’s at the level of surrendered trust that freedom comes.

That’s where the hidden power of worship comes into play. Typically, in a worship service the Lord draws us into the place of yielding and surrender. The Bridegroom “woos” His Bride through the songs, prayers and messages. His timing is evenly paced; His approach to us is gentle. Not so when we are the ones pursing Him. We can—in an instant—storm heaven with thanksgiving and break through every barrier with praise. Whether, those barriers are coming from the Enemy or our own negative emotions, it matters little. Victory is certain!

Thanksgiving and praise work so well because they re-align us with Reality. God is always good. He is always up to something good, no matter what the devil or our fallen flesh has going on. The love of the Father, the mercy of the Son and the help of the Holy Spirit always surround us. We who believe are recipients of immense favor, favor that is always available. That’s the far greater Reality we often fail to see. It’s the marvelously blessed circumstance which secretly surrounds every little circumstance. Thanking God re-opens our eyes.

Dealing with Deadly Dis-connectors

Unbelief and distrust are the dis-connectors. When stuff happens, and we stop trusting His promises, or we turn away from His presence, we lose His peace. That peace, and the freedom which comes with it, only happens when we are trusting God and Jesus with what They allow and what They ask of us. That seems like a tall order and it is. But it is the “deal” He is offering us. He extends His peace on no other terms. Anything less than complete trust on our part betrays how little we actually believe what He says about Himself and His work on our behalf.

Can you see now why unbelief and distrust are such pitfalls? Even a tiny bit of either one can block a whole lot of peace and freedom! To make it worse, we fall into them so easily that it feels natural. Such falling from faith in His grace may come naturally to us. Yet, it is truly perverse to dis-trust and dis-believe in the One who reveals Himself as the Loving God who never fails and never forsakes His Beloved. Fortunately, His Blood and His love covers all this faithlessness on our part. That’s always something we can thank Him for!

Breaking Free of Unbelief

Vigorously thanking God—when we don’t feel like it—breaks down this wall of separation. Thanking God is the exact opposite of unbelief and distrust. Those feelings get pushed away as the New Creation surges upwards on wings of renewed faith. Thanking God is a dynamic reaffirmation of our faith that, no matter what, our God is a good God and He’s in control.

Thanking God restores our inward sight, shifting it from what’s wrong to what’s gloriously right. It breaks us out of the narrow confines of circumstances we don’t like into that far wider set of circumstances which surrounds us—the eternal faithfulness of our all-powerful and all-loving Friend.

Three Stages of Growth in Thanking God

I nearly killed myself the first time I went skiing through over enthusiasm. I leapfrogged past the Beginner’s slope onto the tougher of the Intermediate slopes. Soon, to my horror I was flying out of control on a downhill run to disaster. I survived but my pride sure took a beating. Thankfully, even I knew better than to get on the Expert slope. It looked like it was falling off the edge of the world.

This image gives me a framework for viewing the three stages of learning how to give thanks to the Lord: Beginner, Intermediate and Expert. Since giving thanks rarely came easily to me at first, I had to work this out the hard way. From my earliest years in the Lord, I kept Augustine’s prayer in a prominent place, first on my walls, then in my heart: “Lord, You have given us so much. Grant us one thing more: a grateful heart.” I am grateful that even gratitude is something that we can ask for help in receiving.

Beginner. Intermediate. Expert!

Stage One: Thanking God for things we like during times we like.

BEGINNER: This is a piece of cake! It’s so easy it’s child’s play. This is thanking God for present blessings when you’re feeling blessed. In truth, it should tumble out of us all by itself. Thanking God on a Zip-a-dee-doo-dah day is not only appropriate and right, it adds to present pleasure and reminds us that it is God (not Self) who deserves our praise and admiration. (BTW, for those who don’t know the Song of the South, a Zip-a-dee-doo-dah day is one where “everything’s going my way.”)

Stage Two: Thanking God for things we like during times we don’t like.

INTERMEDIATE: This is a bit more difficult. It is learning to thank God for the blessings that are still present even when we are feeling un-blessed. We can all-too-easily feel un-blessed due to the absence of something we want, or the presence of something we don’t want. However, if we apply the “skill” of thanking God anyway, this handily shifts our focus back on the reality of the many blessings we are still receiving. Thanking God enables us to enjoy those present blessings, and restores our focus on the faithfulness of God. Getting good on this slope, prepares you for the next.

Stage Three: Thanking God for things we don’t like during times we don’t like.

EXPERT: This is a true challenge! It is deciding to thank God for the very things we don’t like (the “anti-blessings”) even when we are feeling decidedly un-blessed! I’ll admit that it seems crazy and wrong, but it works like a champ! The only problem is that you have to summon up the nerve to do it and REALLY go for it. Otherwise, it may not work. Neither your feelings, nor the devil, will let you off the hook if they see you’re only thanking God half-heartedly. They’ll just wait you out, then jump back on you with both feet once you give up. But that won’t be you! You’re going to get this, even if it takes a few failed attempts in the beginning.

Here’s How I Go at It

Whenever I find myself needing to thank God for anti-blessings in the middle of an un-blessed moment, I reach for the biggest guns I’ve got. You’ve got them too, so learn to fire them until you get fired up. Here’s a sample of how this works:

• Thank You Father for this thing I hate (_____). At least, You love me and You aren’t the Author of my pain and frustration.
• Thank You Father that even though this is awful, You have a plan to overcome this and You are with me to help Me get through this.
• Thank You Father for the lousy way I’m feeling. At least, You love me and You can accept me the way I am right now. I can’t stand being me in this, but You accept me anyway!
• Thank You Father that although I’m reacting badly and have little of grace or faith in me, You still have me covered with the Blood of Jesus. I’m forgiven even for the way I’m acting now!
• Thank You Father for all of this that I hate. None of it is going to stick to me in the long run, because You aren’t going to stop working to set me free AND even this will work for my good!

An Amazing Reversal

There’s no magic to the choice of words. I’m sure I never said it exactly like that. This is only to give you a sense of how to go about it. Name what you hate about the situation and how it’s making you feel. Then, as you are doing this, thank God that He is STILL loving you, forgiving you, accepting you, making good plans for you, helping you, and redeeming it all by working to make it work for your good. Those huge graces are far bigger blessings than any situation you’re stuck in.

The amazing thing about this is how we use the very things the Enemy meant for evil as a faith-forged means of rising higher into heaven. We go up into thanksgiving and praise all the more swiftly because we are being “chased” by how badly we feel. But by beating our wings of faith with a vengeance, we mount up as eagles. Then, freedom kicks in and we simply spread our wings and float on fresh updrafts of the Holy Spirit. Don’t believe me? Try it for yourself!

Thank God in all things for all things. Nothing breaks bondage better!

Go now for a FREE DOWNLOAD of the entire original article, “The Bondage Breaker” (2372-word PDF).

About the Author: Steve Evans

For over a decade Steve Evans and Healing Streams have been helping people recover inner peace and freedom. Through Forerunners4Him he has been showing how we can be saved for heaven and teaching the way to live a Spirit filled life on earth. Go now to receive a completely free primer, Getting to Heaven and/or an introduction to Living in the Spirit at forerunners4him.org.