How to Be Grateful in Hard Times: Part II
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Having a Grateful Heart in Difficult Times Starts with Taking a Hard Look at the Root of the Problem
Welcome to Part II, my friend, of How to Be Grateful in Hard Times. If you haven’t already, I really really reaallllyyy suggest that you go and read up on the intro, which you can read here.
Before we begin, I wanna recap on our founding scripture for this three part series:
16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
17 For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.
Matthew 13:16-17 KJV
In Part I, we broke down why gratitude matters, especially to Yah. Now, in the second chapter, we’re going to expose not only what happens if you ignore murmuring spirits operating in your life, but why this shift is a legal act and not just one based on your emotions and your feelings. It’s a strange concept on the outset, but once we really dive into this, expressing a grateful heart posture towards Yahuah will be something that you’re more determined to do even when you don’t feel like it… because when you’re not in gratitude mode, you’ll know satan is illegally getting one over on you. And if you allow him to get away with it, he’ll not only steal your joy, he’ll try to kill you (John 10:10 KJV).
Think I’m playin’? If you’re ready, my friend, let’s begin.
Gratitude Isn’t Just a Feeling, It’s a Vital Part of Who We Are as Children of God
Now I’m no lawyer. I have no degree in law, I didn’t take the bar. But I am a wordsmith. And once I grasped (and I mean really grasped) that Yahusha is the WORD made flesh, He began to break things down to me word by word. And when He did? This is what He revealed to me about a grateful heart.
WHAT IS THE LEGAL DEFINITION OF HEART?
So in Part I we discovered our heart posture is what allows you to either receive or reject the Word of Yah. That’s what the Parable of the Sower really gets into. So when the Holy Ruach showed me that ignoring a murmuring spirit operating in your life is dangerous because it’s a sign of disease, He showed me it’s not just a sign of disease in the body, but specifically a sign of a damaged heart.
The word heart, as described by the Oxford English Dictionary, is “the hollow muscular organ which performs the function of a pump in the circulatory system, receiving blood from the veins and contracting to propel it into the arteries.” It goes on to say that the heart is regarded as, “the centre of the vital or life-maintaining functions of the body; the seat of life; the vital part or principle; (in some contexts) life itself” [1], “the seat or repository of a person's inmost thoughts, feelings, inclinations, etc.; a person's inmost being; the depths of the soul; the soul, the spirit” [2], and “the seat of love, attachment, or affection, or as representing a person's affections, devotion, loyalty, etc” [3]. So to be plain: it’s the center of a person’s innermost thoughts, their moral compass, their emotions, and the vital part, the essence, or the innermost part of something.
What intrigued me about this, going back and forth between this and the New Oxford American Dictionary (which is my absolute favorite dictionary, btw), is that the NOAD also adds compassion as an emotion that resides there. Out of all of these definitions the Ruach Ha’Qodesh brought to my attention while studying these two scriptures, it was the final one that He wanted me to focus on that gave me pause.
“The condition of land,” the Oxford English Dictionary goes on to say, “soil, etc., as to its capacity to provide what is required of it; vigour, fertility. Also: the capacity of grass, etc., to thrive. Agriculture in later use.” And if we count in the NOAD’s version, the agricultural definition of the word heart usually involves a modifier. This means that there is usually something outside of the land that is maintaining its condition.
I know it’s a lot, but stay with me as we break all of these definitions down.
WHY OPERATING WITH GRATITUDE TOWARDS GOD IS A MUST FOR BELIEVERS TO LIVE FULLY
The NIV translation of John 10:10 says that Yahusha came that we may have life, but instead of using the word abundance like the KJV does, this version reads “full” (John 10:10 NIV). When we look at the heart scientifically, we see a hollow organ that pumps blood. When the Elohim looks at our hearts, however, it’s His desire that our central or innermost part, our very essence, is filled with Yahusha. He wants that blood coursing through our arteries and veins to be the Word of Yah dwelling within us on overflow mode. In abundance.
