Dear Friend,

Today, I want to encourage and remind you that the devil has no power over us. If there is anything in your life causing worry, fear, or terror, be assured that it has no power. Our enemy may seem like a roaring lion, but he has no teeth because Jesus stripped him of his power. All he has remaining in his arsenal is deception and lies, but even though our enemy is powerless, that does not stop him from sending giants our way.

We are all confronted by giants at some time in our lives. Fear or a lack of finances could be giants confronting you today. Conflict in your family with no obvious solution could be another giant. Relationship problems or work challenges that you cannot control could be a giant in your life. Whatever you are facing, it probably looks like a mountain, like a giant staring you in the face and daring you to try to defeat it! I have had giants in my own life that needed to be destroyed, and the only way to defeat them was with the Word and Spirit of God. I have spent hours renewing my mind with the Word of God. His Word is alive and powerful and with it, we are able to take down the giants that try to confront us in this life!

Today, we will examine one giant that can open the door to many others giants, and that is the giant of complaining.

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Complaining Is a Giant

We live in a time when we have instant access to information and connection with people around the world, and sometimes, we take these modern conveniences for granted. We are able to quickly call or email our friends, drive a short distance for groceries or medicine, or push a button for entertainment. There can be a tendency to act entitled rather than being grateful. We can easily forget how blessed we are. When this happens, the giant of complaining rises up.

The Israelites were an example of this. They were God’s chosen people and had received so much from Him. They had observed the ten plagues in Egypt, watched the Red Sea split and walked through it on dry land, and watched as Pharaoh and his army pursued them on the same dry land only to be drowned when the waters crashed back down over them. The Israelites saw it all!

While traveling in the wilderness, God continued to provide for and protect the children of Israel. He fed them manna that fell from the sky every day. This bread-like substance probably contained every vitamin and mineral the body needed. The Bible records the amount of manna they received, and if we put it into modern terms, the children of Israel received 4,500 tons a day! That’s 65,700,000 tons of manna in 40 years!

The Israelites had such an abundance of manna that it would have been nearly impossible for them to consume it all, but after a while, they started complaining. They no longer wanted manna. They were bored of it and were craving meat. So God gave them quail, and like the manna, He provided an abundance for them. At God’s command, 90 million quail appeared! Imagine — 90 million quail every day! God is such an incredible giver, but the Israelites were such complainers. Both with the manna and the quail, God sent abundant provision, more than they could possibly consume in a day, but they still complained!

Because they had developed such a habit of complaining, when Caleb and Joshua returned from the Promised Land with a good report, the Israelites wouldn’t listen. The spies returned, and Caleb boldly declared, “We can take this land. We can defeat these giants!” But those who went with Joshua and Caleb to the Promised Land complained, “We’re grasshoppers in their sight.” They had forgotten how God had drowned Pharaoh’s entire army! Numbers 14 records how deep their complaining and ungratefulness went:

“And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, ‘If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness! Why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?’”

—Numbers 14:2-3

They were such complainers that they began to talk about Egypt, where they had been slaves, as if it had been better than God’s Promised Land!

Complaining is so dangerous because it can become habitual. Maybe you are only grumbling on the inside and think it isn’t affecting anyone, but if you get into the habit of complaining, you will start believing a lie and thinking that your thinking is accurate. You will begin complaining more and more with your words and eventually become deceived by that complaining.

Complaining Has Collateral Damage

When we complain, we are not merely complaining against our situation — we’re complaining against God!

In Numbers 14:27, God says:

“How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who complain against Me? I have heard the complaints which the children of Israel make against Me.”

This word, “complain,” refers to an intellectual rebellion against God. My friend, we do not want this giant of complaining to have rulership over our lives because it will harden our hearts.

I have counseled many married couples, especially the wives, and I have seen how a wife, with her own attitude of complaining, can tear down her marriage. She might say she doesn’t like how her husband treats her mother. Maybe she complains that the children don’t receive enough attention from their father. She doesn’t like that the husband doesn’t make enough money or how he eats or that he leaves his socks on the floor. It’s nothing but complaints, and in a marriage, that can build a wall so thick that the sweet communication that husband and wife once enjoyed is absolutely broken. Over the years, in some marriages, I have seen that the husband’s heart has been so hurt by the complaining and criticism of the wife that it brought them to the point of divorce.

