Tag: Thankfulness

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Appreciate Grace

13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? 14 Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High, 15 and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me. ~ Psalms 50:13-15

Paul said that where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more (Romans 5:20-21). When we hear that, we get excited. We think it means that we can just sin and then ask for forgiveness later. This isn’t the purpose of grace. This isn’t the heart of God. The heart of God is love, but not the way that we see and define love. Love doesn’t take advantage of another, especially not another that we love. Love doesn’t rejoice in wrongdoing; love rejoices in Truth.

The desire of God isn’t for constant sacrifice so that our constant sins will be forgiven. His desire is that we worship Him. That we don’t fall into sin but boldly walk into the presence of God with thanksgiving and praise. God desires that we abide in His love so that we may remain in His presence. Grace isn’t a free pass to sin. Grace is the redeeming blood of Jesus that washes our sins away and gives us another chance to do what is good and right. Because we have received grace, we should be giving the LORD a sacrifice of thanksgiving. This is how we enter His presence through His redeeming blood. Faith in Him and a sacrifice of thanksgiving.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Appreciate Grace.

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Embrace God

23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call His name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). ~ Matthew 1:23

Jesus is also known as Immanuel because He is literally “God with us.” You see, God, Jesus, existed from eternity. There was never a time when Jesus did not exist. But there was a time when Jesus put aside His divinity to come to this old dusty world to save those who hated Him with a passion. Why?

Jesus being born in Bethlehem is literally the Christmas story. He is our real and true Christmas present from Almighty God. You see, Jesus didn’t come into this world because He had to come, well, at least NOT for Himself. He did not come because we loved Him and wanted Him to come. No! The Word of God says:

11 He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him.

John 1:11

Matter of fact, the Word says that although He made the world, the world did not recognize Him. We did not know who He was, yet He came anyway and was mistreated and abused. Knowing this, He still chose to give His life for us sinners.

So, it wasn’t because of our love for Him that He came, but because of our “desperate need” for Him that He came. We were utterly lost without Him. Jesus already existed; He didn’t have to come in order to exist. He shared the Father’s glory for past eternity, but nonetheless, He chose to put all of that aside to save us. He literally became ‘God with us.’

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Embrace God.

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Continue To Give Thanks

14 then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, 15 who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, 16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. ~ Deuteronomy 8:14

Life is filled with hardships and tribulations. It’s filled with obstacles and walls. Life is always an uphill battle, but don’t let the devil use these things against you. Satan is the Father of Lies. He’ll use any situation that we go through in order to convince you that God doesn’t love or want you, but this isn’t the Truth. Do not let Satan, that old devil, convince you that you’re going through hardships because God hates you. Don’t let him persuade you that God has forgotten you because you just got laid off. Or that those fiery serpents and scorpions are snapping at your heels and are blocking your way because God wants to see you struggle. Do what you’re supposed to do.

Continue to pray, seek, and worship Him. Continue to offer thank-offerings. Don’t get caught up in lies. Don’t let the devil steal your dreams or your blessings—stand firm on the promises of God and all that He has done for you. Never let the devil steal your thanksgiving and your gratefulness. Give thanks to the LORD even in times of trouble, for He is good.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Continue To Give Thanks.

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Enjoy Thanksgiving Benefits

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18

God wants us to be thankful and to give thanks at all times and in all circumstances. Rejoice at all times and in all situations, not just when the sun is warm on your face, and the wind is to your back, but even when the rain is coming down, and you have no umbrella. Rejoice even to the confiscation of your goods as the early Christians did, for great is your reward.

That does not mean praying only when you need something or when difficult times are upon you. Using God as a “Get out of jail free” card. This is the crutch of the whole matter, giving thanks—the act of thanksgiving. Again, we don’t wait for everything to go right to give thanks. We don’t stop giving thanks because life has thrown us a curve ball. To give thanks is the will of God. Therefore, be thankful, and enjoy the benefits. And may you have a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Enjoy Thanksgiving Benefits.

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Obey To Be Thankful

11 Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, ~ Deuteronomy 8:11

God said, “Be very careful not to forget the LORD your God.” Why? Because God considers it an insult when you have a short-term memory and do not keep His commandments or obey His rules or observe His statutes. He’s not interested in the sacrifices or the prayers of the disobedient. Because to obey is better than sacrifice. This is because when we are obedient to God, we are showing God that we are dependent on Him and thankful to Him for all that He has done for us.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Obey To Be Thankful.

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Don’t Forget God

8 This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; ~ Matthew 15:8

Lip service is cheap and can be insincere, or at the very least, it can come across as insincere. But when you live a life of gratitude, you will experience the joy of Thanksgiving, and it’ll keep you humble before God because now your mind, your carnal nature, won’t begin to believe or think that it was all you.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Forget God.

