Gratitude

Bless affectionately, gratefully praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not one of all His benefits.  Psalm 10:3:2

I stopped by a large retailer the first week in November (only days after Halloween) and to my surprise, the Christmas music was already playing in regular rotation over the loudspeakers.  The past few weeks, my inbox has been bombed with various Black Friday sales specials and some of my neighbors already have all of their Christmas decorations out.  Don't get me wrong as  certainly I enjoy Christmas and celebrating the birth of my Savior, but what about Thanksgiving?  It seems to be the forgotten holiday. 

As a child, it was easy to discount Thanksgiving as a day to eat turkey and think about the pilgrims who bravely sailed across the globe to America, but as an adult, Thanksgiving has taken a whole new meaning.

In addition to eating a wonderful spread and of course, the Iron Bowl, Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate and give thanks to God for all of His many blessings.  I have been reflecting on this for several days now and when I begin to think about all that God has blessed me with, it’s hard to keep track of it all.  

It’s easy to get swept up into all of the traditions on Thanksgiving Day, but we cannot allow the activities crowd out the real purpose of the day.  Make a list of all that you are thankful for and express your special thanks to God for all He has blessed you with! 

All You Need Is Love

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.  1 John 4:7

The Beatles were onto something with "All You Need Is Love."  After all, Jesus identified the two greatest commandments as loving God and loving other people.  Even John made the radical statement that "those who lack love don't know God." 

What surprises me about Christianity in modern times is that many people understand the need to go to church, to serve and volunteer when it's convenient, and people will support the occasional mission trip or ministry effort, but when it comes to love, the modern Christian church seems to be missing something.

It's sad, because it's not that we don't have love, it's just that individually speaking, we as believers are often times indistinguishable from the world around us. 

There is an urgency in John's instructions-we have been born of a loving God and what this word needs now more than anything is love.   

Against The Wind

I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you.  I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. Ezekiel 36:26

Having two children has made me inadvertently expect our oldest son to be more mature than he can actually be at his age.  It's really not fair, considering he's only five years old and still so very young. I also have this tendency to want to be in control and it's often a power struggle in our household.

When we give God control of our lives, he gives us a new heart, nature, and desire to please him.  God renews our hearts when we come to him with some humility and we turn away from our old sinful habits.  As we do these things, our love for him will grow.

God has the power to change the coldest and hardest of hearts into loving ones.  Are you willing to let go and let God change you?

Couldn't Get It Right

Without me you can do nothing.  John 15:5

One of our children’s favorite Bible stories is how David defeated Goliath.  If you think about it, there were probably thousands of Israelite soldiers that were better equipped to battle with Goliath rather than David.  Regardless, most any rational soldier's reaction to fighting Goliath would have been one of fear, stress, and anxiety.

David didn't waiver because he realized that it was God’s battle and not his own.

Apart from the Lord, he didn't stand a chance.  However, with God’s help and mighty strength, David was confident that everything would turn out just fine-and it did!

Running

The Lord says, "I will rescue those who love me.  I will protect those who trust in my name.  When they call on me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble.  I will rescue and honor them.  I will reward them with a long life and give them my salvation." Psalm 91:14-16

  

It baffles me why I ran away from God's love for so much of my life.  Hindsight now being much clearer, I can't fathom all of the blessings I missed out on for so long. 

The truth of the matter is that we are not some creatures that just randomly evolved; God created each of us in his own image so that we could have a relationship with him.  He loves us because he created us. 

God wants nothing more from us but our love and a relationship with him, so stop running away from him and discover the purpose for which you and I were created!

Little By Little

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13

Leaving the gym this morning, I couldn't help but notice how much time I spend on working out and trying to increase my own limited strength rather than relying on God’s never-ending supply of strength, especially when I am faced with adversity.

In the midst of a problem, it’s easy to focus on the size of our problem and we tend to forget that God is greater than any problem or situation we could ever possibly face.   You see, when we look at a difficult situation in terms of our own strength, we diminish the fact that God’s abilities and love are unlimited.  He will always provide us everything we need.

We must learn to not focus on the obstacles we face as problems, but view them as opportunities for God to demonstrate His awesome power and grow our faith exponentially.

God often doesn't reveal the whole picture to us, He only shows us His plans little by little, so we must learn to rely on Him daily.  We must follow His lead, guidance, and learn to trust Him with our future.

Shake Your Foundations

"Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them is like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the flood came, and the winds beat against that house, but it did not collapse because it had been founded on rock." -Jesus  Matthew 7:24-25

In the age of information, there are many different opinions and viewpoints expressed over the Internet, radio, and television. It's hard to discern the truth at times and distinguish between what is fact from fiction. During a recent discussion over lunch, a client I work with shared that her teenage son feared that the end times are coming because of all of the bad news he continuously sees on the news.

Regardless of the endless resources of information available to us, God's Word remains the one source of truth. We can easily grow weary, fearful, or discouraged by listening to public opinion rather than staying grounded in God's promises and truths.

If you have enough time each day to watch television or surf the net, try to save a few moments to read your Bible as well. It doesn't have to be an entire passage or book, just start out slowly and read a verse or two each day.

The news is daunting enough for a believer that understands that we live in a fallen world, but I cannot imagine how terrifying it must be for someone who doesn't know that this world is not our final destination. God promises all who believe in him something truly greater than we can possibly comprehend, eternal life in heaven. Build your house on a solid rock!