Proactive thankfulness is a powerful spiritual force very few understand. In this blog, I reveal what proactive thankfulness is. It is not hard to do once you get your head around the concept. Proactive thankfulness can be a revolutionary benefit for those who embrace this very uncommon activity.

Why does God ask us to praise and thank him?

Most everyone knows the Bible instructs us to give God praise and thanks. If you know the God of the Bible, you know He is worthy of our praise. But why does He ask us to do it? With thousands of angels already doing it, Father God is not lonely or low on self-esteem. He does not need us to do this just to stroke His ego. It is for our own benefit that He has asked us to give Him praise. Our recognition of what God has done for us confirms that we recognize it is not our own dumb luck or brilliance at work. It testifies, much to our benefit, that we have faith in God. God requires us to approach Him based on faith.

But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)

Giving thanks just to be nice

Not all praise and thanks have life-changing properties. The importance of thankfulness in the secular world has been marginalized to not much more than a sweet sentiment. It is fancy letters on a card, a nice response to a nice thing done for you, by someone who is being nice. It certainly is a good thing to have good manners and thank someone for doing something nice for you. We do well to remind children to thank grandpa for fixing their toys and bringing them gifts. Thanks for closing the door; thank you for opening the window. These are normal reactive responses.

Reactive thankfulness

One thing these responses all have in common is that they are reactive. You are responding to what is done after it is done. After they do something, you judge it, and determine if you now owe a debt of thanks, or not. If you see that you owe them a “debt of thanks,” you pay what you owe.

The Power of Proactive Thankfulness

Here is how proactive thankfulness differs from reactive. You are not paying a debt of thanks. Proactive thankfulness is based on covenant love, not debt. We see something our covenant with Father God and Jesus promises to give to whosoever asks for it in faith.

Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. (Mark 11:24)

Proactive thankfulness is praising and thanking God for something before it is seen while waiting for it to manifest.

Thanking someone beforehand for a promise being kept.

Thanking someone for something before the eye can see it happen shows ultimate faith in the doer. It puts the thanks out in front of seeing the outcome. This is where faith lives. Faith sees things that are hoped for before they manifest or are seen with the natural eye. You can thank someone you trust for doing something before they do it. Why? Because you trust them.

The blood covenant is based on the blood sacrifice of Jesus. It should give us confidence that God will do something for us that he promised. Genuine heartfelt thanks for something promised, is the ultimate form of faith in the Promise-maker.

Consider these two approaches to asking for something from Father God.

“Dear God, if there is a God, please help me, I pray that you help me. If you can hear me, I ask you to please help me.” Now some might applaud that kind of prayer for its humbleness. But I would say the circumstance that has them under its thumb did the humbling.

There is nothing wrong with asking in that manner if you do not know any better. But, there is not much faith in there either. This person clearly has no idea whether God will answer the prayer or not. And some Christians pray in much the same way, “Lord, I know I do not do all the things I am supposed to do, I know I do not deserve it, but I really need your help, could you please help me? Being a merciful God, he does often help those who have not yet learned how to put their faith to work. But there is a far more effective way.

Proactive Thankfulness prays like this

“My Father God, I call you Father by virtue of the Grace by which you saved me. You made me your covenant child. I see in your word that you gave promises to those who have accepted the covenant blood sacrifice of Jesus. So I ask in faith, believing that you will give it to me. I believe you Lord; I take you at your word. I thank you for healing me. Thank you for making a way where there seems to be no way. I say with Psalm 103, Bless the Lord, oh my soul, for redeeming my life from the pit and corruption. I praise you for crowning my life with loving kindness and tender mercy.”

Release the secret weapon!

This kind of prayer releases the power of Proactive Thankfulness. Invoke the spiritual force of thanking God for something before you see it. This is an amazing and often untapped power available only to the Children of God. It goes beyond thanking someone for opening a window for you after you see it open. Proactive Thankfulness can be the very thing that bolsters your faith to open heaven’s windows for you.

Photo by Jorge Bermudez on Unsplash