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Victory Begins With Thankfulness

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Luke 18:9-14

[9] And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:
[10] Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
[11] The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
[12] I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
[13] And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
[14] I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

The Pharisee was unaware of his greatest need. He started with thanks but it was the wrong kind. He was not thanking God for what grace had done for him, but for what he had done. This is the wrong attitude to possess! It was a “prayerless” prayer: he had said a prayer but did not pray any. Prayers centered on our efforts will be about what we have done and not done. You see, he needed something human effort could not get. The Pharisee was unconcerned about the publican. The difference filled him with pride and not compassion. True thanksgiving produces thankful living.

Ask ourselves, are we thankful for?

  • Love
  • Mercy
  • Compassion
  • Peace
  • Faithfulness
  • Patience
  • Kindness
  • Benevolence
  • Blessings
  • Longsuffering
  • Joy
  • Perseverance
  • Persistence
  • Boldness
  • Gladness
  • Willingness
  • Eagerness
  • Leadership
  • Salvation
  • Blood of Jesus
  • Baptism
  • Forgiveness
  • New Home In Heaven and Gone From hell
  • Life Eternal
  • Our soul will never die!

True thanksgiving changes us. Even though the Pharisee was at a good place (temple) and went with good intentions (to pray) he went out unchanged and not justified by faith. Millions of people go out unchanged from church. Strive to not make the same mistake!

Let us learn to walk as this publican. He went home forgiven and could then be truly thankful!

A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste

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Philippians 4:4-9

[4] Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.
[5] Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.
[6] Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
[7] And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
[8] Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
[9] Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

For this part I would like to break down key verses into points:

Verse 4

This verse is directing towards having thankfulness for anything. Another good way to say that is to be thankful and satisfied with all of the good things that come in our lives.

Verse 6

The verse here calls for us to be the devoted Christians that we know we can be and to have prayerfulness for anything!

Verse 7

This has two important key pieces to note:

1)    A sense of carefulness for anything

and

2)    Knowing in great depth the peace of God

The good way to think about this would be to have a mindset that is less worrisome over everything. This will allow the peace of God to do its wonderful work.

Verse 9

Reading this should let us know that as we are ready to give ourselves to God that His presence pours out upon ours! How do we know? By the experiences and lessons that we learn over the course of our lives!

Repenting To God: Outdated And Replaced? No Way!

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If there was anything that I could ever be sure of that I know, it is to recognize God’s voice when it begins to speak into my life. There are going to be so many moments when it will speak words of encouragement when we are down. And as I am sure that when the time calls for it that we are all so thankful for the moments that God comes through. The moments that I want to talk about today though are the ones that seem to be the times that we sweep under the rug, never talk about, or stay in denial over. So go ahead and brace yourself for it, because here comes our old friend reality, which says: there are also other moments when God will direct us to repent or turn from what it is that is trying to pull us away from God.

I know this seems silly when you read me writing this, but consider the illustration of praise and worship. Praise and worship is assuming we are in a place of thankfulness and are able to get past everything in our heart and are light enough to be in a spirit of praise, right? In church services you can get millions to operate in praise and worship because we are sometimes praising God for things to come, right? The funny thing to me as a minister is when it comes to the art of repenting and being humble that you seldom find roughly 1-5 percent of your participants willing to do praise and worship AND be driven to repent.

What is up with that? It has been observed from my point of view that lately repenting to God has become somewhat unnecessary and outdated. Friends, asking God for the forgiveness of the mistakes you made is not only in style but necessary for the keeping of your mind and life each and every day! Please do not misplace this with the ideal that we can just replace asking forgiveness with just only being thankful. We must remember to have moments where we are humbled and acknowledge that we are human and that God is God! Stay in style and sanctify yourself through prayer today!