For every blessing that you have. From the little patter of little toes and feet, to the food on your table…be thankful. Be grateful for all of the blessings which you have in your life every day. Because some may not be here next year and for some of us there may be one more to be thankful for. Life is full of blessings that we should be thankful for. Some of them have two legs and some have four. Some of them crawl or laugh and giggle all day. Some of them bark or meow when it is time for food and some just sit down and wait for the table to be fixed.
Every part of your life is a blessing so be thankful for it regardless of how bad or good your day may have been today. Be grateful for your Savior and to God for your life today and every day that you wake up because it is by their power and blessing that you live and breathe.
Many of us seem to think it isn’t necessary to give God anything. We don’t want to give Him our time on Sunday and He doesn’t need our money. Many of us don’t even want Him in our life or our hearts. So why do so many people who feel this way claim to be Christians? Is it because they know Who He is but they don’t want to know Him really? Are they afraid of Him? Possibly. In years past, God was pictured and preached as a vengeful God and a jealous God and He is both of those…to an extent. He is vengeful because He loves us not because He is going to punish us for something that we said or didn’t say. His vengeance is toward those who have wronged and persecuted His people, Israel. He will also avenge the church which grew in the past two thousand years because of the disciples preaching and because of the persecution which Christians still endure.
God is jealous, not like a lover or a husband, but because the “other” gods which mankind has created for himself are not gods at all. They are just figments of our imagination and our idea of how “god” should be. Humanity tends to try to squish God down into a more relatable god that we can understand. God cannot be put in a box or be made smaller so that we can relate to Him and feel comfortable with Him.
But we still say things like, “My god wouldn’t send anyone to hell.”. God doesn’t send anyone to hell either, that is your choice. God has made it possible for everyone to be saved but there are those who just won’t accept Jesus as their Savior and Lord. When you reject Him and turn your back on His offer of grace to be saved, then you have condemned yourself to hell and unless you accept Him before you die…that will be your eternity. Our spirit is immortal and we will be given a new body for eternity, one which cannot die unless we refuse God’s offer of grace. That is why hell is called the “second death”. There is no Life outside of God and that is where you will be if that is your choice.
God loves every person but He doesn’t like some of the things that they are doing with their lives. Just like parents, He loves His children but sometimes He isn’t happy with their choices in life but He does allow us those choices even if He doesn’t agree with them. Jesus came and paid the price for your sins regardless of their “size”, even though there aren’t really BIG sins or little sins, although the killing of children or babies would likely rank a little worse than a lie any day.
What does God want from each of us? Our love and our heart. Be thankful for His grace which has given you all of your talents and the blessings in your life. Be useful to His Kingdom and for His Kingdom because each of us who have been called to know Him were called because of our influence in someone’s life that He knows that you can reach better than anyone else.
It seems that there are so many people who love their church traditions, but they don’t want to give their hearts to Jesus. You either have Jesus in your heart or you don’t, and celebration of Communion without Him is a sin. Communion is not a bad thing but celebrating and taking part in it is only for those who are saved by His sacrifice for them.
God loves each of us but He looks at the traditions of men which are used as substitutions for Him and He is not pleased. No, tradition or the “good” things that you do in His name won’t save you from Hell. Only belief in Jesus and repenting of your sins can save you. So think about this during this holiday season and give thanks to the One Who truly deserves to be thanked for His sacrifice for your soul and mine.
We are too comfortable in our plenty. When we wake up in the summer most of us have a cool house to live in. We go to jobs or other places where air conditioning keeps the temperature at a reasonable level regardless of the temp outside. The same goes for our winter homes. Most of us have heated, comfortable places where we can enjoy everyday life, even when we have to go to work. So…how much more should we expect from God?
In the news almost every day it seems that there are children and some adults who just won’t be satisfied with what they have. Every Presidential candidate that is running against our President wants to offer more free stuff to everyone. Free health care, free income whether you have a job or not, college education for free. That is not how a republic works! Who is going to pay for all of this “free” stuff? Someone has to.
