November 24 - Hallelujah

"As therefore you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so live in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving". (Colossians 2:6-7)

There's no place like home. Yesterday's TV newscast showed footage of jam-packed American highways as thousands of people vacated the cities to return ' home' in time to celebrate Thanksgiving with their loved ones. In America Thanksgiving is the traditional start of what they call the holiday season. As well as giving thanks, the focus is on the good, positive, rewarding parts of their lives, blessings they had received, over the previous year.

H. Norman Wright summed up the meaning by saying:

"Thanksgiving is not to be limited to only the times when we are aware of blessings. Let us give thanks even when we have a problem to solve, when there are difficulties to be met. At these times, we give thanks to God for unconditional love and goodness, for unlimited wisdom and abundance. When we give thanks continually, we are rejuvenated - spirit, mind and body."  Let us hold those thoughts and be thankful for all of our blessings.

A special day each year set aside for families to get together to give thanks is a wonderful idea. But what has happened that it takes a 'legislated' day to remind people that get-together's and thankfulness has to be scheduled into our diaries as commitments?  Our schedules are hectic, and life comes at at a frenetic rate. with the ever present need to problem-solve from sun up to sundown, life quickly becomes exhausting and overwhelming. And with that exhaustion and overwhelm often comes a forgetfulness of the good things in our lives.  We’ve been focused on the hard stuff, the urgent stuff, the not-so-good stuff and have missed opportunities to give thanks. But when we purposefully and consciously take the time daily to stop and give Him thanks, we’re able to put life into perspective – more so when we can share that time with our loved ones. (Crosswalk.com)

Some time ago I attended a health presentaton, during which the presenter, emphasising the need to keep healthy said, “Well, you can't praise God when you are in pain, can you.” It struck me at the time to be a ludicrous statement. If that were truly the case, there would be millions of severely sick and disabled people around the world who has never had a day without pain in their lives who would never give praise and thanks to God – in essence, blaming Him for their condition and circumstancess!

Even In My Darkest Hour, I Will Sing, I Will Praise, Because Your Word is True: About Praising God

By Betty Miller

Since the presence of praise is voiced continually in heaven, our voices should also be lifted up in praise to our Lord. In 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 we are told to, “Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” The Lord tells us here that we are to have an attitude of joy, thanksgiving and prayer at all times, no matter what the conditions or circumstances are that surround us.

This verse does not mean that we are to thank God for bad things and tragedies that come our way. It means that we are to remain joyful no matter what is happening in our lives because we have the Lord, and in Him we shall overcome no matter what the devil is trying to do to us. The Lord does not want us to thank Him for the bad things that happen to us because He did not send them. He is not the author of evil. We are not to become bitter over life’s circumstances, but rather to continue to rejoice in the Lord. It is the will of God for us to rejoice no matter what comes. It is not the will of God to receive evil things as from Him. It is an insult to God to thank Him for accidents, sickness, tragedy, etc. He does not send those things to us, the devil does. We are told to resist the devil, and submit to God (James 4:7: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”) We are to love and rejoice in the Lord in spite of what the devil tries to do to us.

Give you thanks for our friends, our families and our troubles. Yes, we give you thanks for our financial crises, our family stress and the ripples in our personal seas of tranquility. Through our troubles we learn to pray and appreciate the many blessings that seem greater when compared with the ripples of life. We give you thanks for our lives, your love and your Grace.

(Acknowledgements Bob Pickering; Crosswalk.com)


Music  choice today is  - "Thank you Lord for your Blessings" sung by Jeff and Sheri Easter.  Click on the picture to listen.