Have we been spared the rod by our Heavenly Father, and not been disciplined when correction was called for? If so, are we true children of God or just fatherless orphans? When our Lord disciplines us it is never for the sake of punishment, but to teach us how to be more like Him. It is not so that we will learn to survive in a hard world, but to thrive in heaven above…. To become righteous and holy in our behavior, not hellions, or rabble rousers in the streets.
We all know the old saying that time heals all wounds, but as hopeful as that sounds it is not as true as we are asked to believe. In fact, the sole healer of all wounds is God. Time and natural processes might heal a wound to a degree, but it always leaves behind a telltale scar. God, on the other hand, heals us perfectly, and our scars are gone, replaced with the remembrance of the wounds of Christ.
Do we pray with assurance? Are we trusting and bold enough to ask God for those things we consider truly impossible? I am not referring to those things that would go against His character, or are outside His will, but for those things that seem too difficult and even impossible to us.
God is with us always, but is He alone as He watches over us? No, Angels stand watch over us and yet so many Christians deny their existence today, and believe that we walk through life alone with God and that only He fills the world that surrounds us.
The world sees strength and power in the mighty acts of nature and life. When the ground shakes in an earthquake, the wind roars during a violent storm, or the forest groans and screams as a fire races through it, but as powerful as these things are Christians see true might and strength in a very different way; we see it in the calm before and after these events. We witness it in the calm before, when all hell is preparing itself, and mounting up against us, and we see it in the still moments just after God Has bridled and overcome the onslaught. These moments reveal God’s strength to us. We see the ultimate strength it takes to gather these catastrophes in the palm of His hand, and then still them so perfectly that we can hear nothing more than His whisper… “Be still”.
Today we give thanks to our Lord for every manner of blessing from forgiveness and salvation to His comfort, peace, and provision. We are diverse in our relationship with Abba our Father; some walk closely with Him and find it easy to pray and thank him without ceasing. Others know Him, but not well enough to know how to thank Him properly. While there are those who believe that He is angry with them and that they are unworthy, and will not utter a word. Finally, there are the lost who don’t yet know God, and Jesus at all. Wherever we find ourselves in the gambit of belief and faith today this is the best day to speak with God and ask His Son Jesus to become our Savior and Redeemer. In this way we will be forgiven so that we can offer our thanks. We need to use this day that has been set aside to thank God as our motivation to repair, establish, or renew our relationship with Him.
Today is Thanksgiving Day Eve, and Isaiah gives us another verse to encourage us in regard to giving thanks to the Lord our God as we prepare to join with friends and family in thanking Him together for all that we have received over the past year. The point we should dwell on as we enter into thanksgiving is that we are not writing a letter and placing it in the mailbox for the postman to deliver, or typing an email and hitting the send button hoping it makes it across the internet to Him… No, God is in our midst, and when we thank him in prayer He is right there hearing our every word, every song, and joining in our revelry. Our Heavenly Father is the guest of honor at our festivities, and is receiving the gift of our thanks in person…
It’s Tuesday, and we are drawing closer to the day when we will celebrate a national day of Thanksgiving in the United States of America, but thanking God is not something that should be particular to any certain country or people, but to all the earth. Believers should be letting not only their families and neighbors know what God has done for them, but sharing this with all people everywhere. Today let’s sing praises to the Lord, and do so loudly enough for the whole world to hear, so that our voices will invite every man woman and child to join us in faith.
Today is Monday, and on Thursday of this week we here in the United States will give thanks to God. It is a national holiday during which we thank Him again for another year of His provision, and mercy, but many who are new to faith, have become routine in their practices, or don’t know Him at all, are at a loss as to how to really do this. So, beginning today, and each day through Thursday I will write more about giving thanks to God. Today let’s talk about the first step… remembering, and witnessing to others.
The mourners gather and hearts break when a loved one passes from this life to the next, but when the deceased is a Christian believer, and the mourners take possession of the victory that has been won, then although their hearts might be sad, their souls rejoice as they share in the victory claimed in that triumphant moment. We mourn for a season, but claim victory in the promise of eternity.
Has the Lord ever called upon you to do a work for Him? If you believe in Him then most certainly, He has, because there is always a spiritual job to be done and serving Him is doing His will. Most labor has a beginning, and an end, but occasionally we are asked to do something that only begins, and whose end we cannot see. If we have been asked to do one of these never-ending works, it can wear on us over time, and we can grow tired, but two things are certain… the Lord will always give us the strength to carry on, and our work will never be in vain.
Are we blessed in the relationship we have with Jesus Christ? When John the Baptist sent his disciples to ask Jesus whether He was the Messiah that they had been waiting for, Jesus told them to recount for John all the miracles He had performed, and that He preached the good news, but then He said something quite different… He told them to tell John that those who were not offended by who He was would be blessed.
Do we pray blessings upon God during our prayers, and bless Him by our actions as we live out our lives? Perhaps this perplexes us because we don’t know how it could be possible for us to give anything, much less a blessing, to Almighty God the creator and possessor of all things? So what are we to do, or what do we have that we should find valuable enough to consider a blessing for God?
What has God chosen us to do, and how does it relate to the promises He has in store for us? We can go to work every day and do something we are only mediocre at, and then go home and paint a masterpiece on a piece of canvas. Perhaps we work all weekend long planting flowers in our yard, and notice that they never look as good as our neighbor’s, but the maintenance we do to our house outshines every other home on our street. It is the same in faith, sometimes the pastor wants us to serve on the church board and we are miserable at it, but when we teach a class it is pure joy, and people line up to be in our class. Do we simply meet a need that we think serves us best, or has God chosen us for a task that serves His will?
How strong is our hope in God, and our faith in Jesus Christ? Do we turn towards the promises made to us in God’s Holy Word, and the gospel of Jesus Christ with absolute confidence? Do we trust with the faith that Abraham had in God, or do we need to touch the wounds of Christ like Thomas before we can bring ourselves to believe fully? Well, there is hope for us either way.