Our capacity to thrive, or to receive that abundance that God came in the form of Yahusha to give to us, therefore depends on the condition of our hearts.
When we have our thoughts taken captive by Christ, we’re combat effective Christians. In Luke 7:12-15 KJV, Christ was moved to compassion for a widow whose only son was dead. He spoke to said dead body and the boy rose up. Not only is this an everloving miracle, but it’s the heart of Yahweh exposed— John 3:16 KJV says for God so loved that He gave His only begotten son for us. If the heart is where the top-tier emotion of love is centered, and we’re made in the image of Yahuah, it’s where His emotions reside also.
Love isn’t just a fruit of the spirit, it’s seated in His very essence.
But this is two-fold: we can also recognize that out of the abundance of Christ’s heart, He spoke with compassion, and the power attached to that emotion can raise the dead. When we are filled with Yahusha, my friend, that same resurrection power is within us and we have the authority, in His name, to speak over dead things and watch them come back to life.
Legally.
WHEN WE ARE GRATEFUL, IT’S EASIER TO UNDERSTAND GOD’S HEART
Matthew 13:3-23 is subtitled (in some printed and digital versions of the KJV) the Parable of the Sower. This is an agricultural reference Yahusha HaMashiach decides He’s gonna use to give depth and understanding to Yah’s Word. He’s explaining Himself (Him being the Word) with agricultural terms not just because the Hebrews were an agricultural people, but because the Children of Israel had also been deceived by these laws the Pharisees (aka false teachers) had added to God’s Word (Matthew 23) that was burdening them and their ability to build real relationships with who Yahuah really is. These laws also took them further away from God’s original design for man. And that design was to be in relationship with Him… in a garden.
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
Genesis 1:28-29 KJV
So later on in Matthew 13, Yahusha goes on to explain that the Parable of the Sower involves seed (The Word of Yah) sown into different types of soil (the hearts of man). But for the specific context of what He wants me to share regarding verses 16-17, He’s reminding us that the seeds we have in this end times remnant generation, this Greater Works Generation, many saints before us longed to see.
The closest anyone had come to the covenant we have with God now — through Yahusha HaMashiach — was back with Adam in the garden. The grace message now extended to the gentiles did not exist before Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. Because of His sacrifice, gentiles and Jews alike have the opportunity to receive direct manna from heaven, so to speak, which is free to us… but was at a cost to Him. If we were still under works like in the old covenant and had to sacrifice rams and sheep and bulls in the 21st Century? With this inflation?? Could you imagine how condemned we would feel if we couldn’t afford the yearly sacrifice for Yom Kippur??!
So now, bestie, when a murmuring spirit clogs up your hearts, not only are you blind, deaf, and dumb to how loyal of a husbandman Yahusha has been not only to the Children of Israel, but how compassionate He was and how filled with love for the world He was— which, let’s be clear, the gentles were mainly a part of before the Church Age or New Covenant. John 3:16 KJV doesn’t say for God so loved the Jews, it says the world. And so gentiles were on His mind too, and by the great mercy of the Elohim, we got in on the most prestigious invitation ever given to man.
A MURMURING SPIRIT WILL PROVOKE THE WRATH OF GOD UPON YOU INSTEAD OF GRANTING YOU ACCESS TO HIS BLESSINGS
So here’s another thing: a murmuring spirit can bring damage to the entire body, especially the kidneys.
The kidneys’ main function is to purify the blood by removing nitrogenous waste products and excreting them in urine. They also control the fluid and ion levels in the body by excreting any excesses. The kidneys were anciently thought to control disposition and temperament (New Oxford American Dictionary). When kidneys do not function normally anymore, you need what? You need a modifier. (I hope you’re getting all the connections the Holy Ruach is giving, because I’m living for them, tbh!!)
In medicine, when it comes to the kidneys, the modifier is dialysis. In the Word of God, Yahusha is our great physician, so it’s the Most High Yah that will heal us (Exodus 15:26 KJV).
