Day of Thanksgiving #3

I'm thankful that we are able to see things from an eternal perspective and have hope instead of looking at things from an earthly perspective with the weight of the world's problems and hopelessness.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18
¹⁶Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. ¹⁷For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. ¹⁸So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Lord, I pray that you help me to walk in your renewing of my mind and the reviving of my heart day by day. Give me the strength to not walk in the flesh that is wasting away and the discipline to keep my mind off momentary trouble and onto your eternal glory that far outweighs them all. Thank you that there is victory in Jesus.

Boundless Story on Joy

http://www.boundless.org/2005/articles/a0002009.cfm
http://www.boundless.org/2005/articles/a0002010.cfm

Day of Thanksgiving #2

I'm thankful for what Jesus did at Calvary. That we do not have to fight for victory, but that we fight FROM victory.

By the resurrection God proclaimed his Son victor over the whole realm of darkness, and the ground Christ won he has given to us. We do not need to fight to obtain it. We only need to hold it against all challengers. Our task is one of holding, not of attacking. It is a matter not of advance but of sphere, the sphere of Christ. In the person of Jesus Christ, God has already conquered. He had given us his victory to hold. Within the sphere of Christ the enemy’s defeat is already a fact, and the Church has been put there to keep him defeated. Satan is one who must do to counterattacking in his effort to dislodge us from that sphere. For our part we need not struggle to occupy ground that is already ours. In Christ we are conquerors- nay, “more than conquerors” (Romans 8:37). In him, therefore, we stand. Thus today we do not fight for victory; we fight from victory. We do not fight in order to win but because in Christ we have already won. Overcomes are those who rest in the victory already given to them by their God. (Nee, 1957, p. 55)

Day of Thanksgiving #1

1. I'm thankful that we are able to experience the "extravagant dimensions of Christ's love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights!" Eph 3:18

2. I'm thankful that God's love is unfailing and that it is something we can trust and cling onto. Ps 13

3. I'm thankful that God never leaves us nor forsakes us. He is always there even when we are at our worst.

4. I'm thankful that God is a friend who sticketh closer than a brother.

5. I'm thankful that God hears and answers prayer. In September, I got hit by a car while cycling. Ever since then, it messed with the way that I process information and my ability to focus. My time in the Word has not been very solid since. I decided to talk to Emily about my problem and see if she had any suggestions to help me be able to remain focused. We didn't come to any conclusions, but we prayed together about this and for God to feed my hunger for the Word. Well, on Friday, my brother felt the Spirit prompting him to hand my grandfather's bible to me. My grandfather passed away in September as well, so this meant very much to me. I'm really treasuring reading through my grandfather's notes and studies of the Word.

"I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food." Job 23:12
The Word is more important than necessary food.

6. I'm thankful for my salvation and that God has chosen me. Something I'll never be able to fathom.

7. I'm thankful that I have a pastor who is helping me find a church in Birmingham and is willing to mentor me in how to serve God's kingdom when I leave Tulsa.

8. I'm thankful for wonderful hymns that are founded upon God's Word. Thank you that we are able to uplift that part of our hearts to you.

9. I'm thankful for great friends.

10. I'm thankful that God transforms our hearts...even if it takes Him to break our hearts in order to do it.

11. I'm thankful that God breaks us so that we may know Him and love Him more deeply and fully. I'm thankful that He breaks us so that my all may be under His submission.

The Mission: Bless the Lord O my Soul

"Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.  The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer and enables me to go on the heights."

Habakkuk 3:17-19

"Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.  Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; who satisfieth thy soul with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's."

Ps 103:1-5

I'm starting this blog with the intention of getting my eyes back on Christ and only on Him.  The past year has had many setbacks, and in the midst of it all, I have developed a great struggle with a selfish, angry, and bitter heart.  My attitude through the circumstances has been one of "woe is me" and "I'm just going to throw in the towel" instead of how can I use these circumstances to glorify the God whom I love and am devoted to serve.  The good thing about this is that God has used this part of my life to examine the contents of my heart, and I have been able to see the depth of my sin and my unbelievable need for my Savior.  Dr. Berg, an amazing professor at Bob Jones, always said that we are like a tea bag.  You don't know its contents until it gets in hot water.  I've been in the hottest of water for 6 months and I can tell you this--I am absolutely ashamed and sickened of myself.  But as Mr. Spafford said in his beautiful hymn "It Is Well With My Soul," "my sin, not in part but the whole, is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more, PRAISE THE LORD, PRAISE THE LORD, O my soul!"  Though this is true, we as Christians have a responsibility to not take advantage of this incomprehensible grace and transform our hearts with the renewing of our minds.  

You see, life will happen and we cannot choose what comes down our path.  We can, however, choose our response to the circumstances.  Some times life gives us circumstances that have an awesome power to destroy us and our usefulness in God's kingdom.  The best way to counteract stress in those times is to begin to praise God and thank Him for His countless blessings in our lives.  Even if your situation seems hopeless, God is still worthy of all your praise.  As we praise and bless the name of the Most High, everything else in this world begins to pale and fade away against the sheer loveliness of who He is.  

Think of Paul and Silas in Acts 16:22-40, feet bound in stocks in a dark prison with a jailer standing guard over them.  They had just been severely flogged, ridiculed and attacked by a huge crowd of people.  Instead of fearing for their lives or becoming angry at God, they began to praise Him, singing out loud, careless of who might hear or judge them.  As they began to praise Him, their hearts were soon overflowing with the joy of the Lord.  The song of those two men who loved God more than life itself began to flow through them like a river of liquid love into their cell and out into the entire prison.  Suddenly, an amazing thing happened.  A violent earthquake shook the prison, the doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose!  Assuming all the prisons had escaped, the guard was going to take his own life, but Paul stopped him and brought not only the jailer but his whole family to Christ as well!!!  Praise always brings freedom, not only for ourselves, but for those around us who are bound up as well.  

We must get our mind off ourselves and the problems we face and onto the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.  One of the miracles of a life transformed by God is that we can be thankful always, and praise Him in all situations.  This is what He commands us to do, for He knows better than we do that the Lord of the Lord is our strength.  

This blog is an attempt to be intentional on keeping my mind off myself and onto my Father.  My deepest desire is to live a life holy and pleasing to my Father, and I plan on starting to develop this desire even further by recording the many reasons for thanksgiving in my life.  

If you want to join me in a heart of thanksgiving, I encourage you to post your thoughts on here.

May the Lord bless you through this blog, may you spread the love of Jesus wherever you may go, and may the peace of Christ rule in your heart.