Give Thanks Always
Posted by jerrywhite on Nov 21, 2012
Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 (ESV)
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You may be puzzled about what it means to praise continually and give thanks always, in every situation. Won’t this lead to denying your true feelings? Does it mean that when you stub your toe or hit your thumb with a hammer, your spontaneous response must be ‘Thank You, Lord’? Isn’t it dishonest to give thanks if you don’t feel thankful?
Several things have helped settle these questions for me.
One is that the Bible doesn’t command us to feel thankful in every situation. It doesn’t command us to manufacture positive feelings. Instead, it commands us to give thanks (1 Thessalonians 5:18). As Dr. John G. Mitchell, co-founder of Multnomah School of the Bible, put it: ‘to give thanks when you don’t feel like it is not hypocrisy; it’s obedience.’
This does not mean you should deny your negative thoughts and feelings and attitudes, sweeping them under some inner emotional rug. It doesn’t mean you should repress them into some deep cavern where, again and again, they can sneak back into your thoughts, press you into unwise choices, and filter past your defenses to pollute the emotional atmosphere around you.
Notice that David and the other Psalmists were honest about their feelings, facing them and telling God about them. They knew how to pour out their hearts before Him (Psalm 62:8). Often they praised God first, and then expressed their disturbed emotions, their perplexities, even their complaints. After this they went on to praise God again, despite their struggles. They did not deny their feelings or simply ignore them. Nor did they wallow in them until they’d all but drowned. And it doesn’t seem that they postponed their praise until they had worked through their emotions and felt better. Instead they mingled an honest pouring-out of their feelings with sincere, God-honoring praise….
What happens when we follow the example of the Psalmists—when we express our impressions and feelings, yet choose to keep praising in spite of how things seem to us? I find that sooner or later (often sooner) the Lord releases me from being a slave to my distressing emotions. He unties the tight knots within me and settles my feelings, though He may not answer my questions about how He’s handling my affairs.”
Ruth Myers
31 Days of Praise, 26-29
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Be Thankful Always
Posted by jerrywhite on Nov 24, 2011
Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 (ESV)
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“If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead, and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% in the world. 1.1 billion live on less than $1.00 per day. If you have money in your wallet, in the bank, and spare cash in a dish, you are among the world’s top 8% of the world’s wealthy. 85% of the poorest nations are located in the least evangelized parts of the world. Christians send only 1.2% of mission funds to 1.1 billion who live in the least evangelized parts.
If you attend a worship service without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death you are more blessed than 3 billion people. If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you are ahead of 500 million. If you have read this, you are more blessed than 2 billion who cannot read. During the time you have been reading this, 250 children will have died from preventable diseases, 100 will have died from bad drinking water, 15 will have been sold into prostitution, and 1,500 will have been born into an unevangelized part of the world. You are blessed—not simply to be blessed—you have been blessed in order to be a blessing to others.”
Copied
Linleigh J. Roberts’ newsletter, 2002
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Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 5:20 (ESV)
Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Hebrews 13:5 (ESV)
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Joyful Thankfulness
Posted by jerrywhite on Apr 19, 2010
“Christians joyfully give thanks to the Father. Thanksgiving, too, pleases Jesus Christ. Not to give thanks would be mute testimony to a catastrophic loss of perspective; to give thanks, to give thanks with joy, is to remember that the Father has ‘qualified [us] to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins’ (Colossians 1:12-14).
If God had perceived that our greatest need was economic, he would have sent an economist. If he had perceived that our greatest need was entertainment, he would have sent us a comedian or an artist. If God had perceived that our greatest need was political stability, he would have sent us a politician. If he had perceived that our greatest need was health, he would have sent us a doctor. But he perceived that our greatest need involved our sin, our alienation from him, our profound rebellion, our death; and he sent us a Savior.
What Paul is saying is that to live a life worthy of Jesus Christ is to overflow with joyful thanksgiving in the light of the salvation we have received at his hand. If we have been transferred out of the dominion of darkness and into the kingdom of the Son beloved by God, our only appropriate response is joyful gratitude.”
D. A. Carson
A Call To Spiritual Reformation, 109
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Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 (ESV)
Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 5:20 (ESV)
~~~
Continual thanksgiving is vital for maintaining the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
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