At the Heart of Thankfulness

     Someone recently told me that "unthankfulness cultivates an attitude of entitlement." That has really been sticking with me lately. There are so many things that I don't think to thank God for in a day. I can see, I can hear, I can walk, I can smell and taste, I live in a free country, I have godly family and friends, I can afford luxaries, and most importantly, I have been saved by Jesus' blood on the cross by no merit of my own. These things are so easy to take for granted because most people have never been without them, but they're blessings from God that we need to be taking time to thank Him for. When we don't take the time to thank God, we are telling Him that we deserve everything we've been given.

Pray without ceasing. In EVERYTHING give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 1 Thess. 5:17-18

Thankfulness should be the Christian's native emotion. If we have learned to pray without ceasing, then thankfulness should come naturally to us. Some people don't really understand how to "pray without ceasing," but it's really quite simple. In everything that you say and do, have a sub conscience reference to God. Whether it's sorrow or gladness, sickness or health, prosperity or adversity - in everything we are to give thanks, whether we like the circumstances or not.

And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Col. 3:15

A deep and true heart of thankfulness comes when one has the peace of God in their heart. We should have a sense of unity with God and with our fellow man. Matthew Henry says, "Thankfullness to God helps to make us agreeable to all men." How can we remain unified as one body in the Lord? By being thankful.

And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. Col 3:17

Every one of our actions should be followed by thanksgiving. We are to do every duty not only for God and for His glory, but with a heart of thankfulness. We should be thankful that we get to work and serve a God so abundantly full of mercy. It doesn't matter what we are doing, it should be accompianted by an attitude of fervent gratefulness.

"Gratitude is our ability to see the grace of God, morning by morning, no matter what greets us in the course of the day." - Craig Barnes

   

     Do we take time to thank God for saving us, for dying on the cross to pay for all of our sins?  Do we take the time to thank God for the material blessings, as well as all of the spiritual blessings? Do we have an attitude of thanksgiving that our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ can see? Are we thankful for the work that we get to do in service to God? If we aren't taking time to be grateful, we are displaying an attitude of entitlement. We don't have a right to any of the things God gives, and it's our duty as Christians to take the time to thank God daily for all of the blessings He has given to us. Let's give thanks, for He has truly given us so much!

Stay excellent!

What God Has to Say About Listening

     "There is a difference between truly listening, and waiting for your turn to talk."

     So often, I find myself in this situation. I'm hearing the words that are coming out of somebody's mouth, yet I couldn't tell you what they said five minutes later, because I was too focused on what I wanted to say.  Listen and silent contain the same words - maybe that is telling us something! Let's look at what the Bible has to say about listening.

God is listening to us

But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me. Psalm 66:19-20 

God hears what we have to say. Do we deserve that? Nope. We definitely don't. Yet His ears are inclined to us, no matter what time of day or night. Nobody has ears that hear better than the Lord. I think it's so cool that we don't even have to speak for God to hear us. He knows the cries of our hearts! 

We should be listening to God

...Blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it. Luke 11:28

God speaks to us by using His word. That's His way of communicating to us. We need to have ears tender enough to hear even the softest whisper of the Holy Spirit. We can hear what God has to say to us through reading the Bible in devotions, by listening to godly men and women around us, and by going to Church to hear the Bible preached through men of God. We know based of James 1:22 that we aren't supposed to just hear the word, but we should be doers of it also. Listen to what God has to say, and act upon what's right.

We should be listening to others

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.    James 1:19

We need to be quick to listen to others, and slow to have a reply. This applies ESPECIALLY in situations where you want to get angry. It's so easy to spout off a sarcastic remark when we're annoyed! I know I'm definitely guilty. But God wants us to be people that are quick to hear and slow to speak. If God can take the time to listen to us, we should be taking the time to listen to others!

The Bible talks a LOT in the book of Proverbs about the importance of holding our tongues. We would be doing ourselves a lot of good if we just learned to listen a little more and talk a little less. I know this is something that I am definitely working on! One of the most sincere ways to show respect is to listen to what another person has to say. Let us be people who are quick to listen and slow to speak. 

Stay excellent!

