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Wednesday, November 7, 2018

“Don't Wait Until Thanksgiving to Thank HIM!”




Read: 1 Chronicles 16:7-36

“O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever” (1 Chronicles 16:34 AMP)

We often think of Gratitude in terms of Gain: Someone gives you a ride to work. A neighbor cooks a meal when you’ve had surgery. Your boss notices your hard work and gives you a raise. The kids clean up the house or your husband cooks dinner. For these things (no matter how rare or how often they're done), of course You’re Grateful! And if you remember your mother’s upbringing, you promptly write a thank-you note or better yet, open your mouth and Tell Them Thank You!

However, it’s even more astonishing to witness people Overcome with an Attitude of Thanksgiving in Dire Circumstances: For example think of the parents of a terminally ill child who praise God for each day of their daughter or son’s life. How can they possibly visit the cancer center, watch them take needles every day for diabetes, or wait endlessly on the list for a transplant, and yet still praise and thank God for life? You might even be baffled by a family’s ability to be thankful in the midst of disaster, weeping with joy that even though their house and possessions have been destroyed by flood, fire or earthquake, their family has survived, and for that alone they are thankful! 

I’m always amazed by people who can Thank God Regardless of Their Situation or Circumstance. Those who possess a grateful heart even after their car has been repossessed; those who still come to the house of the Lord with praise on their lips even though they’ve been evicted from their own house. I’m in awe of those who receive “death notices” from their doctor’s appointments and yet they go out and still gratefully visit the sick and shut in. It’s mind-blowing those who can preach a message after receiving a pink slip! Or those who can attend a wedding, with gift in hand, and a smile on their face, even though they just received their divorce papers in the mail. Believe it or not, there are people who are Really Just Grateful! Why? Because they know that even when their lives change, their God doesn’t! He is Consistently Faithful, and that They Refuse to Forget!  

“O my soul, bless God. From head to toe, I’ll bless His holy name! O my soul, bless God, don’t forget a single blessing!” (Psalm 103:1-2 MSG)

That’s when your thanksgiving is for real, when someone can look at your life and see not a thing you should be thankful for and yet you continuously offer God your praise, worship, exaltation, adoration, jubilance, gratitude and thanksgiving...anyhow! In other words, God has been so good to you already that if He doesn’t do another thing He is still worthy of your thanksgiving!

But even deeper than Gratitude for a favor, or thankfulness in the midst of misery, thanksgiving can be viewed as a Testament to an Enduring Quality in Someone we Admire and Respect. For instance, David celebrated God’s divine attributes with a heart of pure Thanksgiving. With great fanfare, the ark of the covenant had finally arrived in Jerusalem and taken its place into the tent David had prepared for it. After the offerings were made and the feast was over, David’s gladness spilled over into a great song of jubilant thanksgiving.

Consider the countless reasons you have to be Grateful. Has something brought great joy to your life? Consider the attributes of those you love; your husband’s faithfulness, your wife’s generosity, your friends’ trustworthiness, your parents’ goodness, your child’s tender heart. Aren't you Grateful? 

Or do you get so caught up on the negatives that it completely overshadows the positives?

Truth is, God has been better to us than we could have ever been to ourselves, and better than Any of Us Deserve! Just take a moment to reflect on His provision for you to have a place to lay your head; food on your table; clothes on your back; transportation (by any means) and safe traveling mercies as icing on the cake! Reflect on how He’s healed you, saved you, delivered you, protected you! Reflect on how many times He stepped in right in the nick of time! Reflect on how He’s kept you in a right and sound mind, despite the chaos around you! Reflect on how He’s kept you in the midst of the mess YOU put yourself in! The list could go on forever, because that’s just how good He’s been! No matter how you look at it, The Lord has been Good to You! You Owe Him a Grateful Heart!

This week is the perfect time togive thanks to the Lord, for He is good.Don’t wait for Thanksgiving DAY! After all, the Lord has abundantly blessed you, and He didn’t wait for a holiday to do it, so why would you wait until a holiday to Thank Him?

Start by expressing Thanks for some of the things David included in his prayer:

“God’s Wonderful Acts…” (vs. 9, “Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; meditate on and talk of all His wondrous works and devoutly praise them!” AMP);

“His Miracles…” (vs. 12, “[Earnestly] remember the marvelous deeds which He has done, His miracles, and the judgments He uttered [as in Egypt],” AMP);

“His Salvation…” (vs. 23, “Sing to the Lord, all the earth; show forth from day to day His salvation” AMP);

“His Glory And Marvelous Deeds Among All Peoples …” (vs. 24, “Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all peoples” AMP);

“His Holiness…” (vs. 29, “Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name. Bring an offering and come before Him; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness and in holy array” AMP).

Everything About God is Worthy of Our Praise! Let us not allow anyone or anything to rob us of the gift of a thankful, grateful heart! No matter what your situation is today it can always be worse! Believe it or not but someone is standing on line at a soup kitchen grateful, while you throw half-eaten food in the garbage for which you didn’t even say grace over to thank God for His provision. Someone is grateful to have enough coins to put in the bus to get from point A to point B, and yet you mumble and grumble about the gas money you Do Have to put gas in your car. Someone is grateful that Medicaid/Medicare covered enough of their prescription cost that they could get their necessary medications, while you fuss that you have to go and pick up your medication of which your health insurance covered in full! Someone is grateful to wake up even if it’s alone, while you roll over next to an imperfect spouse who loves you perfectly, and yet you’re ungrateful. Someone is excited that their child came home from school safely even through a rough neighborhood, while you have yet to give God thanks for your straight A student, in a private school, in a good neighborhood, that was dropped off at home safe and sound! There is always someone somewhere that would love to be in your shoes, but while they are in their own (no matter how painful), they are walking with God…Grateful...Anyhow!

