Learning to be Thankful

We're coming up on the holiday of Thanksgiving, where we usually get together with friends and family to fellowship and eat...and we might say one or two things that we're thankful for.  But instead of saving our one or two things for that day, we need to have an ATTITUDE of thanksgiving as well as an EXPRESSION of thanksgiving throughout every day of the year!  

God tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 that part of His will for every believer is to give thanks in everything.  I don't know about you, but I know that it is very easy for me to become complacent and ungrateful.  After all, we live in America and are growing up in the "microwave" generation where if we have to wait for something for more than 60 seconds we complain.  We need to shake that off and develop the characteristic of a thankful attitude.  I believe that some people may be born with a more positive outlook on life while others aren't, but no matter which category we fall under, a thankful attitude is something that requires work to obtain...but it is well worth it!

In addition to having a thankful attitude, we also need to express our gratefulness.  Someone probably won't ever know that you are thankful for something unless you express it, whether that is through words or a card or a hug or some other kind of gesture.  People long to feel appreciated...I know I love to hear "thank you" and I bet there is someone in each of our lives that needs to hear it today too.

Let's not just let this time of year come and go and leave all of our "thank yous" in November...let's work hard to develop an attitude of gratitude and let's show it!

God Desires YOU

I just wanted to share something that God shared with
me this morning. We all know that God loves us and
that His love is perfect. He loves us
unconditionally, which is unlike anything we will
experience from anyone else. But it doesn't stop
there! Not only does God love us perfectly, but He
also desires to be with us and for us to come to know
Him intimately.

If we think about it, there are probably people in all
of our lives who we love but who we don't always want
to be around, so in our limiting human minds, we tend
to see God that way too. But that's not how He
is...not only does He love us, He ALWAYS wants to be
around us! He longs for us. He longs for our
company, and He also longs for us to know Him deeply.

Be encouraged that God loves you, and He wants to be
with you all the time - in good times and not so good
times!

Psalms 18:33,36

I was just reading this morning and came across these
verses that I thought I'd share. They are Psalms
18:33,36 (AMP):

:33 He makes my feet like hinds' feet [able to stand
firmly or make progress on the dangerous heights of
testing and trouble]; He sets me securely upon my high
places.
:36 You have given plenty of room for my steps under
me, that my feet would not slip.

I love the Amplified version, especially with these
verses. It's great to know that even in our hard
times, which there will most likely always being
something hard going on in our lives, God is not only
ordering our steps but He is making our way plain with
a firm footing AND helping us to make progress at the
same time!

I just wanted to encourage everyone (myself included!)
that God is ordering our steps as we trust in
Him...and He's not just ordering our "big" steps.
He's ordering the "little" steps of our daily routines
too. Just know that as you're walking out whatever
steps you're taking today, you're walking in God's
plan for your life...and He only has GOOD things in
store for us.

How To Be More Like God

What must we do in order to be more like God?  That’s a big question but also one that has an answer.  Part of that answer can be found in Ephesians 4:22-24:

:22 Strip yourselves of your former nature [put off and discard your old unrenewed self] which characterized your previous manner of life and becomes corrupt through lusts and desires that spring from delusion; :23 And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude], :24 And put on the new nature (the regenerate self) created in God's image, [Godlike] in true righteousness and holiness.

Let’s look at these verses one by one.  First, we are told to strip ourselves of our former nature.  Something that is obvious from these words but could be easily overlooked is that this is OUR job, not God’s job.  It is up to us to take off our old nature.  God can and will do many things for us, but He also expects us to do some things for ourselves, including this. 

My word picture for this first verse is that when we come to God, whether it’s when we are first giving our life to Him or whether it’s in our time of repentance, we must take off our old self, just like we take off our “old” clothes at the end of each day.  Nobody likes to wear the same clothes day after day, partly because after a while they will start to stink!  The same is true of us when we don’t go to God on a daily basis to take off our old self. 

This verse tells us not only to take off our old self but also to “discard” it!  That means that when we go to God and repent of our sins, we are to throw those things away forever.  The word “repent” means to whole-heartedly apologize, to make a 180 degree turn, and to go in the opposite direction of that sin.  With God’s help and our determination, we should not be purposefully going back to our old self; we should be throwing that away.

Second, we are told constantly renew our minds.  This is not a one time deal; it is a lifelong process!  How do we renew our minds?  We can only do this by getting in God’s presence and by getting in His Word.  I know personally that my mind can VERY quickly go off the deep end when I don’t renew it! 

Following on with my word picture, after we have taken off our old clothes (our old self) then we need to take a shower.  It is only when we have stripped ourselves down to our natural state that we can then “get clean”.  We need to wash our minds with the water of His Word, and only then can we get rid of all the contamination of the world.  Again, this cleaning process is up to us.

Third, we are told to put on our new nature, the one that looks and acts more like God.  The only way we will know how to look and act like God is to read His Word.  When we take off our old self and wash up with the Word, only then can we look and act more like God. 