This giant of complaining is destructive and sneaky, and it will become habitual if we let it. If we allow it to stay, it will cause us to hurt God and everyone else around us trying their best to love us.

Fighting Back with Thanksgiving

So how are we going to escape from this giant of complaining? God provided the perfect weapon: Thanksgiving! I have seen thanksgiving annihilate that giant of complaining over and over again. The answer to eliminating complaining in your life is to start being thankful.

At the time Paul wrote the letter to the Philippians, he was in a horrible prison. Historians record that he was being held beneath the palace. Sewage from the palace entered into the room where Paul and other prisoners were being held. In these inhumane conditions, Paul wrote the book of Philippians. This letter begins with a typical greeting in chapter one, but in verse three, Paul proclaimed:

“I thank my God upon every remembrance of you.”

How incredible is that statement? Rats were crawling on the raw sewage that surrounded Paul. He was standing in sewage flowing from the palace, people were dying around him from the horrible conditions, but the very first words from Paul’s mouth were “I thank my God.” Later he says:

“Indeed, I have all and abound. I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things sent from you, a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God.”

—Philippians 4:18

How filled with thankfulness must a person be to say, “I have all and abound” while surrounded by such horrific conditions? There are times, by our own will, we must choose to say, “God, everything is not how I want it, but You are faithful. God, You love me. I have breath in my lungs, I woke up today, and You’ve given me a job and a home. God, You have given me food to eat, and I thank You. I thank You for the Holy Spirit that lives on the inside of me.” That kind of thankfulness will defeat the enemy of complaining. We don’t want to become habitual complainers — we want to be habitual thankers.

1 Thessalonians 5 says to be thankful in all things, not for all things but in all. I heard a story of a missionary who had given his life to bring the Gospel message to people in other countries. He had a wife and children who stayed in America while he had took a trip to serve in another country, but while he was there, he received news that his wife was killed in a car accident.

He returned to America and arranged the funeral and everything he needed to do, but he became so depressed that he could hardly lift his head. His trust in God was shattered, and all he could think was, “How could God have not protected my wife while I was giving my life in this other country?” Maybe in your own life you have had those kinds of thoughts.

That missionary eventually became so depressed that he went to another godly minister and poured his heart out. After their talk, the minister simply told him, “Brother, you’ve got to get some thanksgiving in you.”

The missionary took his advice and just sat there, trying to be thankful. He said it took two hours before he could get one tiny word of thanksgiving out of his mouth. He had such a difficult time starting, but once he did, it was like an untapped river of thankfulness on the inside of his spirit that flooded out of him. Through that Thanksgiving, the depression he had been under was absolutely lifted from him! That man of God got married again, had another baby by his second wife, and resumed traveling to other nations and sharing the Gospel with people around the world. This man died as a great example and victor in the faith. But what was it that brought down the enemies of complaining, depression, and oppression in his life? Thanksgiving.

God understands that complaining is not a blessing in our lives. He knows that if we complain, our hearts are not thankful. If we are not thankful, we cannot see the blessings God has given us. Complaining is almost like having blinders covering our eyes to God’s blessings. Instead of focusing on the blessings we do have, we focus on all of the negatives in our lives — what we haven’t received or what isn’t working out or what we think should be better. Complaining becomes a giant in our lives and blinds us to the reality of all of the good God has done for us. We must develop a heart of thankful gratitude to pull down the giant of complaining!

I am so grateful that I have been able to communicate this important and vital truth with you today.  I am always so happy to share with you. Please plan to join me for my weekly program, TIME with Denise Renner. It is such a special time. You can connect with me every Monday at 7:00 AM CT on Facebook or YouTube. You can also watch Wednesdays at 12:00 PM CT on Facebook. I hope you will make time in your schedule to come join me!

Before I close this letter, I also want to remind you that if you need prayer for anything in your life, our prayer team is here for you. You can call 1.844.473.6637 or email us at prayer@deniserenner.org. We are ready to support and encourage you through whatever is happening in your life.

Before I close my letter, I want to encourage you that we are here for you. Prayer is so important to our Christian walk, and our team takes every one of your prayer requests seriously. Whether you need strength to follow God’s example or provision for a difficult time in life, you can connect with our prayer team today by calling 1.844.473.6637 or sending an email to prayer@deniserenner.org. We are believing for you to see the fullness of God’s blessings in your life soon!

We are moving forward together,

Denise Renner