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Introduction
Have you noticed what a powerful force graditude can be? Hi, this is Dorette Schaal with your dailyeword
And all this week I’m going to be talking about thanksgiving, and how we can live life with a grateful heart. I am so grateful that I learned early on in my life that when we pray we do it with thanksgiving, thanking God that He already has provided whatever it is that we need. Victory was accomplished on the cross, and because of what Jesus did, we overcome in this world. It is something to be thankful for everyday of the year. This poem I wrote is a great reminder. “My God has been faithful to me, His goodness and mercies I’ve seen, When hearing well done, your race has been won, I’ll know He’s been faithful, His Word has proved faithful, My God has been faithful to me.” Here is your dailyeword for Thanksgiving week.

One of the things that often happened in the Bible was that people had a party to remember God’s faithfulness. They killed the fatted calf, they brought out the fancy clothes, they celebrated with gusto! I love that idea. At our house, we celebrate whenever we can. I think there is something really special about saying even small things are worthy of a celebration. Communion might be the most common spiritual thing that we do to remember Christ’s death until He comes again. We commemorate His resurrection on Easter, we celebrate His birth at Christmas, but daily we should celebrate His faithfulness. His mercies are new every morning. Why not thank Him everyday for your salvation, for His provision, for walking in divine health, for the life of God that flows through you, for the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life. There are so many things that we can remember and be thankful for. A daily habit of gratitude is powerful. The Bible tells us even when making requests to God to thank Him in advance. Phil 4:6 says, “ Be careful (or anxious) for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, WITH THANKSGIVING, let your requests be made known unto God”. What a great pattern for life. Let’s live in grateful remembrance. God has done great things for me!

What does exceedingly abundantly above all you could ever ask or think look like for you in your world? It’s hard to believe that this is the life God has for us, and it just proves how much higher his thoughts are than ours. Life with Christ is abundant, full, vibrant, joyful, and filled with adventure. He puts big dreams in our hearts and his desire is that we go about changing our world. We have the tools, and the power of the Holy Spirit in us to do something amazing for God. So what dreams are you dreaming? Are you just a day dreamer, or are you a dream doer? What passion have you let die? It is time to stir it up. Get fired up! Natural fire needs oxygen to grow, and we have the breath of the Holy Spirit breathing on us to fire us up. Let’s do this. Let’s trade obligation and the doldrums for life altering, energizing, and vibrant relationship with God that can change our world. Let Fresh Air sweep into your life.

I’m sure you are familiar with the phrase Bucket List. There was a really powerful movie by that name, and since then, very often you hear about people’s bucket lists. I’m not a fan of the term kicking the bucket, so I call my list, my Life List. My life list is long! It has my dreams and passions in it, and also my love for music, writing, travel and family. What does your life list have in it? Maybe you have never written a Life List. I challenge you to write one soon, in fact, why not write one this weekend. One thing my husband and I haven’t done is a couple’s life list, and that is on my radar, and we hope do to that soon. There are things on this earth that no one but you can do, so I encourage you to fulfill your purpose, your mission, your passion in this life. Don’t let your life end with regrets. Be a dreamer and a doer! And fill someone else’s sails with wind on your journey.

Hebrews 6:19 says that “Hope is the anchor of the soul”. Without hope, we have nothing to shoot our faith at. Prov 13:12 says that hope deferred makes the heart sick. We know lots of people in our world who are hopeless, and have hearts that are “sick” because their hope is gone. They are sinking and we have the life preserver to throw to them. Let’s never sink again into the doldrums, and lets be ones who help others out, by being open to the divine appointments that God places in our path. Keep on breathing in and out, breathing in the presence of the Holy Spirit every day letting him fill you and then let His presence spill over from you to someone who might be sinking. You can offer hope, and breathe fresh wind into their world.

We overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. We know that what Jesus did for us made us overcomers, but this verse in Revelations says there is another component to overcoming….it is in telling someone else. What is your testimony? Has God been faithful to you? Have you experienced His goodness in your life? Did He come through when everything else failed? Then go tell it on the mountain! That’s what the shepherds did when they met the new baby King. Your testimony is worth telling. Someone needs to hear that God came through for you. That your life was headed the wrong direction and then Jesus saved you. Or even that your life was in the doldrums, feeling listless, and without hope or direction and then the Holy Spirit breathed fresh wind into your life. Don’t forget to tell someone!

