attitude of blessing others & yourself & god

Another outstanding Bill Johnson video (30 minutes) "The Virtue of Thankfulness". Here are the notes:

Impartation: One person can pray for another to pass on a gift. BUT maturity comes from making choices. How do you react in your life and in your heart? God is constantly measuring what level of glory you can carry. GLORY is the manifested presence of Jesus - living in the manifested presence of the Christ. His desire is to fully reveal himself among his people, but we need to all be gently healed and strengthened, so we can withstand it. The choices we make throughout life is where integrity and character is built. Difficult situations are always an invitation to build character - its never to harm or to shame.

Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. For this is the will God in Christ Jesus for you. 

This is your purpose. It means you are to have disciplined responses to life's challenges.
You cannot get a thankful heart through impartation. It is through choices.

8:30 - Have a gratitude list. DO NOT complain. Complaining is being more aware of a problem than of the goodness of God and of God's purpose. No matter what happens, choose JOY. It is a choice. It is a command. DO it. Choose Joy no matter what circumstance you are in - not necessary for the circumstance but in the circumstance.

12:00 - Rejoice always is choosing joy. JOY is part of the kingdom. JOY is always within reach. Choose joy. Pray without ceasing - pray and don't stop. Thanksgiving creates the context to keep prayer focused. Thankfulness keeps prayers on target. Thankfulness gives insights for more precise ways to pray, and that makes for breakthrough that makes the prayer manifest.

15:28 - Keep your prayer list of thankfulness always longer than your list of needs. Stay more aware of your blessing than praying only from your need. Thankfulness allows you to pray from your fullness and from your authority (not as a needy beggar).

17:30 - Slow down and deeply meditate on the "hard" passages in the Bible - let them cut deep into you, and change you. 

20:00 - Grace doesn't give you a pass to skip the rules; Grace gives you the power to do the rules. 21:00 - But be aware the enemy will try to get you to "obtain by rules" what you already have by grace. So shifting the focus from rules, to living freely and thankfully in grace, in Gods favor, is where we want to be - that's true life. 

23:00 - That which was intended to be used against you becomes sanctified by your own thankfulness. Your thankfulness takes the sting out of what the enemy throws at you, and is sanctified by prayer and the word, because it separates you out of yourself and and the world system, and into God (you start to become more like him because you've been separated to Him). THANKFULNESS protects you from harm.

25 - Example - someone was writing a book slamming Johnson. He wrote the man and told him he welcomed the book, not because of the book, but because "what I want is on the other side of facing difficulty well". You can't be trusted with praise if you're not trusted with criticism. So I will embrace challenging situations, and learn how to navigate through them, and trust God. I learn how to monitor my heart, rejoice in all things, and depend fully on Him. Adversity teaches me how to do that, and I want the "win" that's on the other side of getting through adversity the right way, in thankfulness, relying on God. Be thankful IN the opportunity to grow, and if you handle it right, he can trust you with more. 

28 - Thankfulness is the #1 virtue to change things. It can change an entire city, or an entire family line. But it can't be imparted. You have to choose to be thankful. A thankful heart remains aware of God's presence, brings breakthrough, refines the focus of prayer. ALWAYS.