Thank You

This is written on Friday due to the technical difficulties we had with our provider on Thursday. It causes me to be thankful for the days it does work. I am thankful for my family. I am thankful for my friends.

Prayer
Father, I thank You for watching over us. I thank You for the blessings You give us everyday. In Jesus name. Amen

For The Kingdom And Its Residents

This morning looking out my kitchen window I see that the forest has “greened up” so much that I can no longer see through it to the meadow. It creates a semi-private space where I can experience God. Looking into the semi-light of sunrise in this woods, I asked myself, “What am I most thankful for this morning.” I recalled going out for dinner with my wife last night and striking up a discussion with the waitress who turned out to be a believer. I thought of similar recent experiences, and I realized what a blessing it is to share the kingdom with fellow believers.

Sometimes it is just nice to know that there are others out there with challenging experiences. We can join together sharing the good and the challenging experiences with each other. What we each ultimately come to is praise and thanksgiving to God. We unite the kingdom when we come together. Praise God.

If you are in the Michiana area, you may find these upcoming worship events something you want to participate in over the next few weeks. Check out: Community Worship Events 2013

Prayer
Father, Thank You for the others in the kingdom. I appreciate them all. It is so good to meet fellow Christians and join together in speaking praises to You for all You have done for us. It is my great joy to share the kingdom with those that are in it and those that will soon join. Thank You. In Jesus name. Amen

In All Things

For those of us in the United States, this is a celebration of the day of the independence of the country. It is the day that we set aside to be thankful for the founders of our country taking a stand for what they thought was right. Growing up I was raised to be very patriotic, and idealistic. Growing older I watched many things, good and bad, happen in our country. Some have become cynical of the country’s progress. We as believers are given a different message.

We are to remember that we are ambassadors of another place, of God’s kingdom, while here on earth. In 2 Corinthians 5:20 Paul reminds us that God is reconciling the world to himself. We are the ambassadors of the Messiah. He is our King, and asks us to good to all. On a day like today, I am thankful that I live where I live, not as merely a citizen of the United States, but as an ambassador for the Messiah, that through me, through us as believers, we can try to do good, to serve God, and be a part of that reconciliation. I am thankful for my wife and children. I am thankful for the church I attend and for the Godly leaders. I am thankful for their words that attempt to help us do good.

As Paul said to the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, let us give thanks in all things.

Prayer
Father, we praise You always. Thank You for where we are today. Thank You for moving us from where we are to being more like Jesus. Thank You for Your great mercy toward us. Help us to be better each day. In Jesus name. Amen.

A List Worth Keeping

Scriptures encourage us not to keep a list of wrongs against us by others. This is part of what Jesus meant when He answered Peter to forgive his brother who sinned against him not seven times, but seventy times seven. In Matthew 18:22 Jesus tells the parable of the man in debt that was forgiven the debt, but then wanted to extract much from someone that owed him money. If we stop and think all of us have been forgiven more than we can imagine. All of us. What we need to remember is we are not to hold sin against others, because we were forgiven. Don’t keep that list!

One thing that helps me in times like the one Peter described, and life in general, is the one good list I do try to keep. It is the list that has helped me in my hardest times. It is the list of all I have to be thankful for in life. Everybody’s list is different. I try to remember to read some of it from memory out loud every day. As I say these thank yous out loud to God, my heart is refreshed and my spirit renewed. Now THAT is a good list!

Prayer
Father, King of the universe, I thank You for my life. I thank You for what You provide for me to eat and to wear, and a place to lay my head each night. I thank You for the health I have. I thank You for my family. I thank You for the leaders at church who are willing to try every day. I thank You for those I work with that help me through the day. I thank You for those You bring my way that are not so good to me that You might teach them who You are through being around me. Thank You for being God. In Jesus name. Amen.

How To Say Thanks To God

To begin with, God is very worthy of our thanks. He watches over us and keeps us safe and whole. He provides, through Jesus, access to Him and to life everlasting. There is a short chapter in the bible that gives us good insight here.

In Psalm 117 we see that for these things we should give God praise! Everyone should exalt Him for His work. If we live our lives to Him, giving Him praise in all we do, others will see that. As He manifests himself in our lives, others will give Him praise as well. This is our life and our mission.

Praise God, the Most High Ruler of the universe!

Prayer
Father, we praise and thank You in our praise for all You have done for us. You are worthy of our lives, of our all out, all in commitment to You. Please be with Your people today to make this a truth in each of our lives. In Jesus name. Amen.

Simple Is Good

Here in the Midwest of the United States we had some strong storms go through last night, but not as rough as predicted. In troubled times like storms in the sky, it is easy for us to call out to God. I am thankful that we made it through. As I thought about how I am grateful when God delivers us, it seemed to me that this is yet another example of something to be thankful for in life. As I prayed to God, I was asking how to keep that attitude toward Him and all that has been in our lives. In a still small voice I heard, “Tell someone thank you every day.” Wow. That seemed simple.

The more I thought about that today, the more it made sense. It would force me to thank another person earnestly for adding something to my life. I would hear those words, and hearing them would begin to position my mind to want to hear them again.It would give me an attitude of thankfulness that would permeate everything I think or do. This includes God. This has become one of my new daily goals.

