PASTOR JACK'S THOUGHTS 11/23/09
THANKSGIVING!! Oh, give thanks to the Lord for He is good!! If for no no other reason, we must give thanks to the Lord because of His goodness and mercy toward each of us. We are told in Psalms to "enter His gates with thanksgiving". One of the first things that we learned in Thailand was that we should never go to visit a person "without something in our hands." With God, we enter into His presence with the gift of thanksgiving! An old story has been told that there are two angels who hold baskets for our prayers. One angel holds the basket of "requests" and the other the basket of "thanksgiving." At the end of each day the basket of "requests" is full to overflowing but the basket of "thanksgiving" only has a few prayers in the very bottom of it!! How sad!! This is a legend and is not in the Bible but it certainly makes us think.
Another thought comes from Ps. 50:23 "One who offers the 'sacrifice of thanksgiving' glorifies Me and prepares the way that I may show him the salvation of God." As I said last week, God hears our praise and thanksgiving and responds with His goodness in many ways. Think of Joshua and the Walls of Jericho. God told Joshua to tell each of seven priests to carry a trumpet made of ram's horns into the battle against Jericho. God had already told Joshua that the victory was his! So the musical trumpets indicated that they believed God and were giving Him praise for His already promised victory! The instruments of praise (trumpets) were the only weapons they held in their hands! They believed God and did what He said and the Walls of Jericho fell that day!! As the scripture says,thanksgiving glorifies God and prepares the way for us to see His victory in our lives!!
Find ways to help yourself and your family give thanks to God this week. This littleacrostic for THANKSGIVING might give you some ideas:
"O Lord I thank you because you are"
The only true God
Holy
Almighty
Never failing in compassion
King of Kings
Savior
Gracious and forgiving
Immortal
Victorious
Invincible
Near us
Glorious
Now lead your family in giving thanks to God for his gifts to you each day! You can try an acrostic to do this or make it in the form of a prayer.
I THANK GOD FOR EACH ONE OF YOU!!
HAPPY THANKGIVING!!
PASTOR JACK AND GLAD
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