Friday, January 27, 2012

A Heart of Thankfulness, Part 4

If you want more of God, He’ll give you more of Himself. That ought to make you happy. It ought to make you want to rejoice all the time. ALL THE TIME! I’m not going to say that you don’t have the right to be depressed. Yes, I am. You don’t have the right to be depressed! Who do you think you are? Oh, no wonder you’re depressed, because you don’t know who you are! Does that make sense?



Let’s look again at 1 Thessalonians 5. “Let us not quench the Spirit.” Then he goes on to talk about not despising all things and holding fast to that which is good. This could be a whole lesson on life, all of these points in this chapter. These are clear instructions on how to live.



There are obviously many more verses, Old and New Testament, which deal with the issue of remaining thankful. Ephesians 5:20, “Giving thanks to the Father at ALL times.” In other words, is there ever a time when we should not be thankful? NEVER! NO! There is never a time when you should not be thankful—or without the double negative—we should always be thankful! It will change your world. “But what if I can’t pay my bills,” or, “Well, what if,” there is never a time for you to not be thankful and to give thanks to the Lord. Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men.



You’ll find out that giving thanks leads to peace. Just read Philippians 4:6-8. Maybe you don’t have peace because you’re not thankful. So many things hinge on thankfulness. So much of our ability to live a victorious, successful Christian life depends upon our discipline to establish and then maintain this disposition. You may have to work at this because maybe you weren’t raised in a thankful atmosphere. 



I love to hear testimonies of people saying, “We were poor, but we didn’t know it.” Isn’t that great? We didn’t know. Why? Nobody told us. Mama was always just rejoicing and thanking God. Huh? You look at many of the youth of today and is it any wonder? They’ve been raised in greed and a sense of entitlement. And I see many Christians living the same way. And that sense of entitlement keeps them from being thankful, and if they’re not thankful; they can’t overcome. Does that make sense to you?



I want to encourage you to read Deuteronomy chapter 8 wherein the Lord reminded the children of Israel about maintaining an attitude of thankfulness. Moses was speaking to them, and they were about to go and take the Promised Land. God obviously revealed to Moses their concern that people would quickly forget. They didn’t remember the many great things that God had done on their behalf. And so Moses kind of rehearses over all those things. “Remember what the Lord has done. Remember what the Lord has done.” And he even says in Deuteronomy 8, “Do not forget.”



We have a propensity to forget. Why? Because we’re always looking ahead; always looking at what shines in front of us. Do not forget. Then he goes on, “For it is the Lord who gives you the power to accumulate wealth that He might establish His covenant with thee.” Only don’t let prosperity become your god.



Don’t forget where it all comes from. Don’t ever forget it and always seek to honor Him with it. Amen?






No comments: