Thank You Is My Weapon

As we approach Thanksgiving, I want to talk to you about a title,

a topic today that I call Thank You is My Weapon.

Thank you is my weapon. You know,

maybe there are times in our life that we feel stretched,

that we feel pulled in multiple directions,

That we have been asked of things that have been outside of what we think our

capacity to deliver We get comfortable and then we get uncomfortable We could

be feeling some pain, some discomfort.

We could feel like we're forgotten, insignificant, and we feel like we don't know what to do.

We're stretched. And if you don't feel that way now, I guarantee you here soon

and very soon, you will feel that way.

Well, you will feel stretched. Life has a way of stretching us.

God has a way of stretching us. You know that you can do more than you think you can do.

You can accomplish more than you think you can accomplish. And God is not getting you ready for today.

He's getting you prepared for tomorrow. It's why you're being stretched right

now because he knows what your future holds.

And when while you're being stretched, you are learning things about yourself that you did not know.

For example, when I go work out to the gym, I may go to a class.

This particular class I go to is called body pump. I don't go all the time because it hurts.

But I go sometime and uh and I

go to this class and they'll say come on give me seven more and

I'm looking like I can't give you seven more but 30

seconds later I didn't gave seven more why is

that the case because I can do more than I

think I can do and if you're feeling

stretched right now uncomfortable pain pulled

in multiple directions I want to encourage you

God is getting you ready for tomorrow there's something in your future that

he's preparing you for now because he wants you to learn more about him that

you didn't know either you know we don't learn a lot of times in comfortable situations,

We learn in uncomfortable situations.

We learn in doing what God's called us to do.

And it's not just the doing that he's called us to do in how we learn,

it's the process of doing what he's called us to do.

It's the struggle.

It's not working out like I thought it was going to work out.

It's not happening as fast as I thought it was going to happen.

It's not turning out the way that I thought it's going to turn out.

We don't hear a lot about this word struggle.

But it's in the struggle that we begin to develop and learn some things.

It's in the discomfort. It's in the pain.

It's in the agony of trying to continue when you don't want to continue.

I've been tempted to quit. I've been tempted to give up. Am I the only one in the house today?

I've been tempted to turn my back. I've been tempted to say,

I don't want to do this anymore.

The devil's tried to tempt me and say, maybe your time's up.

Maybe you had a good run. Maybe this is the end.

Maybe you need to go to heaven right now. But I come here to tell you today,

God is not through with you.

God's got more for you. What he's doing is he's stretching you.

He's getting you to the place that you become stronger than you've ever have before.

And you have to go through the process of being stretched.

What's taking so long is the question God wants you to get to so he can show

you patience in the process.

You don't learn patience by asking for it.

Don't we wish we would? Oh, I asked for patience and it got downloaded to me. I'm a patient man.

No, patience only comes through testing.

Patience only comes through waiting.

What happens when you get tired of waiting?

You get frustrated. I was in Walmart several years ago, and this is dumb,

okay? Can I be... I did something dumb.

Stacey asked me to pick something up at Walmart. I went to Walmart.

The Walmart line was too long. I wanted to go home.

This was dumb, Wayne. I went home. And she said, did you get the stuff?

I said, the line was too long.

She said, I really need it. I had to go back out and get back in the line to

get it when I could have just did it the first time. Why?

I got I started making dumb decisions because I got tired of waiting.

What happens when you get tired of waiting? You you get frustrated.

You get angry. You start to doubt.

You start to make stupid, dumb decisions because you got tired of waiting.

But God is trying to mold something in you.

He's trying to put something in you. He's trying to get you down to the rock

that's on the inside of you.

So having done all the stand, you can

stand when you get down to that firm foundation of I will not be moved.

If I got to stand in this Walmart line for another hour, I will not be moved.

This is where he's trying to get us to. And it's going to be painful.

You might be thinking, I've been believing God for my healing. What's taking so long?

Why is it so long and the devil's telling you it's never going to happen The

devil's telling you you're not going to get healed The devil's telling you quit,

give up The Lord is telling you hold on Keep going.

Keep standing Keep believing I called a pastor friend that I trust This man

has been in ministry for 50 plus years He's been in ministry for 50 plus years,

I called him two weeks ago, and I said, we're looking for a new facility,

and we've been negotiating, we've been talking,

we've put in offers, we've really done everything in the natural to really get

some things that God's called us to accomplish, the territory to take, and I was a little weary.

I called him. I said, man, am I doing something wrong? Nothing seems to be working out right now.

What am I doing wrong? Can you shed some light? He listened to me.

And then when I stopped talking, he said, you keep going forward.

That was his answer. You keep expecting God. You keep moving forward.

Today at 1 p.m., something could happen. I said, glory to God.

He said, you just keep going forward.

And I'm telling you today, I'm tired of believing God for this healing.

I'm tired of waiting for the dream to come to pass.

I'm tired of the manifestation taking for so long.

My response to you is you keep going forward.

Say amen to that. You keep plowing and

you keep pulling and you keep plugging and

you keep going forward because there

is an expected end and

it will be in your favor and it will

come in due season at the right time

no sooner than it should come but you

gotta keep going forward say amen to that zavin asked me yesterday about football

players and how some football players seem to be overlooked or how some basketball

players seem to be overlooked,

and then one day they become a star.

We were talking about Steph Curry, for example.

Nobody in college wanted him to play for their team. He had to beg to go to Davidson just to.

Nobody wanted him, and now he's considered one of the best players to ever play.

Zayvon's like, how do you miss that? I said, some people are overlooking that. That's one thing.

Some people are not looking at it. Some people are not seeing it.

But the real question is, what did he have that kept him going forward?

When he was overlooked, he had to have some sort of strong desire.

The pursuit is the evidence of desire.

Pursuit. Oh, I desire this and that. Are you pursuing it?

Pursuit is the evidence of desire. I said he kept pursuing it.

He had to have some strong desire. And then one day it just clicked.

It happened. He got in the right system, the right team, the right city.

And now he's a generational talent. What? You just keep going.

You just keep going. It would be easy if, you know, I can just tell you, just quit.

Well, just quit. God's going to do it anyway. You can just quit.

No, no, no, no. If you quit, he ain't going to keep doing it.

You got to keep going. You got to build some muscle. You got to build some stamina.

You got to build some aggression.

You got to, you got to increase in your wisdom.

You got to increase in your knowledge. You got to increase in your understanding.

You got to get some more fortitude. You got, when you keep going,

you're getting stronger and you're getting stronger and you're getting stronger and stronger.

And one day you're going to get what you believe in God for.

And somebody is going to look at you and say, man, you're an overnight success.

You're like, what are you talking about? I've been standing on this for a long time.

Amen. I've been believing God for a long time. I just kept going.

If you quit now is too soon. Matter of fact, it's always too early to quit.

You got to keep going. Somebody say amen.

Maybe you feel like you're trapped in a dark tunnel where the light you once

trusted has completely disappeared.

Or perhaps you feel like a single drop in an endless ocean making no ripples.

Maybe you feel like you can shout loudly in a crowded room and no one would

even turn their head to acknowledge you.

Or maybe even you feel like God has gone silent on the very promises he once

whispered to your heart.

Today's the day that I want to show you through the scriptures how to create victory.

How to persevere and continue. And I believe the preaching and the teaching

of the word of God is God's vehicle to get things moving in your life.

After this word is taught today, I believe things are going to move in your

life. Can you say amen to that?

First Corinthians 15, 57, the apostle Paul tells us here.

But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Notice Paul tells us, thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory.

The word giveth, the E-T-H after giveth, means continues to.

So which continues to give us the victory. How many know the victory is triumphant?

Through our Lord Jesus Christ. I want you to focus on the word which.

Thanks be to God, which. That word which also means that Thanks be to God that

Giveth us continuously The victory through our Lord Jesus Christ What is that

which giveth us the victory?

Thanks be to God Say this after me Thanks be to God Gives me the victory Let's

look at 2 Corinthians 2 verse 14 2 Corinthians 2.

2 Corinthians 2:14

It says, now thanks be unto God, we see it again, which always,

somebody shout always, causes us to triumph in Christ. I'll pause there.

Thanks be to God, which are that, what is that which causes us to triumph?

Is thanks be unto God. And what does thanks be unto God do?

Causes us to triumph. And so if we are in a defeated position,

if we feel like we're losing, I heard someone say this the other day. I thought it was funny.

It said, you may be losing, but you haven't lost.

And I thought, yeah, you know, that works. You may be losing.

You may be behind on the scoreboard, but you haven't lost. There's still time

on the clock. Praise God.

Thanks be to God, which always causes me to triumph.

There's not one time that thanks unto God will not cause you and I to triumph

because thanks be to God always, shout always, causes us to triumph.

So let me ask you this question. Is there a connection between giving thanks and victory?

Could you see that in the scripture? Let me ask you, is there a connection between

giving thanks and victory?

Yes, there is a connection between giving thanks and victory.

Now, I want to let you know that gratitude is not the same as thankfulness.

Gratitude is an attitude. It's an emotion.

It's a feeling. but thankfulness is

an expression it's showing it's

demonstrating your gratitude and so you can feel grateful but if you never express

thanksgiving then you're not thankful let me say it again you can feel grateful

but if you never express appreciation then you're not thankful let me said again,

you could feel grateful, but if you never tell your wife, I'm thankful for that

dinner you made, then you're not thankful.

You may be grateful, but you're not thankful because thankfulness expresses space.

Thankfulness shows.

Thankfulness demonstrates appreciation. Every time my wife cooks dinner and

she makes dinner most nights of the week.

And when she says she tired, I always gladly buy dinner because I know she works

hard making dinner every single night every dinner I tell her thank you for this best dinner.

I've ever had today Man, and then tomorrow is the best dinner. I had that day too.

Hey man. I think her I don't take it for granted I don't say well.

That's what you're supposed to do I don't say woman get in that kitchen and because you a slave.

I don't do none of that Because I'm thankful.

I'm appreciative and I have to express it. I have to demonstrate it.

I have to show it because thankfulness is what's going to cause victory.

If I want a successful marriage, I'm going to have to be thankful.

I can't just feel it. I have to express it. I can't just appreciate on the inside.

I have to declare it because thankfulness is what's going to cause victory to

occur in our marriage, in our life.

If you are experiencing defeat in your life, it is possible that you have not

been consistently thankful in areas of your life.

Is there a space?

Is there a place in between being thankful and unthankful?

No. There is no medium.

I'm somewhere here in the medium, in the middle. You're either thankful Or you're

not Now you can be grateful But we're talking about thankfulness I'm either

going to express Show and demonstrate appreciation,

Or I'm not There's no Space in between being Thankful and being Unthankful and

so we must Recognize if we want victory in our life We're going to have to be

Thankful because God What changes your situation?

No, let me say it this way. Sorry. Before God changes your situation,

he usually changes your heart and thanksgiving opens that door.

Before God changes your situation, he usually changes your heart and thanksgiving opens the door.

When you say thank you, somebody say thank you.

When you say thank you for what you haven't seen yet, you're declaring that

God's promise is more real than the problem.

His promise is more real than the problem.

I grew up in a household. I love the household I grew up in.

I mean no disrespect when I say this.

Please know that I mean no disrespect. But it wasn't a lot of thank yous in the house I grew up in.

My dad was military and it was like my way or the highway,

And it was not a lot of thank yous, it was get it done It was do it now,

it was do it quick I didn't hear them, I didn't hear my parents tell each other

thank you a lot It was just kind of,

you know, listen, sometimes you just get busy And you got to get things done

and you got to put your head down and plow I didn't hear a lot of thank yous growing up,

And so it was one of the things I had to really learn to say you know what if

I appreciate something I need to say thank you,

I need to express it. I need to show it. I need to demonstrate it.

I need to send a text out. I need to send a card out.

I need to slide somebody some money. I need to do something to let them know that I'm thankful.

Every week, I tell you every Sunday, I tell you that I love you.

I'm thankful. I do it every Sunday. Why? Because I want you to know I love you,

and I'm thankful for you.

The Lord told me my pastors are not telling the people that they love them enough.

I said, well, I'll be one to tell the people I love you. Guess what, church? I love you.

I love you. I'm thankful for you. I'm appreciative for you.

It's an honor to share the word of God with you every chance I get.

We're going to have to communicate thank you because your thank you can shift your entire situation.

An entire situation can be shifted by a simple thank you and an entire shifted

situation can go sour by someone not saying thank you.

We teach our kids one of the things that our kids are going to leave the house with.

Zai's already left the house and Zavin's next.

He's knocking on the door to leave and he's 14, right? He's about to leave and

our goal is get them all out the house.

Amen. And so that's the goal.

And so, you know, one of the things I said, our kids are going to learn.

Our kids are going to be hard workers.

They're going to they're going to love the Lord. They're going to work hard

and they're going to be thankful.

They're going to say thank you. They're going to be thankful.

Nothing. You don't deserve anything.

Everything you get is by God's grace And his favor And we need to appreciate

that and say thank you Somebody say thank you,

Philippians 4.6 Philippians 4.6 the New Living Translation The Apostle Paul

says don't worry about anything Should we take that seriously?

Or is that just a nice suggestion? That's actually a commandment Don't worry

about anything Instead pray about everything Should we take that serious?

It said pray about everything It said gossip about everything Didn't say go

tell everybody else about everything It said take it to God Pray about everything

Tell God what you need And watch this And thank him for all he has done,

What has the Lord done for you?

Now I'm pausing for emphasis. What has the Lord done for you?

Answer that. What has he done for you?

He saved me. I was on the road to hell.

Quickest route to get there. Have you ever considered where you would be if

the Lord never rescued you?

I want you to just take some time and consider where would I be if the Lord

never saved me, rescued me, delivered me?

I've actually sat and talked about that and it's definitely not up here Preaching the word,

I'm embarrassed to tell you what I probably would be If the Lord didn't save

me He saved you, are you thankful for that?

He rescued you, are you thankful for that?

He delivered you from the curse of the law and redeemed you Are you thankful

for that? He dissolved the curse so that you can have the blessing in your life.

Are you thankful for that?

He gave you a one-way ticket to heaven. Glory to God. Are you thankful for that?

See, we're to thank him for all he has done. Somebody say, thank you, Lord.

Romans 8, 31 and 32. Romans 8, 31 and 32.

He says, what shall we say about such wonderful things as these?

If God is for us, who can ever be against us?

Let me say it again. If he's for us, who can be against us? Since he did not

spare even his own son But gave him up for us all Won't he also give us everything else?

So if he gave us Jesus He gonna give us everything else But the truth of the

matter is When he gave you Jesus He gave you everything else Come on say amen

to that Say I have everything I need,

Say I lack nothing.

You don't lack a thing You've got everything you need if you've got Jesus,

you've got wisdom, you've got sanctification, you've got provision,

you've got forgiveness of sins, you've got redemption,

you've got the blessing, you've got healing, you've got prosperity,

you've got everything that you need when he gave you Jesus. Somebody say, that's mine.

And you need to take ownership of it and you need to stay amazed at the great

things that Jesus has done.

The more amazed you are, the more thankful you will be. Somebody say thank you.

Ephesians 520. Ephesians 520 and say, give thanks for everything to God,

the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We are to give thanks for everything.

Glory to God, to God the Father. The first thing you should do when you're feeling

hopeless is stop everything that you're doing and give thanks for what you have.

Did you hear what I just said?

I'm feeling hopeless. I'm feeling insignificant. I'm feeling forgotten.

I'm feeling like God doesn't love me.

I'm feeling like he's not thinking about me any longer.

The very first thing you should do is stop and thank God for everything that he's done. Hallelujah.

Just sit there. You got time? Pause and say, what has he done for me?

And you begin to thank you. Thank you, Lord.

I had to do that recently. I was feeling hopeless in a situation and I said,

wait a minute, I got a lot of good things going on.

I got a lot of good things going on in my life. I'm a blessed man.

What am I over here? Oh, woe is me and look at me and oh, it's not doing,

working out and this not happening. Oh, wait a minute.

People envy you. They don't tell you, but they envy you. They look at you.

They say, look what God's done and you over here contemplating suicide.

I rebuke the spirit of suicide in Jesus' name.

We got so much to be thankful for. Just reflect. Stop. Think.

I told Stacey, we're in a good place. We're in a good place.

Because we got a lot to be thankful for.

And if you can't thank God for anything else, thank him for what Jesus has done

for you. Somebody shout amen.

Thankfulness takes your eyes off of what's wrong. Hmm.

Our eyes are so focused on what's wrong, what's wrong, what's wrong,

what's wrong, what's wrong, what's wrong.

And thankfulness takes our eyes off of it and says, no, there's a lot of right going on.

There's a lot of good happening because thankfulness will shift your focus and your vision.

I may have pain in my back, but I've got health in my feet.

Amen My head may

be hurting but my stomach feels good Glory to

God start thanking him for what's right In Jesus name You have the power to

choose whether or not to be thankful You have the power the ability to choose

whether or not to be thankful And it's time for you and I to say no to discouragement.

Discouragement comes. You say, no, I'm thankful. Somebody say, no.

Discouragement tries to come and depression tries to come and oppression tries

to come and disappointment tries to come.

You say, no, I'm thankful. I got too much to be thankful for.

God's done too much for me and he's not finished with me yet.

There's some, I thank him in advance. I praise him in advance.

This too shall come to pass. This too shall happen in my favor.

This too shall work out for me. This is going to come to happen in my life.

I shall walk without pain in my body.

I shall receive the wisdom that God has for me.

I shall purchase that house that God wants me in. I shall minister to that man

that God wants me to minister to.

I shall pray for that and pay for that in Jesus' name.

I read a verse the other day that said I want to pay full price for it. I said, amen.

If you want to pay full price for something, that means you got the money to do it.

You ain't got to let me barter, let me negotiate. No, I got all of it.

And I want to pay full price for it. Amen.

Because you're thankful. Somebody say, I'm thankful. Somebody say, I'm appreciative.

You can say no to discouragement.

You don't have to let it overtake you. Someone told me one time that a depression

is a gift from God to me. I said, the devil is a lie.

I said, I don't receive that. You can't find no verse to substantiate that.

I said, get rid of that depression. Well, it's a gift from God. It's not a gift.

It's from the devil. It's trying to kill and steal and take from you.

God wants you to be thankful. And I don't think you can be depressed and thankful

at the same time. I just don't think you can.

I don't think you can simultaneously be depressed and thankful at the same time.

Somebody say I'm thankful because thankfulness is your weapon.

Matthew 15, 36, Matthew 15, 36.

This is a story of Jesus feeding the 5000.

Thousand he says he took the seven loaves and

the fish thank God for them

and broke them into pieces he gave them

to the disciples who distributed the food to the

crowd I want you to notice that he was thankful for insufficiency we're talking

about thousands of people out there and they only got seven loaves and a few

fish they ain't gonna feed a lot of folks but he was thankful for the lack Can

you be thankful for the insufficiency?

He was thankful for not having enough Can you switch your paradigm And be thankful

for not having enough You know I don't have enough,

I'm thankful for what we have When he was thankful for it, God multiplied.

And they had extra left over. Somebody shout extra.

I just declare that over you right now in Jesus' name that you shall have extra in Jesus' name.

Extra in the name of Jesus. You got to be thankful for what you currently have. Don't despise it.

Scripture said don't despise small beginnings. Don't look down on it.

Don't think it's not enough. Don't think it's insufficient. Be thankful for it.

Be thankful for when he was thankful for it. It multiplied.

And not only did it bless him, it blessed others because there's more for the thankful.

There's more for the thankful. I was in high school. I told this story in my book.

If you know my book, The True Life Experience, it's my first book, devotional book.

Go to Devon Alexander dot com

and get it. But in this book, I tell a story about being in high school.

There was a guy in high school. I was thinking about it this morning. His name was Norris.

I just remembered his name, Norris. And Norris had an old Nissan Sentra.

All right. So it was multicolored. The door was one color. The hood was another color.

It barely got up and down the road.

And Norris drove this car to school. And we laughed at Norris I'm sorry,

we made fun of him We laughed, we thought he was a joke We thought the car was

a joke And we laughed Now,

at the same time I didn't have no car I was riding a bike,

I was up and down the road on a bicycle. That was back in the day.

You know, I was all over town on a bike.

