Am I thankful only because I am reminded it's that time of year, or am I just plain thankful? Psalm 95:1-2
To me Thanksgiving is a time to remind us how blessed we truly are. Does stop with this time of year, or is it a jump start in reminding us throughout the year? I have learned over the years, just being thankful is not enough to carry me through the year.
What do you mean you say? Well thank you for asking that question. What I mean here is just this, you cannot genuinely be thankful if you are not contented. You have to learn to be grateful for your circumstances as well as your possessions. Not hungering for more, but maybe, just maybe, being content with what you have.
I as many others have tried to find happiness and thankfulness in what we want and not what we already have. I have learned over the years, that thankfulness and contentment go hand and hand. You cannot have one without the other. Oh you can be thankful and not be contented, but it is usually short lived. As well as being contentment with out being thankful will not last.
Thanksgiving comes once a year, a time that reminds us what and who we are thankful for. But why does it end as soon as black Friday? We are not joining Thanksgiving with contentment. That soon we forget how thankful we are and get caught up again in a world that more is better, and things bring us joy. But how soon does that happiness and contentment fade? As soon as the newness wears off!
But life goes on, and we soon forget that everyday we are given, is a gift we should be thankful for and find contentment in. When you learn that being thankful and contentment brings true satisfaction, it is then that Thanksgiving has it's deepest and lasting meaning. It is then that everyday we are given we are thankful, we have come to a place in our lives we are grateful.
Psalm 95:1-2, Oh come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.
Monday, November 25, 2013
Thursday, November 14, 2013
To see or not to see does it matter?
It is so great to see and hear about answered prayer, yet what if we don't? Is God not answering prayer, is He not hearing us? Yes He is, we may not see it or hear about it, but He is doing it! Faith trusts God's word even if we do not see any results, faith just knows!
In the book of Daniel there is a wonderful example of this faith. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were challenged to bow down and worship the kings statue, if they did not they would die. Their response, Our God will deliver us, but even if He does not, we still will not bow down to the kings statue!
They just had faith, no matter what the results, God was in control! If we go on sight alone we will certainly be disappointed. It is not always in what we can see, it is about the faith in what we do not!
Daniel 3:16-18, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzer, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand O king. But if not, let it be know to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up."
Even if they did not see physical results from God, they had no doubts at all that God was God. They had seen enough in the past, they needed no more proof that God existed. They just knew, they had an unwavering faith God had them in the palm of His hand. If God delivered them great, but even if He did not great!
They had nothing to lose and everything to gain, if they lived God was God, if they died God was God. They would either spend more time with Him in the present, or spend the rest of their time in His presence! Wow, a win win no matter what, that is how faith works for a believer! We cannot not lose, we live with Him here, or we live with Him in His presence in glory for an eternity!
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16
In the book of Daniel there is a wonderful example of this faith. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were challenged to bow down and worship the kings statue, if they did not they would die. Their response, Our God will deliver us, but even if He does not, we still will not bow down to the kings statue!
They just had faith, no matter what the results, God was in control! If we go on sight alone we will certainly be disappointed. It is not always in what we can see, it is about the faith in what we do not!
Daniel 3:16-18, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzer, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand O king. But if not, let it be know to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up."
Even if they did not see physical results from God, they had no doubts at all that God was God. They had seen enough in the past, they needed no more proof that God existed. They just knew, they had an unwavering faith God had them in the palm of His hand. If God delivered them great, but even if He did not great!
They had nothing to lose and everything to gain, if they lived God was God, if they died God was God. They would either spend more time with Him in the present, or spend the rest of their time in His presence! Wow, a win win no matter what, that is how faith works for a believer! We cannot not lose, we live with Him here, or we live with Him in His presence in glory for an eternity!
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16
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