Refresh others and you will be refreshed. In Proverbs 11:25 it says that a generous person will prosper, and those who refreshes others will be refreshed themselves. The American Standard Version says the liberal soul will be made fat, and he that waters others shall also be watered himself. Fat in this instance means prosperous and rich, not obese! This ties so closely to my life verse in Gen 12:2 that says, we are blessed to be a blessing. What we have received from God we get to pass along. God has given us so much, we get to give to others. It really might be the first regift ever. But instead of giving away what we don’t want, we give the cream of the crop of what God has given us, we give him the first fruits, and then we continue to give of our blessings to others, looking for a way to be a blessing. Living to give is a wonderful way to live. If you have been energized and refreshed, why not energize and refresh someone else.

Hi, this is Dorette Schaal, with your daily eword. I hope you have enjoyed this study on breathing fresh air into your world. I am especially thankful that we had this study right before the holidays, because there is no better time to be filled with life and joy than during the holidays. For this last week of talking about Fresh Air, my prayer is that it helps you begin the holy holiday season fueled up and revived to with the wind of the Holy Spirit in your sail. Thank you for sharing this time with me everyday. Here is your dailyeword.

Life is an adventure, and every day is a day that we should celebrate and enjoy. It doesn’t matter what age you are, it is easy to just do life in a hum drum sort of way. Wake up, eat, drink, work, and go back to sleep, and do it all the next day. What are your passions, what are your dreams, what is on your life list? If life doesn’t feel like an adventure, make some changes. Choose to be led by the Holy Spirit, live the adventure that God has for you. Each day is filled with new possibilities, and God’s mercy is new every morning. So wake up with expectation. This is the day the Lord has made. Ask Him to align your steps all day long. You might find your life adventure full of divine appointments, with exciting surprises along the way. Live the adventure with fresh wind in your sail.

If we ask for more, we can get to know the Holy Spirit in a more intimate way. We can know the Holy Spirit as a friend, and we can experience His presence in our life everyday. If you want more, ask for more! How vibrant is your relationship with him? I hope you have experienced the joy of being filled with the Spirit and pray in the Spirit every day. Whenever I pray with anyone to receive their prayer language, I always remind them that from this day forward, they can pray in tongues every single day. In my personal life, I feel the closeness of the Holy Spirit, when I take time to pray in my prayer language every day. It reminds me of our supernatural relationship. I can’t do life without Him. God loved us so much that he wanted us to have intimate communication and constant companionship. That sounds like we definitely got the best end of this deal! So if you need more fresh wind, pray in the spirit today. Let His presence wash over you, wave after wave of liquid love. He intimately loves you. You are precious to Him.

I often think about what Jesus said just before he left earth for heaven in John 16.7 that it was to our advantage that He went away. If you have ever had a good friend move away, it doesn’t feel like it is for our advantage. We feel bummed. We feel lonely, we maybe even fell abandoned. How could they leave us! As a church leader, we always feel so sad when wonderful, faithful, committed attenders move away. I actually hate it! But God always fills in the gap, and provides new people to take their place. But a hole in your heart remains, even if their move was just to another city in your state. So what did Jesus mean that it was to our advantage that He went away? He was reminding us that He was just one person. He could only be at one place at one time, but He was going to leave the Holy Spirit who could be at all places all the time. So how would this be better? We would never have to be without His presence. He would always be with us. That is definitely to our advantage.

I love the picture I see in my mind when I think of waves of liquid love. The ocean is a magnificent force, and when you watch the waves crashing on the beach, or on a rocky coast, you realize how tiny we are on this great big planet. The wind that moves the sailboat, also moves water, and big wind makes for bigger waves and faster sailing. Of course we know it can be dangerous to be in too much wind, but the Holy Spirit wind isn’t like that. His wind is like liquid love that washes over us and helps us move to the next place we need to be in life. My prayer for you is that if you have not experienced the infilling of the Holy Spirit, and experienced His presence like wave upon wave of liquid love, that you would not only seek after Him, but you would have a beautiful life changing encounter that will move you to the next place God has for you. As growing believers, we can go from glory to glory, and experience fresh air in our liffe and fresh wind our sails.