(I Thessalonians 1:18)
On this day we celebrate as Thanksgiving, we have so much to be thankful
for.
I want to point out an aspect of this great verse in Paul's letter to the
church at Thessalonica that is usually overlooked and almost never preached
on. While we are so thankful today for all of God's blessings, this verse
requires a great amount of maturity because it says give thanks in ALL
things. How quickly we run over those words without ever thinking about the
true meaning. In this society where we are so focused on winning, so
focused
on the positive, so focused on things being in a state of perfection, God
tries His best to help us be realistic about this sinful world we live in.
Aside from our own sinfulness, we live in a world that is infested with sin
in every nook and cranny of our existence. Jesus, trying to prepare His
disciples for the reality of living in this world without Him, trying to
make
them understand that despite the close intimate relationship they had, told
them that in this world they would have problems and things would not always
be perfect. This verse tell us that every day we should give thanks for
"all" things.
Spiritual maturity comes in when you understand that this verse is actually
telling you to give thanks not only for those things you look at as good,
but also the bad things that happen to you as well. That is hard for us to
understand why we should be thankful for those terrible things that happen
to
us along life's journey, but we have no way of knowing the mind of God, we
have no way of understanding completely His plan or purpose, and we just can't
comprehend all of the things God does in situations we live through. It is
hard to imagine giving thanks for things like marriage problems, divorce,
the
death of a loved one, financial difficulties, health problems, strife with
friends, problems in your local fellowship, difficulties on the job, and any
other bad things we experience in life. Hard to imagine. But when you
realize that God is still on the throne, still in control, you, by faith,
have to thank Him and trust that even in those bad situations, He is working
on your behalf and will not let you down. As painful as the experience must
be, we have to thank Him because He is often times perfecting us for work in
the future. We give thanks out of obedience, and out of faith that God
knows
what He is doing in allowing those bad things we live through occur in our
life.
I realize that today would be a great day to just say some warm and fuzzy
things to make us feel good. It is a holiday, many are with family. The
Christmas season is upon us. We have so much to be thankful for here as God
has brought Liveprayer.com back stronger than ever. But the job God gave me
was not to give you each day something to just make you feel good, but to
challenge you to a closer daily walk and help you grow spiritually. Many
problems I see each day occur because people have been given too much "feel
good" talk, and are not adequately prepared for the reality of this life in
relationship to their life in Christ. When the storms come, they just
aren't
equipped to handle the onslaught. The one thing I will never do is hold
back, compromise the Word of God, or tell you something just to make you
feel
good. I will tell you the truth, not my truth, but God's, in an attempt to
help you be prepared for living a victorious and productive life for Christ.
In these last days, He needs bold, mature, fearless men and women to do the
work necessary here on earth. It is no accident you are getting these
devotionals, no accident you read them. God is speaking to you through
these
daily writings to sharpen you, prepare you, and encourage you to be all He has
called you to be.
I am so grateful for you. Your love and prayers this past week have been an
inspiration to me personally and to our people here at Liveprayer.com. We are moving forward. Yesterday as people got the news we were back on, the site was flooded with people eager to come and see for themselves this site God
has resurrected as a tool to touch people worldwide with his love and grace
in their hour of need. Thank you again for standing with me, praying,
giving, helping us add people to our daily devotional list, and letting
others know about Liveprayer.com. My thoughts and prayers are with you this
day as I am truly thankful for you. For those traveling, may His mercies be
with you as you go to and from your destinations. For those of you going
through the fire this day, with little to be thankful for, remember. Give
thanks in ALL things. Whatever that trial is, it is there for a reason.
You may not know, or ever know why, but thank Him for it because that is His
will for your life.