Ponder This: There are people pushing their entire lives around in a shopping cart that are still thankful; there are people sleeping under the bridge in a cardboard box that are still grateful; there are people standing on the bridge who are thankful God sent someone right on time to talk them off it before they took a leap to their death; there are people riding the subways to stay warm who are still grateful for a little temporary heat and shelter; there are people who had a half-eaten roll from the garbage this morning, and knowing that it will be their only meal for the day, they still thank God for something to eat. There are people singing God’s praises in the hospital; people are worshiping Him while enduring chemotherapy; radiation and dialysis; people are thanking Him even as they go into surgery; people are grateful to Him while struggling through rehab; people are adoring Him behind prison walls as they’re so grateful to Him for saving, healing and delivering them right where they are; people are eating His every Word passionately even as they sit alone in the nursing homes with no one to visit them but the presence of the Lord; people are sick and shut in, and still they have praise on their lips and worship in their spirits; there are people pressing their way through the difficult and painful process of bereavement, grief and mourning, and still they manage a thank You Lord...anyhow! 

So, surely, you can think of a reason to give God thanks, can't you?

Are you getting this? Being thankful has nothing to do with a holiday; being thankful should be a believer’s everyday way of life. Because truthfully, we have so much to be grateful for! After all the mistakes, fumbles, failures, flaws, bad choices, and sin-filled days and nights, God still loved all of us so much that He would send His only begotten Son to save such a wretch as we were, and still are! How can we not be thankful? How can we not be grateful? Our names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life; we’re placed in the palm of the Father where no man can pluck us out; the Holy Spirit seals and comforts us completely; we’re kept securely in the midst of the Father’s Will where there is found safety; we are blood bought and blood covered; we are saved, healed, whole, justified, restored, made the righteousness of God, redeemed, cleansed, washed, purged, purified, and blessed; we have Heaven as our hope and home. We indeed have much to be grateful and thankful for, and none of us should ever need a holiday or calendar to tell us that!

We should all sing with David, “Let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice; and let men say among the nations, The Lord reigns!” (vs. 31 AMP) Because despite any of our circumstances, the Lord yet rules and reigns and treats His children as the sons and daughters of a King, which they are (even when they don’t look like it or live like it). We need to stop complaining, grumbling, murmuring, because the Lord loves us, looks out for us, and lives in us, who wouldn’t be grateful for that?

So, Today, no matter what happens, Give God Thanks! 

Remember: No Matter What Road You Travel Down In Life, No Matter How Bumpy, Or How Many Times You Feel Detoured and Even Derailed…GOD IS ALWAYS IN CONTROL! YOU WILL REACH YOUR DESTINATION! So Why Not Enjoy Jesus Along the Journey?! Today, make it your deliberate decision to be thankful and grateful...anyhow!

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:

1.       Do you think your friends and family would characterize you as a grateful person? Why or why not?

2.       What are the characteristics of God for which you are thankful?

3.       How often do you remember to thank God for His work in your life and in the world around you? 

4.       Are you a complainer? If so, what are you going to do, starting today, to change your behavior?

5.       When something “bad” happens, do you still thank God? Do you still trust God?

6.       Who are 5 people you are grateful to have in your life? Do they know you’re grateful for them?

7.       How do you show your loved ones your gratitude for them?

8.       How has someone shown you gratitude that you will never forget?

9.       What is your favorite Thanksgiving Scripture?

10.   If you had to express your thanks to God in only 3 words, what would they be? (And no it can’t be 'thank you Jesus')…lol, surely you can be more creative than that!

RELATED SCRIPTURES:

Psalm 100:1-5, “Shout with joy before the Lord, O earth! Obey Him gladly; come before Him, singing with joy. Try to realize what this means – the Lord is God! He made us – we are His people, the sheep of His pasture. Go through His open gates with great thanksgiving; enter His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and bless His name. For the Lord is always good. He is always loving and kind, and His faithfulness goes on and on to each succeeding generation” (TLB);

Colossians 3:16-17, “Remember what Christ taught, and let His words enrich your lives and make you wise; teach them to each other and sing them out in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing to the Lord with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, let it be as a representative of the Lord Jesus, and come with Him into the presence of God the Father to give Him your thanks.” (AMP)

HOMEWORK: READ: Psalm 136:1-26

“Thou Who hast given so much to me, give me one more thing – A GRATEFUL HEART” (George Herbert)

“There’s always a blessing to thank God for; the ones you are aware of, and the ones that you are not. Be grateful to God every day.”

“Sometimes I just look up, smile and say, ‘I know that was You, God, thanks!’”

“God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say thank You?” (Dr. William Arthur Ward)

“I am grateful to God for all His many untold blessings upon my life.” (Lailah Gifty Akita)

“Gratitude is our ability to see the grace of God, morning by morning, no matter what else greets us in the course of the day.” (Craig Barnes)

“Dear God: Today, I woke up. I’m healthy. I’m alive. I’m blessed. I apologize for all my complaining. I’m truly grateful for all You have done in my life.”

“The best way to show my gratitude to God is to accept everything, even my problems, with joy.” (Mother Teresa)

“When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time. Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs?” (Gilbert K. Chesterton)

“Gratitude is Thanking God After it Happens. Faith is Thanking God Before it Happens.” (Mark Batterson)

 Much Love, Dr. Shermaine #EnjoyTheRead #BeInspired #BeEncouraged #BeEmpowered #BeChallenged #BeThankful #BeGrateful

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