November 24, 2019
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This is not a message to tell you “be more thankful” or say “Thank you” to God.
I hope the holy Spirit reveals to you all that you have to be thankful for.
*THERE IS NO NEGATIVITY IN HEAVEN.
*GOD DOESN’T SEE PROBLEMS ONLY POSSIBILITIES. (all things are possible to Him who believes)
A thankful/grateful attitude is a revealer of one who is seeing things from a divine perspective or with a divine lens… It’s a place of contentment…
Psa. 16.11 (NKJV) You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
For centuries, people in many countries have held harvest festivals to celebrate the bounty of the land and the blessings of life. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln established a national holiday in the United States as “a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father.”
Sometimes Life Can Be Very Hard…
Job 1.13 (NKJV) Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house;
Job 1.14 (NKJV) and a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them,
Job 1.15 (NKJV) when the Sabeans raided them and took them away—indeed they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you!”
Job 1.16 (NKJV) While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them; and I alone have escaped to tell you!”
Job 1.17 (NKJV) While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three bands, raided the camels and took them away, yes, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you!”
Job 1.18 (NKJV) While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,
Job 1.19 (NKJV) and suddenly a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they are dead; and I alone have escaped to tell you!”
Job 1.20 (NKJV) Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped.
Job 1.21 (NKJV) And he said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD.”
Job 1.22 (NKJV) In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.
TRUE joy comes from the seeds of thanksgiving.
The great Bible commentator, Matthew Henry, once was robbed as he walked along side of a street. Afterwards he told his friends there were four things for which he gave thanks. First, he was grateful that he had never been robbed before. After many years of life this was the first time he had been robbed and for that he was grateful. Secondly, he said,
“Though they took all my money, I am glad they did not get very much.”
That was something to be thankful for. Thirdly, he said,
“Though they took my money, they did not take my life, and I am grateful for that.”
And finally, he suggested,
“I am thankful that it was I who was robbed, and not I who robbed.”
He was a man who had learned how to be “overflowing with thankfulness!” Don’t grumble because you don’t get what you want; be grateful that you don’t get what you deserve (or with Henry what you could have gotten!)
Paul Gives Us A Glimpse Into God’s Will For Us… (comes with God’s Grace to do it)
1Th. 5.16 (NKJV) Rejoice always, (every opportunity)
1Th. 5.17 (NKJV) pray without ceasing,
1Th. 5.18 (NKJV) in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
How is this possible?
Col. 3.1 (NKJV) If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.
Col. 3.2 (NKJV) Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
Example Of rat & plane.
Problems or Promises…
When her children were rebelling against the Lord, Ruth Bell Graham found herself occasionally torn apart by worry. One night while abroad, she awoke suddenly in the middle of the night worrying about her son. A current of worry surged through her like an electric shock. She lay in bed and tried to pray, but she suffered from galloping anxiety, one fear piling upon another. She looked at the clock and it was around three o’clock. She was exhausted, yet she knew she would be unable to go back to sleep. Suddenly the Lord seemed to say to her, “Quit studying the problems and start studying the promises.”
Thanksgiving requires participation… It Begins in the heart, but must be expressed through the mouth… (cologne bottle)
Psa. 34.1 (NKJV) I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
REMAIN steadfast in a place of Thankfulness…
Eph. 5.18 (NKJV) And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,
Eph. 5.19 (NKJV) speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,
Eph. 5.20 (NKJV) giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Col. 2.6 (NKJV) As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, (2 step process – receive & walk)
Col. 2.7 (NKJV) rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.
Overflowing means super abounding, abounding richly in that which ought never to be absent from any of our devotions; namely, the grateful acknowledgment to God that they had been made acquainted with truths so precious and glorious respecting .