Be Thankful

Things in life seem to never go as we think they should, our children don't always do as we desire, our jobs don't always go as planned, our drive to work and back home seem to get longer, food prices are up, heating prices are up, keeping up with all the bills that seem to come each month is stressful and disheartening.

Now when you look back at the paragraph above, look at all the things God has blessed us with. We always seem to see the negatives of our daily lives, and miss the power of God working for us and in us.

If we have children, a home, a job, a vehicle to get back and forth with, if we can buy groceries, have heat, water and electricity, if we have an income coming in, we should be thankful. The very fact you can read this means you're still alive.

This Thanksgiving let us give God thanks and praise for all that He has given us, not dwell on the negatives as everyone else, but be grateful for God's providence,love,mercy and grace that He pours out and over our lives.

Psalm 107:1
Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.

Psalm 100:4
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

Psalm 50:14
Offer to God thanksgiving, And pay your vows to the Most High.

Psalm 95:2
Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.

Psalm 107:2
Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy.

Psalm 116:12-14
What shall I render to the LORD For all His benefits toward me? I will take up the cup of salvation, And call upon the name of the LORD. I will pay my vows to the LORD Now in the presence of all His people.

Philippians 4:6
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

Hebrews 13:15
Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name

Timeless Treasures

Most followers of Christ don’t need any more insights into faith, we have enough insights to last us a lifetime. The most urgent need in our lives is to trust what we have already received and know.

We need to reexamine our lives, and the authenticity of our relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

The challenge is to actually trust God to stop believing in our life's experiences as that is who or what we are, and know that God love us where we were, but He loves us enough not to leave us there. stop clutching what we are so afraid of losing.

We need to renew our minds daily and ask the question "is every word I had ever read or spoken about Jesus Christ what I know or if I really trusted in him. Then shouldn't I be conforming into His image?

The act of trust is a brutal and ruthless act, because it makes us fully accountable by the way we live. Trust is rare and priceless but when we really trust it is a timeless treasure .

Trust God who seeks us, and works in us, who is always working all things out for the good of those who believe in Him. Whether it be in adversity,or joy, or in tribulation trust in God’s Abba Fatherhood, His personal love for us and let Him work in us were we are.

1 Peter 1:3-19 HCSB Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to His great mercy, He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that is imperishable, uncorrupted, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. You are being protected by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. You rejoice in this, though now for a short time you have had to struggle in various trials so that the genuineness of your faith — more valuable than gold, which perishes though refined by fire — may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. You love Him, though you have not seen Him. And though not seeing Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy, because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that would come to you searched and carefully investigated. They inquired into what time or what circumstances the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating when He testified in advance to the messianic sufferings and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you. These things have now been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Angels desire to look into these things. Therefore, with your minds ready for action, be serious and set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires of your former ignorance. But as the One who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct; for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy. And if you address as Father the One who judges impartially based on each one’s work, you are to conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your temporary residence. For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from the fathers, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish.

Spiritual man

There are a lot of people out there that claim to be holy, looking down on others, believing themselves to be above the rest of us. I have good news for us, they are not, if you're reading this , and as I am writing this, we all need to know this, we are all sinners.

Now there are many who have come to the saving grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, and have been forgiven of sins, but we still have to deal with sin in our lives.

Someone who is a spiritual person, truly understands that each day they must personally confront the sin in their lives and repent. The difference is as Adrian Rogers says we become blameless before God, not sinless. And the bible tells us it is not of ourselves, but of the work of Christ in us.

Don't base your thoughts of Jesus upon another man or woman, they are and always will be fallible and sinful like you. But base your thoughts and ideas upon the word of God and the love He has shown through His son Jesus, and the works He has done on the cross and is doing in the lives of those who truly follow Him.

1 Corinthians 2:11-16 HCSB

For who among men knows the thoughts  of a man except the spirit  of the man that is in him? In the same way, no one knows  the thoughts  of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God. We also speak these things, not in words  taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people.   But the unbeliever  does not welcome what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated  spiritually. The spiritual person, however, can evaluate  everything, yet he himself cannot be evaluated  by anyone. For who has known the Lord’s mind, that he may instruct Him?   But we have the mind of Christ.