If you could ask the Lord a few questions
about how to live your life, what would you ask Him? What answer do you
think He would give you? Do you know what God's will is for your life?
I've often thought it would be nice if once a month or so the Lord mailed
us a personal summary of duties that each of us specifically needed to
carry out in our lives - what, when and how often. But you know ladies,
He already has done that in His Word! All we have to do is read the Bible
and we will find what God's will is for us. One of those specific duties
that God has for all His children is found in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 which
we are going to look at in detail today....
"In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus
concerning you."
Thankfulness is a matter that should concern you and I because it is a
matter that concerns the Lord! God says that we should always be expressing
thankfulness - it's His will! Is thankfulness really a way of life for
you, dear lady? No better time than the present to do a heart check, amen?
In reading 1 Chronicles 16:4, you'll find that there were certain Levites
who were actually appointed to give continual praise and thanks to God.
Can you imagine being hired for such a job or being obligated to have
to say thank you whether you felt like it or not?? Ladies, we ought to
express thanks to God because we really mean it, not just because we HAVE
to! Is saying "thank you" just a habit with your lips, or do you really
mean it in your heart.... Praise and thanksgiving directed toward the
Lord should be natural for God's children, a deep rooted part of our character,
not an activity that is reserved only for celebrations or holiday time!
We are to praise God continually - all year long. By doing so, we'll find
that we won’t ever take our Father's blessings for granted and an attitude
of humility will prevail within us as it did in Ruth. You see, Ruth humbly
considered herself unworthy of favours, seeing she was born and brought
up a heathen. So too were we, amen ladies? Let us, in the kindness of
Boaz to Ruth, note the kindness of the Lord Jesus Christ to poor sinners
such as you and I!
Ruth 2:10, "Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground,
and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest
take knowledge of me...."
Why do you think God says we should we give thanks in EVERY thing, in
each individual circumstance? What value could there be in doing so? The
Lord would encourage you and I toward a positive attitude, in looking
for His blessings in every matter of life for several important reasons
as we'll see in a minute. However, the only way we are going to be able
to do that is if we keep our eyes on the Lord, amen? This is the importance
of expressing our thankfulness and praise! We must first learn to talk
to the Lord IN every thing, in every circumstance of life. Then we must
learn to trust the Lord IN every thing, in every circumstance of life.
You see ladies, thankfulness points our hearts in the right direction
- heavenward! We'll learn to be thankful for every thing - every SINGLE
thing that comes our way - only when we accept each situation as God's
work in our life, lovingly designed and monitored by Him. In actuality,
they are every one possibilities for His glory through you.... Have you
been able to thank God for them all - every SINGLE thing? If not, your
unthankfulness has hindered His work in your life! You have stopped up
your own spiritual pipeline... If we are busy about thanking the Lord
in prayer, hardness of heart and bitterness will have no room to dwell
within our hearts, for gratitude and humility will chase them both away!
Then we shall see cause to give thanks to God for sparing and protecting
us many times over, for His past and present mercies, for both temporal
and spiritual blessings in our lives. Not only for prosperous times that
we find pleasing, but also for those times of affliction and comforting
times, for His chastisements and corrections. Yes, our heavenly Father
designs EVERY THING for our good, though we at present may not see how.
There are four significant aspects of thankfulness that come to us through
our circumstances as listed below:
(1) remembering what God has done
(2) telling others about it
(3) showing God’s glory to others in every thing we experience
(4) offering gifts of self, time, and our resources as a result of our
God given experiences
Ladies, if we are truly thankful, our LIFE should reflect it, not just
our lips! This is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning us, His people.
Don't waste what God is doing in your life, there is eternal value attached
to your learning to give thanks in every thing! God has a plan and we
must thank Him for placing us in the center of it, amen? When thanksgiving
becomes an integral part of your life, you will find that your attitude
toward life will change. You can remain joyful when things go badly, through
expressing thankfulness to God for using you, for working in you, for
molding and shaping you. Only through acceptance of your circumstances
and thankfulness for them comes understanding and true wisdom... As a
result, you will become more positive, gracious, loving, humble and effective....
Psalm 107:22, "And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving,
and declare his works with rejoicing."
Yes, thankfulness declares the glory of God. Beware then ladies, for one
of the first marks of rejecting God is forgetting to thank Him! That's
the way the devil likes to subtract from the Father getting glory through
His children! That's the way he likes to turn us off the right path and
onto the wrong one... As Christians, we begin to lose our discernment
when our thankfulness wanes. Even lost people KNOW about God, but they
don't worship Him or even thank Him for all His daily care. So too, in
their case a lack of discernment prevails and mankind begins to think
up vain ideas of what God is like and what He wants them to do. Their
foolish minds become darkened as intelligent people actually turn to idolatry
through their unthankfulness....
Romans 1:21, "Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not
as God, NEITHER WERE THEY THANKFUL; but became vain in their imaginations,
and their foolish heart was darkened."
You might think it pretty amazing that intelligent people could turn to
idolatry, but idolatry begins when people reject what they know about
God.... Instead of looking to Him as the Creator and sustainer of life,
and thanking Him for all that they have and accept from His hand every
day, they see themselves as the center of the universe! As they foolishly
wander from God, they soon invent "gods" that are their own ideas, some
being wooden figures, or they may also be goals or things we pursue such
as money, power, or comfort. Darkened hearts cause mankind to feel as
if he has achieved all his goals on his own, and therefore he has no reason
to thank God for anything. Such are deficient in their understanding of
who God really is and they dishonor the Lord in their prideful behavior.
Ladies, when we become unthankful we are guilty of the same deficiencies!!
We liberally enjoy the gifts God brings to us every day while taking for
granted His hand of provision, adding injury to insult... Yes, we know
the truth about God but we don't let His truth work in our lives, we suppress
it in order that we might pursue our own "gods"! Whoever is guilty of
suppressing available truth is not going to receive more light, amen?
Therefore, having become deficient in our understanding of who God is,
we exalt our own human reasoning and parade our wisdom before others and
act as fools... We become lazy about worshipping the Lord with a true
spirit of thankfulness and end up abandoning Him altogether, no longer
honoring Him as God in this dark world that needs our light. Let's seek
to shine that light of thankfulness in our hearts always and prevent the
darkness of pride from taking over, amen? We'll be saving ourselves from
becoming wandering fools and vain in our imaginations, thereby saving
others also, the Bible says. Let's give God the glory He deserves by giving
Him the thanks He deserves!
"....for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning YOU!"
God Bless,
Pam
Isaiah 60:1&2
Copyright 1999 Pamela A. Iannello