It is in this last step that we go to our closet and put on our new clothes (our new self).  God wants the best for us in every area of our lives; the Bible says that He daily loads us with His benefits.  He doesn’t want you to take off your old self, get all clean through His Word, and then go back and put on old, dirty clothes.  He wants you to put on your best self everyday, something new and fresh.  If you’ve had a problem with gossip, for instance, then He wants you to put on your new self today which doesn’t gossip!  If you’ve had a problem with lust, then He wants you to put on your new self today which resists that temptation and takes the way out.  This is how we can be more like God.  Just give it a try and see how great you feel wearing your new self!

Guaranteed Prosperity

Psalm 1:1-3 is a powerful portion of scripture! I want to take a few minutes to go through these three verses and share what I’ve learned. First, let’s read them:

1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

The Hebrew word for “blessed” in verse one means a state of prosperity resulting from a superior bestowing his favor (blessing) on one. This word is not to be taken lightly! The person that God is referring to in this scripture is a “champion” (the Hebrew meaning of “man” in verse one which tells us that God is not just talking to the male sex). So in the first four words of this passage, we know what we can become if we follow the instructions in the following verses: a champion who is in a constant state of prosperity because of God bestowing His blessing on them! And don’t be deceived into thinking that prosperity only relates to finances; prosperity means God’s wholeness in every area of your life: relationally, emotionally, physically, spiritually, mentally, financially, etc.

Let’s move on to the second part of verse one. There are three requirements in this section that you need to adhere to if you want to be blessed. One, don’t walk in the counsel of the ungodly. The word “walketh” here denotes behavior, and the word “counsel” means advice or plans. In other words, your behavior should not be dictated by the advice or recommendations of the ungodly! Two, don’t stand in the way of sinners. The word “standeth” here means to remain stationary, and the word “way” means the activities that control a person, one’s lifestyle; destiny. You never want to become stationary in a place with people whose lifestyle (and ultimately destiny) don’t line up with the Word of God. And three, don’t sit in the seat of the scornful. The word “sitteth” here means to dwell, remain, settle, marry, inhabit, and the word “seat” means the dwelling place or habitation. The word “scornful” means mocker. While you don’t want to do either of the first two, you definitely don’t want to get caught living in the dwelling place of mockers!

We see the natural progression here from walking to standing to sitting, and this is just another reminder from God of how it is you can get caught up in sin. No one backslides overnight. A well-meaning husband or wife doesn’t just fall into an affair. These things happen after a progression of events. If you’re walking with the ungodly (anyone who is not going in the same direction as you are trying to go with God), then eventually you’ll get tired and want to stop for a minute, and then you’ll probably want to sit down and take a rest. Before you know it, you’re somewhere that you never intended to be, and it was all because you started walking (behaving) in the same direction as the ungodly!

Verse one tells us what this blessed champion does not do, but in verses two and three, we find out what he does do. “His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night.” The word “delight” here means desire, and the word “law” means direction, teaching, and instruction. The word “day” simply means daily while the word “night” means the period of time in which it is dark; deep calamity without the comforting presence and guidance of God. Wow! We see that this person loves God’s Word and His direction, teaching, and instruction, and they are pondering and studying His Word daily, even in the toughest of times. Even when they can’t feel God or hear God, they are mature enough to trust that He is real, that He is faithful, and that He is constantly working on their behalf!

Verse three continues to describe who this person is. “He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” A tree does not pop up overnight. It takes years and years for a tree to go from a simple seed to something that kids can climb on. During this growth process, the tree must form roots that go deep down into the ground. It’s from these deep roots that the tree can then gain nourishment and stability. If the tree’s roots are never allowed to go down then it will never be able to live. The champion described in these verses is someone who is staying in one spot long enough to put down their roots in God; they’re not flaky and shallow. They recognize that every time they pray, every time they read God’s Word, every time they go to church, they are allowing their roots (their livelihood and stability) to go down deeper and deeper into God. It is this person who will then have the ability to produce the right fruit in the right season, according to God’s plan for their life. Whatever this person does is going to prosper! The word “prosper” here means success with God as the source. You will never truly be prosperous until God is the source of all that you do. If you do things your way, you’ll get man’s limited results, but when you do things God’s way, you’ll get His supernaturally successful results!

I love this passage because it encourages me that when I do what I know I should be doing in my walk with God then I can lean completely on Him for my success. I don’t have to worry and try to make things happen for myself; when I am walking with God, my prosperity is guaranteed!

To All the Servants...

Did you ever dream of becoming a servant? Probably not, but once you entered the kingdom of God, that became your new title. No one is above serving. Jesus is referred to as a servant in the New Testament on many different occasions. But serving is not just about your actions – it’s more about your attitude than anything else!

There are many lessons that God wants you to learn throughout your life, but while He will provide the circumstances for you to learn them in, He won’t force you to learn them. That’s up to you. When God delivered the children of Israel from Egypt, they had what should have been an 11 day trip before they reached the Promised Land. But just because that trip should’ve taken only 11 days obviously didn’t mean it did. They circled the mountain for 40 years before they got to where they were going. Forty years! That just goes to show that God will provide the way, but it’s up to you how and when you get there. My point is that one of these lessons to be learned is how to be a servant, and for most of us, we stretch out that “11 day trip” into something much longer because we don’t get it the first time.

