The Key of Thankfulness

The Key of Thankfulness

In Matthew 16:19 Jesus says, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom…” The Greek word used here for kingdom is basileia. Translated in English it means rulership or authority not a geographical territory. Jesus goes on to say, “…the things you don’t allow on earth will be the things that God does not allow, and the things you allow on earth will be the things that God allows.”

Jesus said these things right after Simon Peter had the revelation that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus said I give you these “keys” and these keys give you access to the authority of heaven. I believe that one of the keys that allow us to access the authority of heaven is thankfulness.

A few chapters before in Matthew 14 we see the story of the feeding of the five thousand. It says in verses 19-20, “Then he told the people to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves and the two fish and, looking to heaven, he thanked God for the food. Jesus divided the bread and gave it to his followers, who gave it to the people. All the people ate and were satisfied. Then the followers filled twelve baskets with the leftover pieces of food.”

Jesus thanked God before the miracle took place. His thankfulness gave access to the supernatural. This is the principle that Jesus was teaching us. David said in Psalm 100 that we enter “His gates with thanksgiving”. Access to the glory and presence of God is thanksgiving.

Thankfulness is a form of praise. We see in the book of Joshua that the Israelites shouts of praise brought down the Jericho wall. Our thankfulness gives us access to the supernatural power of the kingdom of heaven. In adverse form, the opposite like complaining, bitterness and ungrateful takes us out of the realm of the Holy Spirit. It puts a barrier between us and the supernatural.

Too often we wait until we receive something to say thank you. Jesus gave thanks before the miracle, and to the observer of the day that may have seemed odd or maybe even crazy to thank God for five loaves and two fish when there were 5,000 men not including the women and children that needed to eat.

I challenge you for the next twenty one days keep a gratitude journal. Daily write down ten things that you are thankful for. A friend told me that a study showed that people who daily wrote down things they were thankful for had better health than the people in the study who wrote down their complaints. See if being thankful will improve your quality of life and give you access to the power of kingdom.

In His service,

Kendy Ward

Kingdom Ambassador