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Live a Life of Gratitude

6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! ~ Psalms 150:6

William Arthur Ward once said, “Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” According to God, we are to serve Him (God) with gladness. We are to come into His presence with singing and thanksgiving because it was God who created us in His own image, and He is continuously molding us to be more like Him. We are not self-made people.

We are the sheep of His pasture. He loves us and cares for us, and He is faithful even when we are unfaithful, and all He wants is our obedience and our gratitude. Our thanks. Therefore, we should give thanks to God for all He has done for us and for who He is. But you know what? God wants us to take it a step higher.

He wants us to not only give thanks to Him but to live a life of gratitude. He wants us to live like we are thankful for life. Thankful for the things we enjoy. Thankful for the things we take for granted, like family and close friends. Thankful for the food we eat. Jesus never ate one bite of food without giving thanks. Should we do any less? Peace. Love. Go Forth and Live a Life of Gratitude.

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The Joy of Thanksgiving

Every year we celebrate Thanksgiving with family, friends, and food, but is there more to it? What exactly is thanksgiving, and why is it important to be thankful? Join Reverend Jenny Yates as he opens our eyes to the importance of giving thanks in his message, The Joy of Thanksgiving.

Psalms 100:1–5
Psalms 47:1
Psalms 100:1b–2ESV
Psalm 150:6
Matthew 15:8
Deuteronomy 8:11–18
1 Thessalonians 5:16–18
1 Chronicles 16:4
1 Chronicles 16:7
Romans 1:21
Psalms 100:4–5

The Joy of Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

1 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! 2 Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into His presence with singing! 3 Know that the Lord, he is God! It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. 4 Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise! Give thanks to Him; bless His name! 5 For the Lord is good; His steadfast love endures forever, and His faithfulness to all generations.

Psalms 100:1-5

4 Then he appointed some of the Levites as ministers before the ark of the Lord, to invoke, to thank, and to praise the Lord, the God of Israel. 5 Asaph was the chief, and second to him were Zechariah, Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-edom, and Jeiel, who were to play harps and lyres; Asaph was to sound the cymbals, 6 and Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests were to blow trumpets regularly before the ark of the covenant of God. 7 Then on that day David first appointed that thanksgiving be sung to the Lord by Asaph and his brothers.

1 Chronicles 16:4-7

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Be Atoned

11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of His own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. ~ Hebrews 9:11–14

Today is Yom Kippur. The day the High Priest would make atonement for himself and all of Israel. He would have to take a very sharp knife and slit the throat of the bull that he had just transferred his and his family’s sins to by the laying on of his hands. The blood would gush out, and then he would have to catch some of the blood in a bowl.

Doubtless to say he would be splashed with blood all over his hands and splashes of blood all over his nice, clean, white linen robe.

There were probably flies buzzing around, and the smell of blood was thick in the air. This showed the people the raw, nasty horror of sin. It taught the people that sin was not some innocent white lie that could be brushed under the rug.

Aaron then took this blood and went into the Holy of Holies as a sin offering for the people of Israel.

While Jesus, on the other hand, did not go into the Most Holy Place with the blood of bulls or goats but with His own blood. For with His own blood, He made atonement for us all.

The innocent for the guilty. The righteous for the unrighteous. The Holy for the unholy. Jesus paid it all. In fact, He didn’t just pay our debt; He gave us more. He gave us His Holy Spirit, who is now transforming us into the Image of God that was lost in the Garden of Eden.

Christ gave us His all. He set aside His Godliness, became a man, and died the cruel death in place of the people nailing Him to the cross. It was His blood that was shed that made atonement for our sins. It wasn’t anything we could ever do that could save us. So, the least we could do is show Him we are thankful for His sacrifice by living for Him.

Peace.  Love. Go Forth and Be Atoned.

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His Sprinkled Blood

11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of His own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. ~ Hebrews 9:11-14

Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is easily Israel’s most High Holy Day. It is a day of fasting and mourning. The Scriptures say it is a day to afflict yourself. It was the day that the sins of the nation were atoned for with the blood of bulls and goats. The High Priest presented this sacrifice in the Most Holy Place once a year before the LORD. They had to repeat this every year because the blood of bulls and goats could never cleanse us of our sins. It could never redeem us from death and give us life. So, God got off of His throne and presented His own blood on the altar for our sins so that we might be washed clean. So that we could be forgiven. The LORD Himself shed His blood for us. Never forget that. Never overlook that. God Himself died for us so that we might live.

How often do we spend time with God? How often do we pray and seek Him? He paid our debt, yet the majority of the time, we would rather spend time watching tv, reading books, playing games, and almost any other distraction the world has to offer than spending time with God. How can we expect to accept Jesus’ sacrifice and then keep living our lives as if He doesn’t exist? Jesus did all of the heavy lifting; the least we can do is spend time with Him and show Him that we are thankful for His sprinkled blood.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Thank Him for His sacrifice.

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