When You Don't Know What To Do

     There are times in our lives when we have to make decisions and we aren't sure what's the best choice to make. I feel like most of us have been in that situation, and if you haven't, you probably will be at some point soon. Making godly choices can be so hard, especially when more than one way seems right. Here are some things to remember when we don't know what to do.

1. Is it expedient? (Will it build you up?)

1 Corinthians 10:23 says, "All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not."

In this chapter, the Apostle Paul is talking about eating the meats sacrificed to idols. Obviously, idols are not real and are merely pointless statues. Nothing apart from God is holy, therefore there's nothing significant or important about a statue. However, some people were saying that for them to eat the meats offered to idols was wrong and ungodly. Paul is saying that all things are lawful, yes, people can eat the meat offered to idols, but all things are not expedient - all things might not help you in your Christian life. Expedient means beneficial. The things we do need to spiritually benefit us - they need to build us up.

2. Will it enslave you? (Will you become addicted?)

If we head over to 1 Corinthians 6:12, we see that this verse is very similar to the one used in the point above, and it says, "All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any."

Once again, expedient here could also be translated beneficial. But we want to focus more on the last portion of this verse - I will not be brought under the power of any. Power here means dominated, enslaved or addicted. Paul is writing to the Corinthians here about going to law with one another over small matters, he is warning them to avoid the sins that they used to be addicted to, and he is advising them to avoid fornication. The Corinthians were abusing their liberty - they were saved and on their way to Heaven, but they were not using their freedom in godly ways. We must use our liberty given by God to make wise choices, otherwise we can become addicted or subdued by temptations. When making choices, we have to ask ourselves if we will become enslaved.

3. Will you be setting a good example? (Does it offend your brother?)

We can look at 1 Corinthians 12:24, which says, "Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth." 

We know the context of this verse by looking at the first point. Wealth here could mean, good, moral welfare, or advantage. Let no man seek his own, but every man another's good. When people were eating the meat offered to idols, their brothers in Christ were offended and hurt by the action. Although it was lawful for them to eat the meat, it didn't edify their brothers in Christ. If what we want to do is going to make us a bad example to our brothers and sisters, we can see from this verse that we probably shouldn't do it. It should be our goal to have a benevolent spirit and to look for ways to help others. The choices we make should set us up as good, godly examples.

4. Does it help you evangelize? (Will it damage your testimony?)

Staying in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 33 says, "Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit but the profit of many, that they may be saved."

Paul's main goal was getting people saved. The choices we make need to show others that we love the Lord. We need to have a consistent, godly testimony. If we do things that make us seem hypocritical or two faced, we are damaging our testimony to unsaved people. We should not be seeking our own profit by the things that we do, but we should attempt to profit or benefit others, that through our testimony others should be saved. 

5. Who does it exalt? (Does it glorify God or yourself?)

1 Corinthians 10:31 says, "Whatsoever therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."

No matter what we do in our lives, we need to always be giving God the glory. This verse is pretty simple - in whatever you do, DO ALL to the glory of God. We are so busy in our day to day lives - we have work, school, church, random errands, ect. Every day is full of "stuff" we have to get done. Whatever we do throughout our day, everything needs to honor God. If it's not honoring God, it's something we should not be doing. So the final way to make a godly choice is to ask yourself, does this bring glory to God?

I hope these 5 points will help you as much as they've helped me. There have been times when I've looked back at this list, which I have written in the back of my Bible, and asked myself these questions:

Will it build me up? 

Will I become addicted?

Will it offend my brothers and sisters in Christ? 

Will it damage my testimony?

Does it glorify God? 

Stay excellent!

(Derived from a sermon preached by my dad in November 2015)

Why Worry is Absolutely Unreasonable

Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; or, Wherewithall shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Matthew 6:30-34

     I love how Jesus points out here, that from His standpoint, worry is absolutely unreasonable. He is saying that the greatest concern of our lives should be our relationship with God. Worrying about things we cannot change is useless. It amplifies problems out of proportion. We were not born as worriers, it's something that we get better at when we practice it. Thankfully, it can be unlearned. We have this mindset that if we aren't stressed, anxious or worried about the circumstances of our lives, then nothing will get taken care of or get any better. We doubt God's ability to fix things. Worry NEVER solves the problem. We cannot change the past or predict the future, so when we live lives filled with worry, we are only making ourselves miserable in the present moment. God PROMISES to take care of the details of our lives, we are only asked to trust Him. This passage says that God knows what we need before we even ask, He knows the circumstances of our lives and He wants to be intimately involved with every detail of our day. The final verse in this chapter says that we need to take each day at a time. Don't be anxious about tomorrow, because we aren't even promised another day. 

