I have had the topics of thankfulness and praise on my heart lately, and because it’s November, that is what I would like to write to you about today. But first, I’d like to say how thankful I am for the responses and comments I’ve received from many who are watching my programs and reading my emails. I read every comment and I want you to know how much it means to me to read how God is touching lives through the truth of His Word. I give thanks and praise to God for each one of my dear friends.

An Attitude of Thankfulness and Praise Shows Our Agreement With God

Adopting an attitude of thankfulness and praise is so very important — not only because it helps us maintain a posture of faith and positions us to receive from God, but because He deserves our praise! When the storms of life come, we can have confidence that we will be kept in perfect peace as long as our minds are stayed on Him (see Isaiah 26:3) — and the way we keep our minds stayed on Him is by using the words of our mouth to agree with God.The principle of keeping our words in agreement with God is key to our living a victorious life in Him. It is essentially what the writer of Hebrews meant when he wrote, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23). To receive from God, we must keep our words in agreement with God without wavering.

For instance, let’s say that the flu season comes and you start saying, “Well, flu season is here. I’m probably going to get sick.” Or perhaps you say, “My husband [or wife] has the flu, so I’m likely going to get the flu, too — and then my children will probably get the flu.”

There is a big problem with that kind of speech! The words we say carry within them our expectation and faith, so when you use your mouth to say such things, you’re exercising your faith in the wrong direction! You’re actually saying, “I’m using my faith right now to believe that I and my children will get sick. I expect to get sick!”

Now, I know that’s not really what you want, but the principle of God’s Word is still true. You might say, “Oh, I’m just speaking the facts. The flu is contagious!” But, friend, I encourage you — don’t underestimate the effect your words have on the world around you. The Bible is full of scriptures telling us that our words have authority. Think about this — how did God create the world? He spoke. You were made in the image of God and that same power lives in you (see Genesis 1:26). How did you get saved? You confessed Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Your mouth has so much authority and power; that’s why you do not want to use your mouth to confess things that actually bring destruction on yourself or others.

What we do want to confess is what God has said in His Word about the matter! We must get in agreement with Him and speak words of life over our situation: “By the stripes of Jesus, I am healed. I take authority over this virus in the name of Jesus! I hold the blood of Jesus over myself and over my family. Lord, I confess before You that You are our Shield!”

You see, that is using your mouth to bring God’s will on the scene. That is employing the authority of your confession of faith! Solomon warned us in Proverbs 18:21 that “death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” When we live with a positive confession of faith, the truth of God’s words in our heart and our mouth begins to work in our favor rather than for our destruction.

What You Say Is What You Get!

I want to tell you a short story about confession. Many years ago, Rick and I were living in the U.S., and we were out of God’s will. We had started a church that He hadn’t told us to start, and we were “eating the fruit” of doing things our way. We were so poor. We had very little heat in our house — absolutely no heat in the kitchen — and our refrigerator was empty.During this difficult and very lean season of our lives, I came across a book entitled, What You Say Is What You Get by Don Gossett. So I started reading this book about the power of my words.

I particularly took note of one story that the author related. It was about a man who was having a very hard time financially. He wasn’t able to adequately provide for his family, and his refrigerator was empty. So he decided that every time he passed by that refrigerator, he was going to do something different than he had been doing. Instead of saying or thinking, Oh God, what are we going to do?, this man decided he would look at his empty refrigerator and shout, “Praise God! Hallelujah!”

So from that moment on, every time the man passed by the refrigerator, he faithfully shouted, “Praise God! Hallelujah!” — and within a week, someone had blessed him and his family with groceries, filling up that refrigerator with food!

Well, as I said, our refrigerator was empty too. So when I read about that man’s testimony, I thought, I’m going to do that! From that moment on whenever I passed our refrigerator, instead of thinking or saying, “Oh, what are we going to do? Our refrigerator is empty!” — I just started praising the Lord! I’d say, “Hallelujah! Hallelujah!” and just keep on walking!

Well, the Bible says He inhabits the praises of His people (see Psalm 22:3). When we give praise and thanksgiving to God, we also give Him the opportunity to work in our lives.

A week after I started using my mouth to praise God and thank Him for His goodness to us, one of our church members called us out of the blue and said, “You know, God has put it on my heart to buy groceries for your family.” Then this person went out and bought so many groceries that our refrigerator and our cabinets were full!

Why did that happen? Because within my confession of praise was expectation and faith! Rather than use my expectation and faith to reinforce what I saw in my circumstances, I took God at His Word and agreed with Him. I got my words in line with His. And because I chose to point my faith in the right direction, my family and I experienced the promise of the Lord’s provision and saw His goodness performed in our lives.

The good news is that mine was not a “special case.” God wants to prove Himself faithful and perform His goodness in your life as well! He has given us “exceedingly great and precious promises” for every circumstance in life, and He wants us to be partakers of His divine nature (see 2 Peter 1:4). I encourage you, dear friend, to search God’s Word for those promises and determine in your heart and mind to agree with Him. The choice has been set before us all (see Deuteronomy 30:19), so rather than speak death, let’s speak life by keeping God’s Word — and thanksgiving and praise — in our mouths!

Thank you so much again for spending this time with me. I pray it has been a blessing and encouragement to you! If you would like more encouragement from the Word, I invite you to join me for my program TIME With Denise Renner on Wednesdays at 12:00 p.m. CT on YouTube and  Facebook. You can also find me on the following:

• GospelTruth.TV — Saturdays at 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. CT 
• PTL — Saturdays at 3:30 p.m. CT 
• Spotify, Apple, and Google — Mondays at 5:00 a.m. (new audio podcasts)

Will you let us know how we can pray for you? If you need healing or you have a special prayer request, one of our prayer partners is just a phone call or email away. Call 1.844.473.6637 or send us an email at prayer@deniserenner.org. We are believing for you to experience the fullness of God’s blessings in your life — including the healing power that is available to you today!