1. Be Thankful Every Day
We celebrate Christmas in December, and maybe with an occasional "Christmas In July", but Thanksgiving should be practiced every day. The weather is hot and humid and we may be looking forward to the crisp, cooler, fall days. I don't have pumpkin pie, but I can smell the fresh zucchini bread baking in the oven. And I don't see any colorful red, yellow, and orange leaves, but I have those splashes of color in my vegetable garden with the marigolds, zinnias, and cosmos scattered about. But, Thanksgiving is more than the sights, and smells, and the feeling in the air. Thanksgiving is an attitude of gratitude. Our theme title comes from Ephesians 5:20, "Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;" Since we spent the past week talking about "Christmas In July", I thought it would be great to spend a week "Giving Thanks Always."
2. I Am Thankful That God Hears And Answers Our Prayers
Since our youngest son got his job transfer and moved away, we don't get to see or hear from him very often. Friday he called and asked us to pray for his wife, because her grandmother died, and it was about this time last year that her grandfather died. Then he asked me to pray for his sinus infection that will not get better. It really makes me feel blessed that he knows I will pray for him when he asks, and even more, that he knows God hears and answers our prayers. I am so thankful that our God is loving and compassionate and hears and answers our prayers. "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." (Philippians 4:6) Paul says, "Be careful for nothing;" in our words, "Don't worry about anything." Also in this verse we see that we are to pray with thanksgiving. Don't wait until your prayer is answered, but give thanks even as you pray and ask.
3. I Am Thankful For A Good Place To Sleep
When I was growing up there was a Little League baseball field at the end of our street. Sometimes when there was a game, my sister and I would turn sideways in our bed so we could look out the window. We didn't have air conditioning back then, so the windows in the house would be wide open. The lights over the field shown through our neighborhood, and we would watch the older kids ride their bikes up and down the road. We could also hear the crowd yell for their teams. We would often fall to sleep like that, sideways on our bed, with our feet dangling off the edge. I am thankful for childhood memories. I am thankful that the Lord has always provided me a place to sleep. Since I started having trouble breathing, I usually have to get up after I have been in bed a couple hours because I feel like my lungs don't want to open up to let in more air. I quietly move to the recliner in the living room where I can sleep in a semi-sitting position. Sometimes I will say, "Thank you, Lord, for a place to sleep. Thank you for a home with air-conditioning that makes my breathing easier." I don't realize how loud I am praying until Michael will ask if I am okay, because he hears me talking. I apologize for waking him, and tell him that I am praying and thanking the Lord, and I try to pray quietly until I drift back off to sleep. I am thankful for a place to sleep, and for the goodness of the Lord who gives me peace that I can sleep. "I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety." (Psalm 4:8)
4. I Am Thankful That Jesus Is In Control Of My Storms
For the last four years I planted some corn in my garden, and for the last four years a wind storm had blown a large portion of it down. This year I thought I had made it. When I looked over my corn field last week I saw that some of it was almost ready, and it was still all standing. Our weather had been dry and I was praying for some rain, and on the fourth of July God sent a great shower which cooled the air tremendously. After the shower I walked down to look at the garden and I saw that about a third of my corn had blown over. I didn't thank God that my corn had blown over, but I prayed and I thanked Him that He knows what is best for me, and that He is in control of what happens in my life. I stood the corn up and pushed the mud against the stalks and the next day they were still standing. Thank you, Lord! I am so thankful that God is in control of my storms. He may say, "Peace, be still" and give me peace and a great calm. (Mark 4:39) He may come walking on the rough waves and tell me "Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid." (Matthew 14:27) Or Jesus may choose to ride out the storm with me. I am so thankful that He knows what is best for me and that He has promised never to leave me or forsake me, and that includes during the storms of this life!
