With Thanksgiving - Happy Thanksgiving
With Thanksgiving
Is it possible we may have made idolatry of thanksgiving to mean what we only do at the end after our expected answer to prayer? If we get the expected result then we thank God who has bowed to our demands and produced what we demanded in prayer. No wonder we have become a thankless generation - ungrateful to God for who He is but instead waiting first for specific prayer answer.
Maybe we can learn from Jesus who saw the hungry crowd and with seven loaves and fish in hand began to thank God in the present reality - uncertainty of feeding 5K people with what is at hand.
This type of thanksgiving is echoed by Apostle Paul as he wrote his Philippian friends:
“6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus”. Philippians 4:6-7
Thanksgiving is the expression of complete and total acceptance of who God is - that He is unfathomable and all powerful.
Thanksgiving says Lord, I don't know and I am full of uncertainty and that life is complicated but I trust you the One who knows all things. Thanksgiving says because I trust you I thank you not for the answers but for being in total control because I am not.
Thanksgiving says I don't even care for the ultimate outcome of what I am praying for, but I care and want your present peace you promised. Not only do I want your peace but I thank you that I have your peace and that you Lord is my peace.
I believe God is more interested in our present peace than in the end product of our prayer and expectation. Because He is the Prince of Peace he wants me to experience his peace right now. I must accept his promise that He will never leave nor forsake me. If you continually wait for the end to thank God, His peace will elude you.
Can we now thank God with the right frame of mind? God through thanksgiving wants to constantly deal with our anxiety which results from the uncertainty of our human nature. We will always be uncertain about the next minute, hour, day, month and year. "Don't be anxious ... But "With thanksgiving" pray.
Lord I thank you that I am clueless of tomorrow but you are not. I accept my cluelessness and uncertainty and lay hold on you to carry be and surprise me with constant peace in the midst of my storms. Yes I thank you for all you have done for me but I thank you for who you are. I worship and bow to you and surrender my will to you. Your will be done Lord. I thank you for you will.
There is something about Thanksgiving that is beyond our comprehension. Thanksgiving is a medicine that heals. It is the transport out of self to focus on another who has been benevolent. Thanksgiving is commanded and it is the basis of living.
In God’s economy, what He does for us now do not diminish His abundant resources and grace. The greatest thing He ever did for us cost Him the death of His Son Jesus Christ on the cross. It was the highest price, paid in full to secure our peace forever. This is the fountain of my thanksgiving.
Let's with thanksgiving enjoy the roller coaster of life since God is the engineer and designer.
We pray to confess our anxiety to God (he already knows) but our attitude must be that of gratefulness and Thanksgiving always. Thanksgiving is a mindset and a way of living and worshiping God our Father.
With thanksgiving you will always rise above your circumstances and stay focused above (on God) with thanksgiving.
LORD, I THANK YOU FOR YOU AND FOR REDEEMING ME BY THE CROSS OF CHRIST.
Happy Thanksgiving! I thank God for you and your family.
Is it possible we may have made idolatry of thanksgiving to mean what we only do at the end after our expected answer to prayer? If we get the expected result then we thank God who has bowed to our demands and produced what we demanded in prayer. No wonder we have become a thankless generation - ungrateful to God for who He is but instead waiting first for specific prayer answer.
Maybe we can learn from Jesus who saw the hungry crowd and with seven loaves and fish in hand began to thank God in the present reality - uncertainty of feeding 5K people with what is at hand.
This type of thanksgiving is echoed by Apostle Paul as he wrote his Philippian friends:
“6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus”. Philippians 4:6-7
Thanksgiving is the expression of complete and total acceptance of who God is - that He is unfathomable and all powerful.
Thanksgiving says Lord, I don't know and I am full of uncertainty and that life is complicated but I trust you the One who knows all things. Thanksgiving says because I trust you I thank you not for the answers but for being in total control because I am not.
Thanksgiving says I don't even care for the ultimate outcome of what I am praying for, but I care and want your present peace you promised. Not only do I want your peace but I thank you that I have your peace and that you Lord is my peace.
I believe God is more interested in our present peace than in the end product of our prayer and expectation. Because He is the Prince of Peace he wants me to experience his peace right now. I must accept his promise that He will never leave nor forsake me. If you continually wait for the end to thank God, His peace will elude you.
Can we now thank God with the right frame of mind? God through thanksgiving wants to constantly deal with our anxiety which results from the uncertainty of our human nature. We will always be uncertain about the next minute, hour, day, month and year. "Don't be anxious ... But "With thanksgiving" pray.
Lord I thank you that I am clueless of tomorrow but you are not. I accept my cluelessness and uncertainty and lay hold on you to carry be and surprise me with constant peace in the midst of my storms. Yes I thank you for all you have done for me but I thank you for who you are. I worship and bow to you and surrender my will to you. Your will be done Lord. I thank you for you will.
There is something about Thanksgiving that is beyond our comprehension. Thanksgiving is a medicine that heals. It is the transport out of self to focus on another who has been benevolent. Thanksgiving is commanded and it is the basis of living.
In God’s economy, what He does for us now do not diminish His abundant resources and grace. The greatest thing He ever did for us cost Him the death of His Son Jesus Christ on the cross. It was the highest price, paid in full to secure our peace forever. This is the fountain of my thanksgiving.
Let's with thanksgiving enjoy the roller coaster of life since God is the engineer and designer.
We pray to confess our anxiety to God (he already knows) but our attitude must be that of gratefulness and Thanksgiving always. Thanksgiving is a mindset and a way of living and worshiping God our Father.
With thanksgiving you will always rise above your circumstances and stay focused above (on God) with thanksgiving.
LORD, I THANK YOU FOR YOU AND FOR REDEEMING ME BY THE CROSS OF CHRIST.
Happy Thanksgiving! I thank God for you and your family.
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