Things like these and more stuff is not what we were put on this Earth to chase after. We are to be about the work of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. That is what the empty place is in your life and what was in mine too, many years ago. Every person is born with an empty place inside but we aren’t born with the knowledge of what fits in it. So most of us seek all kinds of things which will make us feel complete and whole. But the only thing which goes into that place is not a thing at all, it is Jesus Christ.
It is our spirit seeking Him which makes us long for something until we find our Who that is. That is why we are always looking for a way to be fulfilled in our lives. We are living with an empty place that cannot be filled unless we ask Jesus to come into our hearts and fill us with His Spirit and He makes us whole and complete. God loves us and He know who is looking and seeking Him and who is not. Those who are will have a chance to be complete and full of His Spirit. Those who think they already have Him may be deceived into thinking that they “have an arrangement with God” just like the Pharisees in Jesus’ day. Their “righteousness” was based on their own knowledge of God’s Word and His Law and they didn’t think they needed salvation or a Savior.
Unfortunately, there are many people today in that same place with respect to their salvation. Many of them don’t think they need Him…but they do. One day soon they will find out and on that day they will realize why they felt His call on their lives and regret their refusal of His Grace.
The hymn “Amazing Grace” is truly a wonderful song and the story of the man, John Newton, is a picture of God’s abundant and amazing grace which is poured out on all of us. But, consider the grace which we all enjoy by the power of the cross and by the name of Jesus. He is our High Priest in heavenly places so we can come boldly into the throne room.
14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. 15 For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us, therefore, come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
God’s grace is poured out on us through Jesus and His work on the cross for our salvation. He does this because He loves us, not because He has to. Can we understand His love for us? Nope, but I am glad that we are on the receiving end of His grace rather than His wrath.
God loves us with all of His heart. It has no bearing upon our life or our reaction toward Him. Just as an example of the type of love we get from Him, look at your parents or grandparents. If they were the loving parents who they are supposed to be, you got a very small taste of God’s love through them. The same goes for your grandparents. God’s love is perfect without any conditions, we should live our lives in the imitation of it. We can’t duplicate it exactly but just by trying to live to His standard we are doing better than we can do on our own.
The grace of God and His mercy flows from His love for us and since it is infinite love, we have been the recipients of it even on our worst days. We don’t have to live up to His standards in order to receive it but we should strive toward them in our everyday lives. Because just by doing this through His Spirit, we are better people than we could be without and others will certainly notice it. When they do, they will ask you why you act the way you do even when things aren’t going your way?
God’s grace is so amazing and so penetrating to the depths of your soul until it has an effect on every part of your life. Family and friends will see the difference in your life and your attitude regardless of the problems that you are facing. Take note of your friends and your family and if you can see there are troubles, and there are likely some, get on your knees and pray to God who is the only One Who can take care of whatever the problem may be.
He loves us as the Father loves us…completely and more deeply. Why did I write this in the present tense? Because Jesus is ALIVE and He still loves us just as God the Father loves us today! He didn’t die. At least, He didn’t stay dead. He was placed in a tomb but three days later He came out in the power of God and the proof of Who He truly was and is. Jesus came to bring salvation to everyone who is drawn to Him by the Father. To everyone who will hear and listen and believe in Him because He paid the price for your soul. The message which Jesus brought to the world is simply “repent and believe in Him” for your salvation.
In Ephesians 5:20 Paul writes: “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
During this time of year when we give thanks for the blessings of God which we have received do we think about why God has given us those blessings? Do we think about all of our needs that have been met, at times without us even asking for them?
We go through some trying times and many of us actually blame God for those rather than thanking Him for the strength to get through them. Yet, we are supposed to give thanks to Him because it is a commandment…not a suggestion. God loves each of us and whether we realize it or not we should give Him the glory for all that He has given us. Although many of us look at what we have and we think that we are the ones who got this thing or that thing when it is really God Who has given us the ability and the knowledge needed to do our jobs and be able to provide for our family.