Thank you for reading this.

Prayer
Father, thank You for Your wisdom which You give if we ask. Thank You for Your healing, Your provision, Your loving kindness that helps us to go on. Thank You for today. In Jesus name. Amen.

Always There

A friend of mine was recently telling me a sad story. He has a friend of the family that is a grieving the loss of a loved one. Unfortunately this person with the loss does not believe that the scriptures are literal, or that there is a God other than us. The result is they can only really turn to them self or another human for relief. That will always fail. Reading the scriptures it always stands out to me how believers, both in the old and new testament, cry out to God for help. The scriptures also show people have always looked to God for answers, and have always praised and thanked God for the provision of life.

If we can believe that this world is not just here by accident, then it was created. If we believe the Creator exists and trust that He is on our side, then we can ask for and expect to receive help. We can thank Him for His help, even in advance, it we can but trust that He is for us. It is not always easy, this trust thing, and I certainly do not always get it right, but for this day, this moment, I choose to thank God, the Creator, for being my help in times of trouble, my healer in times of infirmity, and my provider in times of lack. And He is always there.

Prayer
Father, we praise and thank You, the Most High King. Thank You for hearing us, and even actively listening for us to cry out to You. We ask that You continue to show us mercy while You teach us Your ways. We don’t always get it right, but we want to get it right. We love You and want to make You proud of us. We want people to look at our lives and say, “Hey, wow, that must be one of God’s kids!” We thank You for helping us. In Jesus name. Amen.

Openly Thankful

There have been times in my life when getting from yesterday, to today, to tomorrow was really quite challenging. Sometimes it was the stress of keeping up with everything in life. Often the issue was just making a living. At other times in life, there have been these great times when my life just seemed really good. Maybe even great! Interestingly enough, some of these times also were filled with many things to do every day. Many of these times were also during times when making a living was not going so well. It made me wonder what was the difference.

All of this lead me to look up many scriptures around words like thankfulness, thankful, thanks, thanksgiving, etc. What I came to realize is that these words were different, but connected. Thanks or thanksgiving is something we give. It is done with the hands extended repeatedly (thanks) or for a duration (thanksgiving). Thankfulness is a state of being that is active. These are alike in that way. It also seemed that they were often accompanied by people speaking or singing positive things to and about God.

So back to the beginning of this writing, why were the things in my life not connected to how my life seemed to me? Well, what I do remember about those times that stood out as good is that I felt the best about the most important thing in life – me and God. Even in the times of stress and lack when things seemed good, those were times when I found myself focusing on God, and the end result would be thanking Him for who He is. I would get to that place of joy and thanksgiving by taking action.

I guess what I am saying is we can have the sense of life being good no matter what is happening in life, if we just take the time to show actively and to say and sing our thanks. And when we do, it is contagious and others soon join us. Gotta run, time to lift my hands from the keys and my voice to the heavens.

Prayer
Father, Thank You for all You are doing every day in our lives, no matter what we see. We choose to be thankful and raise our hands and voices to You. We choose to be a thankful people. We choose to love You and trust You that You are delivering and healing us, and bringing us into rest and peace. We love You. In Jesus name. Amen.

Thankful For The Big Things

We are told from the time we are small that we should be thankful for the little things. I agree. But what about the big things? For example, when I woke up this morning, I thought about some things that I have been praying for in the lives of my family. Some have come to pass, and some look like they will come to pass soon, and others are still just “hanging out there.” That is when I noticed something in me, a choice.

When I pray and ask God for the things my family and I need, or even just want, I have a choice to make. I can be thankful to God that He has heard me, with child like adoration for my Father. Or, I can choose to be afraid and think that I am alone fighting off the lack in life. When I thought of it like this, I decided I would choose to be thankful. I also decided to start singing songs of praise and worship to God so that I would hear them myself and could avoid focusing on the negative. By the time I got out of the shower (it is the only place I dare sing) I was feeling very thankful knowing my God was on my side, hearing my prayers, and watching out for me in every way.

Prayer
Father, we thank You for hearing us. We thank You for giving us what we need today for us to get through today. We thank You for being a Dad that cares for us. In Jesus name. Amen.

Life Repeats Itself

As I listened to the birds wake me up this morning, I thought of how things repeat. Everyday the birds sing early, almost as if they are calling to the sun to rise. We have the night to sleep, and the day to work (or the other way around on third shift). And God is watching over us. As I read the scriptures and prayed this morning I thought about this process of repeating. Why would we read the same scriptures over and over? Because we align with the words as we take them in and speak them out loud to each other. Think for a moment about the story these words tell. There is a God that has all power and He is on our side, watching over us to bring His kingdom to pass in our lives. The Psalms say over and over that we are human, we make mistakes, we have sufferings from time to time in life, we call to God to ask for help to follow Him and for deliverance, and He shows up strong to deliver us. Every time.

How could we not be thankful for that?

Prayer
Father, thank You for repeating Your blessings in our lives. Thank You for all You do to help us make our way through life. Please be with Your people today, and help them find Your way. Help us to know Your truth, and not the truth that men say. Help us to be your kids. In Jesus name. Amen.