5. I Am Thankful For God's Saving Grace
There are so many things in our lives that we don't get to choose. When we are born, we don't choose our face. We can't put an order in before we are born and ask God to make us look a certain way. We don't choose our place of birth. I am so thankful that I live in central North Carolina. I can go east to the beach, or go west to the mountains. We get to experience all four seasons... sometimes it seems like it in the same week. We don't choose our race when we are born. Our heritage may come from generations of one lineage of people, or we may come from a great diversity of family members, but it is not our choice to make. So, at birth we can't choose our face, our place, or our race, but we can choose God's grace for a new birth. In the Old Testament people lived under the law and had to offer sacrifices to pay for their sin. In the New Testament Jesus Christ came to earth to give His life as our sacrifice to pay for our sin. When we have faith to believe in God's amazing grace, and ask Jesus to forgive us of our sin, He will save us. So, we have a new birth, which we choose, and we become a part of God's family with a home in heaven. If you have never asked Jesus to forgive you of your sin and trusted in Him to save you, I pray that you will have the faith to believe in God's saving grace. God has made the preparation for your salvation, but you have to make the choice to accept it. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." (John 3:16 & 18)
"4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast." (Ephesians 2:4-9)
6. I Am Thankful For God's Precious Word
There are so many things that I am thankful for and I could go on and on in great detail of God's blessings in my life, but as I sat at the blank screen on my keyboard, my thoughts were also blank. I try to write these devotionals on how God speaks to me, and not just words put together in simple thoughts and sentences. After a few moments I decided to get up and read the next chapters in my daily reading. I thought that maybe God would show me a special scripture. As I was reading the parables of Jesus I realized that today God wasn't showing me a certain verse, but He was showing me that this was His Word. The parables that I read were actually the ones Jesus told to His followers. I am so thankful for God's precious, holy, Word. Without it we wouldn't know how heaven and earth were created, and how God made man and woman and wanted to have fellowship with them, and us. Without the Bible we could not tell our children about Noah and the ark, Jonah and the whale, or Daniel in the den of lions. If we didn't have the Bible we wouldn't have the Christmas story, or know of God's plan of salvation. We can learn so much from reading the Bible and meditating on it. I want to encourage you to take time, make time, to read from God's Word every day. The more you read, the more you will learn to depend on God's Word for guidance. "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." (Psalm 119:105) And as the Holy Spirit teaches you more and more about our wonderful Lord you will say with the Psalmist, "How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" (Psalm 119:103)
7. I Am Thankful For The People In My Life
Today I am giving thanks for the people in my life. My family is so important to me. Michael and I have been married 41 years and our love continues to grow, as does our need for each other. I am blessed that God gave us five children and I am thankful for their spouses, and for our eleven grandchildren. I am so thankful for my Christian parents who brought me up in church and taught me right from wrong. I also have sisters who are very special to me. Our family extends to inlaws, and aunts and uncles, and cousins, who I may not see as often, but I can keep in touch on facebook. Then, there is my church family. I am thankful for my pastor and his wife and all the friends I have at church, who are just as close to me as my physical family. I could never complete the list of people in my life who are special to my heart. I am thankful that God gives us one another to have fellowship with, and grow with, and love. God made Adam and put him in the beautiful garden of Eden and gave him all the animals. "And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him." (Genesis 2:20) God gave Adam a wife and he did not have to live alone. I am thankful for all the people in my life... and I don't have to be alone.
8. Giving
I was reading about the woman who had "an alabaster box of very precious ointment" and poured it on Jesus' head. The disciples responded in a very negative way, but Jesus complimented her good work and told them that it would be preached as a memorial of her. Read the story and notice the next two verses.
"8 But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste?
9 For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor.
10 When Jesus understood it, he said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me.
11 For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always.
12 For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial.
13 Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her.
14 Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests,
15 And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver." (Matthew 26:8-15)
This woman gave something of great value to glorify her Lord. Judas Iscariot gave them Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. And just as the woman is remembered for her giving to the Lord, Judas is remembered for giving up Jesus for only thirty pieces of silver. In Matthew 16:26 Jesus said, "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Let's look at our own lives today. Are we giving anything to glorify our Lord? Or, are we giving up Jesus to profit ourselves? Even if we gained the whole world, it would profit us nothing if we lose our soul.