Being thankful for everything is not hard to do, but it is difficult to give thanks to the right One Who provided for us. We have grown up in a world that teaches independence and individuality so we look at what we have as our accomplishments and not as gifts from God. Living in the world as it is today we look around and see that the world is so focused upon what each person wants and their personal idea of the “truth” and what is right in their eyes until any idea of looking at the bigger picture is lost. To many people, it seems to make no sense. Why would they want to consider their actions having an impact on the lives of many people in the world?
If they aren’t hurting others with the way that they live then why should they care about someone in another country having air pollution problems or problems growing enough food? We have become so individualistic until we live selfish lives and look at the world around us and we just don’t care about anyone less fortunate than we are.
Being thankful to God is actually the secret to a happy and productive life. So why can’t we live thankfully all the time rather than on just one holiday during the year? Paul wrote in Ephesians that we should be “thankful always” and that is why we seem to have trouble with this. Give thanks to God for your home and your family. Give thanks for your retirement or your job. Give thanks for your spouse and your grandchildren and for their continued health.
Thanksgiving is coming soon and we should truly give thanks to the One Who provides for us every day. Psalm 68:19 says: “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation”. Every day each of us gets a fresh basket of benefits such as the air we breathe, the food we have to eat, so we should never pray without thanking God.
Consider this: why should God give you anything else if you don’t even thank Him for what He’s already given to you? We should be leaving out some of our complaints in our prayers and be adding in more thanks for those good things which we enjoy! Like having food on the table and a warm place to sleep and clean linens and clothes to wear. We take many of these things for granted but in other parts of the world, not very far from where we live, there are many who would love to have even the things which we throw away.
In the Old Testament book of Exodus, Moses had to put up with all of the Israelite’s complaints and their whining about all sorts of things…but they weren’t slaves anymore. Many of them even wished to go back to being slaves because they didn’t like the conditions of their freedom. Moses had to plead with God many times to redeem the people from His wrath or they would’ve been wiped out by the God Who had saved them. They weren’t thankful for the manna which fed them every day. They weren’t thankful for being set free for very long.
We should be thankful for our freedom which was given to us through the suffering of Jesus on the cross. We are free from the burden of sin and it’s consequences if we have given our lives and our heart to Him. Yet, many times we begin our Christian life with Him and we are thankful for the burden being lifted and for a time we are very thankful. Then when temptation comes back and we slip or we feel that we are being wrongfully tempted we blame God for it. He didn’t tempt us but we want to blame someone and it is either Him or the Devil.
Be thankful for your life and all of the good things and the bad days that you have since many of our bad days would be welcomed by other believers who are in countries where they are persecuted much more harshly than we are.
This should be our motto for Thanksgiving each and every day.
We are useful to God in many ways and our life is a work in progress. He can use our talent in many ways if we will follow his ways. But, you have to work with Him. Learn from Him and from His Word because if you don’t, you won’t know His voice or His wisdom.
Not one of us is born into our life on Earth or our spiritual life with Jesus knowing how everything works. We have to grow and learn as children and when we accept Him as our Savior we have to grow in His Wisdom and through the knowledge which is given to us through His Word. It is a process just like going through grammar school and high school and college. We are not born knowing how to add or subtract and we won’t know how to handle the hardships of life as a new Christian if we don’t read and study the Bible.
It takes commitment and determination to learn about the wisdom found in the Bible. Most people who call themselves Christians today only read it when they are at church. There are very few people who read it daily. Even if they do they aren’t reading it in a prayerful, answer-seeking way. Some are just reading it because they are trying to read through it in a year so it’s more akin to a college assignment than a religious commitment.
God uses many ways to bring us to the point where He needs us to be spiritually. Sometimes, He uses illness or a setback in our business or our finances. Sometimes it may be a death in the family which brings us to Him so that we will seek His answers to life’s questions. You need to realize this: He is never really finished with your learning. You will be learning and growing for many years into eternity. Just because we are given a renewed and glorified body and mind when we get to Heaven, doesn’t mean that He dumps all of the knowledge that you will ever need into your brain.
