with Thanksgiving

with Thanksgiving

      Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your graciousness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6 Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:4-7

A man had a habit of grumbling at the food his wife placed before him at family meals. Then he would ask the blessing. One day after his usual combination complaint-prayer, his little girl asked, “Daddy, does God hear us when we pray?”

“Why, of course,” he replied. “He hears us every time we pray.”

She paused on this a moment, and asked, “Does He hear everything we say the rest of the time?”

“Yes, dear, every word,” he replied, encouraged that he had inspired his daughter to be curious about spiritual matters. However, his pride was quickly turned to humility at his daughter’s next question.

“Then, which does God believe?”

Thanksgiving is on its way. It’s hard to believe that time of year is already here. However, I would argue that if thanksgiving is only on its way, we must be missing something. The above verses talk about rejoicing always and continually praying with thanksgiving no matter what’s going on.

Why should we rejoice? Why can we let our graciousness be known to everyone? In other words, why can we happily give people the good things they clearly don’t deserve? Because the Lord is near. The One who is beside us, behind us and before us is the Lord of all. He knows all and has all power. His love for us is proven at the cross. “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” John 15:13

Therefore, there is nothing to worry about. Because He is near, we can tell Him our troubles. Not only can we tell Him our troubles, but we can do so with thanksgiving. Why? Because He loves us and has the understanding and power to do what is best. When you believe this about the Lord, His peace, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

I know this from experience. Can it be a battle? Of course. But accept the Word of God as truth. The Lord is near. Instead of allowing the endless worry, talk with the Lord Jesus, share your heart, but do so with thanksgiving. Break into a song, “To God be the glory great things He has done. So loved He the world that He gave us His Son…Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Let the earth hear His voice. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord let the people rejoice. O Come to the Father through Jesus the Son and give Him the glory great things He has done.”

Happy Thanksgiving! Pastor Tim