Interestingly enough, the origin of the word dialysis is the greek word dialuein, dia meaning ‘apart’ and luein meaning ‘set free’ [4]. That is to say, that a murmuring spirit can so damage you, the Body of Christ, that it takes the Word of Yah to set you free.
It’s a recurring spirit, so the damage is done over and over again. It comes back. This is then a spirit you must really guard your heart against because it’s lethal. Remember the Children of Israel murmuring against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness? It’s a repeat offender, and like I mentioned at the beginning of this post with John 10:10, it’s a court room tactic that satan will use to not only try to stop you from receiving from the Elohim, but to incite His wrath upon you so that you die (Numbers 14).
Some people live with this spirit. Scientifically, if we go back to our medical definitions, this repeated offense is called a heart murmur. But when we focus on the kidneys, for the purpose of this post, people deal with damage to this organ by undergoing dialysis.
The root of that word, dialysis, suggests that undergoing medical dialysis is supposed to set you free and it doesn’t. It’s temporary. It doesn’t set you free from death completely like the son of the widow woman in Luke 7. The Word of the Most High is the ultimate modifier. It’s designed to give you eternal life, just like John 3:16 says.
A Grateful Heart Provokes God’s Binding Agreement with Believers to Heal Them in Hard Times
Yahusha HaMashiach healed the sick each time He was moved to compassion (Matthew 14:14, 15:32-39, 20:34 KJV). And that was the end of it. A murmuring spirit will repeat the same problem over and over in your life. It’ll keep speaking illness and sickness and disease into your situations. When you’re full of gratitude and faith, Yahweh will remove that spirit from operating in your life! When you are full of Yahusha there’s no room in your heart for a self-sabotaging spirit like a murmuring spirit.
This is the law, bestie. This is your legal right, what Yah wanted me to make you aware of in this portion of our series How to Be Grateful in Hard Times:
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14 KJV
Murmuring is wicked. It’s sin. Make no doubt about it, the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23 KJV) and that is the end goal of satan for your life. If our hearts are the land Yahusha HaMashiach was talking about in our founding text, and if it is in the very essence of the Elohim to be compassionate towards us, this legal truth that we have access to permanent freedom from sickness and death is paramount to not only building a relationship with Him, but something we need to be so very grateful for. We don’t have to wait an entire everloving year to be forgiven like our biblical ancestors did. We can go to the LORD, ask Him what’s the root of any sickness, ailment, or hinderance operating in our life, and His Holy Ruach will reveal it to us. Then, because of the Blood that was shed on Calvary by Christ Jesus, we will be heard, will be forgiven, and will be healed.
GRATITUDE FOR CHRIST’S SACRIFICE FOR US IS THE KEY TO SUSTAINING AN ABUNDANT LIFE
Understanding the Bible as a law book is so very exciting to me, and I hope that some of that excitement rubbed off on you, encouraging you to get into the Word to see what your legal rights are as a citizen of the Kingdom of Yah! I know we barely scratched the surface with this post, but diving deeper on your own in your private time with the LORD, I’m sure, will lead to just such wonderful revelations from Him.
As for part three (my closing argument for the importance of gratitude, you could say), we’re going all in, bestie. You see, understanding your legal right to what was already paid for on the cross is one part of the process, but securing that freedom from sickness and death? That’s work. That’s why we’re going to dive into how to shift out of that debilitating mindset that can so easily overwhelm you in hard times, and sustain the deliverance that comes from God when we are healed and set free.
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REFERENCES
“Heart, N. (I.2).” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, December 2023, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/1198075487. Accessed 26 January 2024.
“Heart, N. (II.6.a).” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, December 2023, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/8983683623. Accessed 26 January 2024.
“Heart, N. (II.10.a).” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, December 2023, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/1860375701. Accessed 26 January 2024.
“Dialysis, N.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/dialysis. Accessed 27 January 2024.
Hey, I’m Chase! I’m so excited you’re here, because diving deeper in the Word of Yah is right where you belong!