     There is a difference between concern and worry. There's a healthy degree of concern - parents don't allow their children to play in the street and we need to be concerned about our health if we know we are sick. Concern is doing what you need to do to avoid or help a situation, while worry is when you can't do anything about it but you refuse to leave it up to God. One can spiritualize it anyway they want, but worry is sin, simple as that. And most of us, myself included, are guilty. 

     Worry is a demonstration of faithlessness. I work in a preschool, and if the kids in my class worried whether or not I was going to feed them lunch that day, I would feel pretty bad about the way they see me as a teacher. They trust that I'm going to feed them lunch, and take care of them. They know that's my responsibility, and I will come through. If we are worrying whether or not God is going to take care of us, imagine how that makes Him feel. He created us, He knows what things we need, and He promises to provide for us. When we worry, we are telling God that we don't trust Him enough to pull through. 

As verse 35 of Matthew 6 says, our main priority should be seeking the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Our worry about things in our day to day lives is taking the place of our focus on the things of God. If we are anxious about anything, it should be the affairs of Heaven. God is more than capable of taking care of everything on Earth.

    Don't let things you can't control, control you.

Stay excellent!

The Daily Battleground

I have realized lately that the Bible talks A LOT about the mind. A LOT. We have to live inside our minds each and every day, and we have full control over what we choose to think about. Satan will try to get in there any way he can, and you probably won't see him coming unless you are prepared. Our minds are the ultimate battleground - we choose either to think on things that are true and lovely, or think envious, bitter, resentful thoughts. The Bible says that Satan is subtle, he sneaks up behind us and uses our fleshly weaknesses to capture us. However, if we can learn and apply what the Bible says about controlling our minds, we will be better prepared to guard our minds against Satan.

1. Renew your mind.

And be ye not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Romans 12:2
I just used this verse in a post a few weeks ago, but it's so important that we take it and apply it. I read Romans 12:2 a lot and each time I'm convicted to change a certain area of my life. We must re-establish our faith in our minds if we want to successfully follow the will of God. Conforming to the world begins in our minds - if you think worldly thoughts, soon you'll start doing worldly actions. Daily renew your mind by reading the word of God and praying, keeping that faith established.

2. Bring your thoughts into captivity.

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:5

For something to be captive, it means it must be imprisoned or confined. We must take all of our thoughts (even the ones we think when we're tired, angry, upset, and stressed....) and confine them into obedience. Every single thing that we think should be captivated and enclosed, leaving no cracks or spaces for any stray thoughts to get us in to trouble.

3. Gird up the loins of your mind.

Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1:13 

One writer wrote this about this verse, "'Therefore, having girded up the loins of your mind" - it's an image of a person wearing flowing garments tucking the garments into his belt so that he can run and move about freely and quickly without tripping over his clothes. The part of you that is to be freed by this girding is your mind - the loins of your mind."

So basically what this is saying is that we need to tuck all of our thoughts in, put them away, and focus on the grace of God. When people would gird up their loins, they would need all the excess garments out of the way so they could perform their duties properly. In the same way, we have to tuck in all of our extra thoughts so that we can be what God wants us to be.

4. Think on these things.

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Philippians 4:8

This verse is pretty universally well known, but it doesn't make it any less important. We must filter each of our thoughts through this verse. If what we are thinking isn't true, honest, just, pure, lovely, or of good report, than those are thoughts that God doesn't want us to be having. It's a good reminder of what a godly mind should look like, what we all should aspire our minds to be. 

Our minds are a battleground that Satan is going to actively pursue us. We have to be prepared by renewing our minds, bringing our thoughts into captivity, girding up the loins of our mind and putting each thought through a godly filter. If we aren't careful and we let the devil captivate our minds, there are many verses in Proverbs that say we are fools. It will absolutely destroy us. Don't be complacent and comfortable in assuming what's going on in our minds doesn't matter - think about what you're thinking about.

Stay excellent!