You want to go somewhere? I'm hopping on my bike and I'm getting there.

It may take 12 minutes and I show up sweaty like a dog, musty,

but I'm getting there on my bike.

I couldn't wait on mom then because mom then, you know, nah,

we ain't taking you hop on your bike.

And so I used to ride a bike around all over. And that was before the helmet.

Then my mom said, you need to start wearing a helmet. I said,

I ain't riding my bike no more. I ain't riding with no helmet on.

And so I would ride my bike all over town. And Norris had this beat up old car.

And I had the audacity, Robert, to make fun of Norris. Ho, ho,

ho, look at Norris, your car. Ho, ho, ho.

And we all laughing at Norris. And one day Norris said something profound to me.

He turned to me. He said, a slow ride is better than a fast walk.

He said i see you walking around town and i

see you on your bike but this slow ride is

better than your fast walk and that

set me free i never made fun of norris again because he was getting the places

a whole lot quicker and he wasn't getting there sweaty and smelly and musty

either because a slow ride is better than a fast walk.

And I started to say, you know what? I learned something in that.

My first car was a Ford Pinto.

Brown Ford Pinto, 1988 Pinto. I bought it for $800.

And I drove that stick shift Pinto all around town. And people used to make

fun of me because I drove that ugly brown Ford Pinto. It didn't have no shocks.

So that thing, you hit a bump and it was, it was, I mean, it was hopping.

And I had the nerve to put some tens in the back.

So I come down, boom, boom, it's rattling down the road.

Man, I drove that Ford Pinto and people made fun

of me But I had a ride And I

was not walking And I didn't care Because a

slow ride is better Than a

fast walk Somebody say thank you I

was thankful for that slow ride So if you're driving a beat up car now Be thankful

for that beat up car Because there's more for the thankful God's going to get

you something better If you appreciate what you got If you take care of what

you got I promise you through his word there's more for the thankful.

Now I can buy brand new cars, praise God, because I was thankful for the old beat up car.

Come on, get thankful for what you have. Get overwhelmingly thankful for what you currently have.

Don't despise it. Don't compare. Don't compete.

Just get thankful for it. God, I'm thanking for this.

It's not the I know that only one side of the air fryer is working But thank

God the air I got an air fryer say amen to that I'm thankful.

I know that the door makes noise when I open it But I thank God that I got a

door that's protecting me say amen to that You got to be thankful for what the

Lord has set aside for you It's in first Thessalonians 518 in the new living.

It says be thankful in all circumstances.

For this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

We are to be thankful in all circumstances.

Now, we're not to be thankful for all circumstances.

Well, my cat got run over by the FedEx truck. Thank God the cat got,

no, no, we know that's not what we.

So not for all circumstances, but in all circumstances.

Well, the cat got run over. I'm not thankful for that, but thank God that you

didn't run me over. Glory to God. Amen.

Amen. Hey, in every circumstance, we can find something to be thankful for.

In everything, give thanks. In everything.

What am I going through? Give thanks. Give thanks. I got pain all over my body.

I'm going to find a way to give thanks.

I ain't got enough money to pay for this month's rent. I'm going to find a way to give thanks.

I'm stepping out, walking on water, and I feel overwhelmed. I'm going to find

a way to give thanks because thankfulness says thank you regardless of your circumstances.

Come somebody shout, thank you.

I want to encourage you in Psalms 104 in the message. It's Psalms 104 and the

message says, when we talk to the Lord, we're to enter with the password. Somebody shout it.

That's the password. Somebody shout it.

Come on, somebody shout it. There we go.

That's the password we enter with. Make yourself at home, talk in praise,

thank him and worship him.

The first thing that should come out of our mouth is, Father, thank you.

Thank you I'm thankful

thank you because thank you is my weapon thank you

is my arsenal thank you is the

tactic the tool that I use to cut up discouragement and to advance me we can

thank him in advance and thankfulness is what I use to plow to fight to win

it is really it is evidence of your faith.

When you are thankful, you are proving that you have faith in God.

When you're thankful. I want to encourage you to thank God before the answer,

before the breakthrough, before the change happens.

Because your weapon is your thank you.

If you are thankful in the house today, I want you to stand to your feet.

This is how you experience true life.