We are never “done” with learning or with life, if you are a child of God and have accepted Jesus as your Savior. God doesn’t have favorites but He does want a relationship with each one of us if we will follow Him.
That was the prayer of a man during World War 2 who was helping wounded men on the field of battle. It should be our motto and our prayer today. Lord, help me to bring one more into your family, just one more. Then go out and do it again and again.
Sometimes we celebrate one more day sober or one more birthday or even one more day without accidents at work. Why not celebrate “One more day to serve You, Lord!”? Be thankful for all that you have because it is all given to you by your Father in Heaven. Your blessings, your trials, your family and friends…everything good and not so good comes through Him either allowing it in your life or by His blessing you with it. Be thankful for everything and everyone in your life because they are here today but we aren’t guaranteed tomorrow, so tell someone that you love them now, while there is still time.
We have lots of time, we think, but that isn’t necessarily the truth. God never promised us that we would have a set number of years to live. Yes, it does say that we may live three score and ten and by our strength we might reach four score years (for all you young folks, a score is twenty years). As we get older we may ask the Lord for one more year to serve or maybe one more day to be with a sick family member. One more…just one more. Seek to be useful to God for one more day and then ask for another and another. He may grant you those days until they turn into months or years. From that point you will be living for Jesus just one more day…just one day at a time.
That really is all we can do. Live our lives for Jesus and His message to the world one day at a time.
Jesus sees us as clearly in our darkness as He does in our light. Our vision may be limited in times of darkness and fear, but His is not. God knows your hard times and your weakness in those time but He is present in them as well. He said that He would never forsake us and He never leaves your side, even if you don’t know Him as Savior yet.
In Genesis 22: 4-8, Abraham was doing what the Lord God had told him to do. He was taking his son, Isaac, to a mountain to worship God. But, God has also asked that he sacrifice his son on that mountain and he was obeying God. In verse 4-8 the Scripture says: “Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said to his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship and come again unto you“. Right there is the faith of Abraham. Because God had told him to sacrifice Isaac on that mountain but with his faith he told those young men that they would come again unto them.
Abraham wasn’t senile, he knew what God had asked of him but he also knew that God was able to raise Isaac from the dead if He allowed him to kill his only son. He didn’t know about the ram that would be there…yet. When Isaac asked about the sacrifice, Abraham again showed his faith in God by saying “the Lord will provide Himself a lamb for the burnt offering”. God did exactly that.
In our lives today, whether you are a Christian believer or maybe you are curious about salvation, God can supply you with the faith to believe and be saved from your sinful life. He has already paid the price for your soul through Jesus’ death and resurrection and all you have to do to receive it is to believe in Jesus as your Savior. There is no amount of money that you have to give, there is no amount of work that you can perform which will help Him in any way to complete your salvation because it is already complete in Jesus. God allowed His Son, Jesus, to be sacrificed for our sins even though we didn’t deserve the tremendous grace that would require and we don’t deserve His grace and love even now, but He loves us anyway.
God has prepared so many good things for us through the riches of Jesus and His love for us and yet many people think that believing in Him is just too simple. They believe that they have to help God save their souls. God created this entire universe with all of the stars and galaxies and planets ALL BY HIMSELF, He doesn’t need our pitiful strength or our tiny amount of money for anything. He does ask for our obedience and for our belief in Jesus as our Savior. It doesn’t cost us anything but the realization that we can’t do it all by ourselves…we NEED Jesus Christ!
Giving your heart to Jesus because you know you need Him to save your soul from hell is the easiest and best decision that you could ever make. Sometimes it is the hardest decision too, but consider the consequences of your eternity if you don’t. All of us have an eternity after this life is done, but your location depends upon your decision now, today. Jesus said that there are two paths to eternity, one is broad and many people find it and one is narrow and few people find it. The broad road leads to hell and the second death, the narrow pathway leads to heaven and an eternity with Jesus. Which road will you take?
The Living Message of Christ 