Things I Am Thankful For

"Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!" (Psalm 100:4)

No matter how dire our present circumstances may seem, we all have so much to thank the Lord for. As I thought about the thanksgiving season, I challenged myself to be thankful for things I have taken for granted and to name some blessings I don't think I have named before. I hope this list will challenge you to do the same.

1. I am thankful that God created me. (Psalm 139:14) How ever realized that if God had not created you, you wouldn't be here. This simple truth should be enough to made us realize how much we owe God and to be thankful for His grace to us.

2. I am thankful that God delayed His wrath so that I could have time to repent of my sins and be saved. (2 Peter 3:9) At the moment I sinned, I deserved the wrath of God. Yet, because of His grace and compassion, He waited for me to come to Him.

3. I am thankful that God created an orderly universe. (Psalm 136:5-9) I plan my life around the rising of the sun and the changing of the seasons, but how often do I thank God for this consistency in nature?

4. I am thankful that God made me an eternal being. (Matt. 25:46) Although I will die physically die one day, my spirit will never die. And one day upon His return, my spirit will be reunited with my resurrected body. Praise the Lord that my life has no end. (1 John 5:13)

5. I am thankful that God has a purpose for my life. (Jer. 29:11) How empty life would be without a purpose and meaning for my existence.

I have many more things for which I am thankful, (my wife, my children, my parents, my church family, my health, my friends, the list goes on and on) but I wanted to list some that are rarely mentioned to hopefully make us all think of the many things for which we so often take for granted.

May you experience the joy of salvation and have a new realisation this Thanksgiving season of all that you have to be thankful for.

The Peril of Forgetting

God has commanded us to remember what He has done (Ps. 105:5). The Israelites who were delivered out of Egypt saw first hand the works of the Lord, but they had a short memory. Consequently, they questioned the character of God (Ex. 14:10-12) and they doubted the provision of God (Ex. 17:1-7). Ultimately, their disobedience and rebellion cost them entrance into the promised land--what a high price to pay for forgetfulness!

We need to beware, so that we do not make the same mistake and suffer the same consequences. The Bible is clear that God has given us all that we have, both materially and spiritually (cf. Matt. 6:26). Yet, in our state of blessedness, pride can cause us to forget the source of our blessings. We begin to take credit for our blessings and forget that it is our creator who has given us all that we have (Deu. 8:11-17). The only way to avoid this pitfall is to remember that the Lord is our provider.

We not only have to beware of pride, but forgetting what God has done will also cause us to doubt Him. It seems almost unbelievable that the Israelites could watch God part the sea and drown the pursuing Egyptian army, and yet fear the Canaanites, but that is exactly what happened. If you have ever experienced the hand of God in your life, then rely on it. Meditate on it. Let your past experience with God give you a reason to trust Him for your future. If the Lord has saved you, why would He later abandon you?

Forgetting what the Lord has done will cost you dearly, but remembering His works will lead to rejoicing. "Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works! Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!" (Psalms 105:1-3)

May you experience the joy of remembering.

God's Formula For Revival

2 Chronicles 7:14 has rightly been called God’s formula for revival. “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” Here God lays our four things that His people must do if they are to experience forgiveness and healing.

First, they are to humble themselves. True humility is not thinking less of yourself than you should. It is recognizing how poor you are in relation to God and the standard of holiness which He requires. It is recognizing that you are a sinner in need of forgiveness.

Second, the Lord tells them to pray. If revival comes from God, why would we talk to everyone but Him about it? We need to go to God in pray and ask for forgiveness. We need to ask God to reveal any areas of our life that need to be conformed to the image of His Son.

Third, we need to seek the face of God. To seek His face is to seek to know Him intimately. When we get an ID made, it is not our elbow or foot that is photographed, but our face. Our face is the one feature that completely distinguishes us from other human beings. If you know someone’s face you can recognize them. So to experience revival we need to seek to know the face of God. Finally, we need to turn from our sin. You can’t be in fellowship with God and continue to constantly sin as a lifestyle.

If we do these things we can expect to experience revival.