Thanksgiving A Key to Open Promises

After realizing that I have been in bondage to some old and destructive mindsets about my identity, life, and God I was inspired by the Holy Spirit to go a different direction.  These old mindsets are like going down dark, tree-lined pathways in a life-less winter forest; only these are not physical pathways but actually pathways in my mind that have a terrible ending, death.  In Romans 8:6-8 we are told, "For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God."  The flesh is a whole identity, mindset about life, and mindset opposed to relationship with God that is apart from what Christ has done for us.  I was led to pick up a book to aid repentance called "Victorious Mindsets" by Steve Backlund, in it I read about the power of Thanksgiving.  As I read this the Holy Spirit connected the concept Steve talked about, thanksgiving because it is a gate (Psalm 100:4) enters into a new realm of living and the promises of God.  There are 750 promises in the New Testament which are all ours "in Christ", because we have been born-again and grafted into the family of God but how do we access these promises.  The Holy Spirit spoke to me to, "Give thanks for the promises to open them like a gift."  Thankfulness has not always been a consistent part of my mindset and yet I was sensing without it I would continue to go down the dark pathways in my mind that led to death.  We are thankful to someone else when we receive something from them, because we are acknowledging they had a choice to give us this and that we appreciate it and them.  Has Jesus Christ given us something, He has giving us so much but can we not only name but experience the New Life He has given us.  To open one of the "precious and magnificent promises" as 2 Peter 1:4 says we need to thank Him for receiving it.  Being thankful for the promise entails remembering the sacrifice that He made to bring this promise to us to give us new life.  For example Romans 8:1, "There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."  What did Jesus do to give us no condemnation?  He took on all the condemnation for our sin as though He were in our place (death-crucifixion) and He also took on the condemnation of the world (insults from the religious, beatings, everyone abandoning Him, mocking, etc..).  When I begin to see the depth of what He did on my behalf to take on condemnation and give me no condemnation then this leads me through the gate of thankfulness into a place of praising Him (enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise).

Thank You Father for New Life,
Bret