Many people are spiritually immature, and they don’t do something they know they should because they don’t feel like it. I can tell you right now that if you live your life based on your feelings, you’re in for one long roller coaster! One rough definition of spiritual maturity is doing what you know is right, even when you don’t feel like it. I don’t always feel like being Suzy Homemaker and taking care of things around the house, but I do it, not just for my husband and myself but for God. God is a God of order, and when your house is a mess and out of order, that can be an indicator that other areas may be out of order in your life as well.

Don’t be misled; serving is not just taking care of the two-year-olds one Sunday a month at church or being an usher every other weekend. Serving most often takes place outside of the four walls of your church. You can serve by putting the grocery cart away in the right spot in the parking lot or by putting your clothes back on the rack after you’ve tried them on at the store instead of piling them onto the already busy worker. You can serve by picking up trash in your neighborhood or by doing what your husband asks without that big sigh that says “I’m too busy to be bothered with this right now, but since I’m such a good, Christian wife, I’ll do it.” And just because “they have people who take car of that” doesn’t mean that you can’t give them a break and do it yourself.

Once you graduate from “doing nothing because you don’t feel like it” to getting into action serving, then you must look at your attitude. Why are you doing what you’re doing? Are you doing it to be seen by someone in hopes of gaining some kind of promotion? Are you doing it to gain social status or acceptance or are you doing it because you know that God is watching and would be pleased?

Colossians 3:23, 24 says, “Whatever may be your task, work at it heartily from the soul, as something done for the Lord and not for men, Knowing with all certainty that it is from the Lord and not from men that you will receive the inheritance which is your real reward. The One Whom you are actually serving is the Lord Christ the Messiah.” It’s easy to fall into the trap of feeling unappreciated when you’re serving, and that’s why it’s so important to remember that even if no one ever gives you a pat on the back for all of your hard work, God does. He sees every time you serve with a right heart, and He appreciates you! If you’ve fallen into the “woe is me, no one appreciates me” trap, climb out of it fast. Realize that your promotion and your reward ultimately come from God and God alone!
Becoming a true servant is a life-long process. If you’ve mastered serving in one area, tackle another that might not be so easy for you. You can always find a way to grow when it comes to serving!

Sow the Seed of YOU

1 Corinthians 15:36-38 AMP
36…Every time you plant seed, you sow something that does not come to life [germinating, springing up, and growing] unless it dies first. 37Nor is the seed you sow then the body which it is going to have [later], but it is a naked kernel... 38But God gives to it the body that He plans and sees fit, and to each kind of seed a body of its own.

What is a seed? In its purest form, a seed can be described as a source or beginning. YOU are a seed, and it’s up to you in what soil you will plant yourself. In general, most seeds look the same, and the same is true for people who are away from God. While they may not all choose the same sins to partake of, they all sin – and look basically the same: searching, empty, and lonely. It’s not until you make the choice to plant the seed of YOU into God’s soil that you will see who you really are!

If you had a bowl of seeds, you probably couldn’t tell the different between a seed that would produce a flower and a seed that would produce a vegetable. Why? Because as seeds in a bowl, you can’t see their full potential or destiny. It’s not until you plant a seed, in the right environment, with the right conditions and the right amount of food, water and sunlight, that you slowly begin to see what it was meant to produce. The same is true for you. It’s not until you come to know Jesus as your personal LORD and SAVIOR, you immerse yourself in the Word of God, and you commit yourself to learning God’s will for your life that you will begin to see what you were meant to produce.

And notice how God’s kingdom (His way of doing things) works: most of this process is up to YOU. Yes, God is there helping you in your weaknesses, giving you the strength and desire to press on, but ultimately if you don’t do the work in your life, it won’t get done. As my Pastor says, “Anything significant that happens in your life will be initiated by you.” No one can get saved for you, no one can go to heaven or hell for you, and no one can fulfill your destiny for you.

What is the first step in planting the seed of you in God’s soil? Death. Death to your flesh and your way of doing things. Death is not such a bad thing. If Jesus never died, He could never have been glorified, and if you never make the choice to die daily to your self, you’ll never experience the true glory of God in your life in the way God intended. You can’t truly come to life in Christ until you die to this world first.

God has a tailor-made plan for YOUR life. He hasn’t run out of good ideas and decided to recycle His plan for someone else’s life to give to you but rather He has planned out every single minute of every single day that you are on this earth. It’s up to you to seek Him out in order to find that plan. 1 Corinthians 15:38 says But God gives to it the body that He plans and sees fit, and to each kind of seed a body of its own. God has a body just for you, one unlike any other in the whole world or in all of past eternity, and He wants more than anything for you to find that body as you plant the seed of you in His fruitful soil.

Philippians 1:6 says And I am convinced and sure of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ [right up to the time of His return], developing [that good work] and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you. And Philippians 2:13 says …for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight. Don’t worry; take heart that GOD is on YOUR side and is ready, willing and able to help you…but you must take the first step and help yourself by making the decision to plant the seed of you in Him.