Fix a Flat

God's been showing me flat tires everywhere because He is wanting to FIX FLATS in the spirit. Just a SMALL puncture can cause a flat. Flats can also be caused by big collisions, excessive wear, or slow leaks. Have you had a big blow in your life recently? Have you felt excessively worn down? Are you slowly losing air? Or is it just a small, barely noticeable, cutting thought? When you get a flat it affects your driving. There is a loss of control, pulling you to one side or another. It's the same in the spiritual. Thoughts can be pulled towards discouragement, depression, anger, or hopelessness when we get flats. We can then lose control and damage our hopes or our hearts. So what fixes spritual flats? First, we have to have God's help in identifying where we are losing air. Where is the place in our life that the air that is supposed to fill us up is escaping? Pray and ask God to show you where your flat is. Then, we have to repair it. God began to walk me through the process. These things that we're pulled towards when we have a flat (hopelessness, discouragement, anger, bitterness, etc) happen when there is a lack of something. Something hoped for did not happen. The opposite of lacking is having, and the evidence of having is thankfulness. It is THANKFULNESS and gratitude that fix our flat. It may not change anything about our situation (or it may change everything), but by focusing on our thankfulness for what we DO have, we no longer veer. We no longer lose control. We no longer feel like we are deflating or losing but that we are inflated and gaining. Thanksgiving literally RENEWS daily the damage the world does...not just PATCHING it over, but completely renewing it. "All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day." 2 Corinthians 4:15-16 "For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer." 1 Timothy 4:4-5 Both of these verses on thankfulness come from the fourth chapter of their books. The other day God woke me up at 4:14 am from a dream in which I was given a message to deliver and the enemy kept trying to distract from it. 4:14 is the address of the famous verse in Esther stating that she had come to the place she was "for such a time as this". It's also the address of 1 John 4:14 which talks about God sending His son at the appointed time and us seeing and testifying to this. I keep seeing this theme of "appointed times". Even the fourth day of creation was to create night and day and the stars to distinguish appointed times. The fourth commandment is about the sabbath- an appointed time of rest. Another word for appointed times is divine appointments. All of this is to say that this is the appointed time for a divine appointment for you. There is something happening in your life that you will see and testify about that you have been brought to "for such a time as this". The "flat tire" feelings you are experiencing are only a distraction to pull you off course. Keep the focus of thankfulness and stay on course!