Week Forty-Eight - Thanksgiving Eve

Tomorrow is the big day. Some of you will enjoy a huge meal with family surrounded by love and thankfulness. For others, you may be alone, have no family, no big meal, and be surrounded by nothing but your personal effects, but it is still an important day. Every day is important, with turkey or without, because it is a gift of God to be received with thanksgiving.

Usually, I host 40+ colleagues and enjoy their fellowship, but this year I am in Virginia with my daughter and her family. We have voted for steak instead of turkey and banana pudding instead of pumpkin pie, and are looking forward to football, falling leaves, and family time.

If you follow me on Facebook, I began this week with a challenge not to count your blessings but to turn your heart to praise. On Sunday, praise the Lord with your church family. On Monday, praise God for His greatness and sovereignty. On Tuesday, praise God for His entrance into your life. On Wednesday - today - praise God for His beauty and wisdom. Then, tomorrow, praise God for His abundant blessings.

I took the praise approach to Thanksgiving this year because I began seeing how self-centered my thankfulness had become. I reveled in all God had done for me, all I had, and the beauty around me but failed to revel in who He was. As I meditated on praise in place of thanksgiving, I recognised how praise lifts the mournful spirit, puts pride in its place, heals the wounded heart, fosters forgiveness, and creates understanding.

Praise means to show reverence, honor, and adoration to God, acknowledging His greatness, character, and actions. It is an act of love and humility that brings the soul to peace and submission, and ultimately, to resounding thankfulness.

One of my favorite ways to study the Bible is by words, and there are at least sixty verses in the book of Psalms that say, "I will praise." If you Google that phrase, you will find it throughout God's Word. And if you only look at the word praise, you will find an encyclopedic number of references. "He is greatly to be praised." "Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord." "Praise ye the Lord."

So tomorrow, when you begin counting your blessings, remember to praise the One who gave them, for that is what the Great Physician ordered throughout His Word. You'll find praise and thanksgiving heal many wounds and create a more gentle and loving spirit within you.

Why not sit down tonight, on Thanksgiving Eve, and without counting your blessings, focus a while on His praise alone?

Week Forty-Seven -Bitter or Better

The other day, I caught myself complaining at other drivers, muttering under my breath, speaking aloud of their poor driving skills and how they inconvenienced me. And several times, the Holy Spirit spoke to warn me of my complaining. Don't get me wrong - the other drivers were crazy, but He was calling me to account for my reaction that revealed my heart of impatience and pride.

He and I had a discussion on pride and impatient comments, and I had to agree. I was not showing grace or mercy or love. Though I was the only one in the car, I was still accountable for my words and thoughts. 

Would I want them to hear me? No, not really. 

Were my comments making the driving experience better? No!

Was my distraction with the driving of others putting me in any jeopardy? Probably, because if I'm not paying attention to my own driving, busy judging others, I could have an accident. And that would most annoy me!

I'm sure we are all guilty here at times, and it is good to face our pride and impatience with a dose of spiritual reality and accountability. But let's leave driving and move on to other areas where our pride and impatience force us to consider our words.

What about at the check-out? Or waiting at a long light? Or even while we are on hold, listening to repetitive, annoying music? Does our mind start spouting complaints? Does it affect our attitude?

You bet it does! Any time we entertain negative, complaining thoughts, we are affected. It might be short-lived, but there is still an effect.

Ask yourself this: "Will my response to an annoying situation make me better or bitter?"

This is a simple way to correct myself. I don't want to be bitter and angry or be known as a complainer or unsympathetic judge of others, do you? So it is for my benefit that I rope in those hateful thoughts and weigh them by grace and mercy.

Do I make mistakes when driving? Of course I do, and so do you.

How would I want others to respond? With road rage or polite forgiveness? And shouldn't others expect the same from me? What response will make me better?

Forgiveness and grace demand I extend a measure of grace to others, even on, and especially on, the road of life.

Bitter or better? Think about that next time you're driving and see what the Holy Spirit tells you.

Week Forty-Six - Elements of Prayer

This year, I have been reading one chapter of the Bible each day. I'm recording a truth from each chapter, and then writing a short meditation. 

At the time of this writing, I've gotten as far as 2 Chronicles 6, where Solomon prays his consecration prayer for the temple, which has just been completed. He gathers an assembly of elders and chiefs, along with the Levites, who bring in the Ark of the Covenant and place it in the Holy of Holies with singers fully dressed in white linen, accompanied by trumpets and cymbals following the procession, proclaiming the goodness of God.

Solomon publicly acknowledges the hand of God in the building of the temple, as well as the preparation and the heart of his father, David. Then, he kneels down before all the congregation of Israel, spreads his hands toward heaven, and begins to pray. It is a beautiful prayer; you should take time to read it. (Verses 14-42)

Solomon's prayer blends elements such as praise, humility, honesty, hope, and even an acknowledgment of the inevitability of failure as he places the people before God, pleading for mercy and forgiveness. He asks God to forgive the people's future sins five times, and the pinnacle of the prayer is found in verse 31, where he asks that God forgive because His act of mercy will help the people to remember to "fear thee, to walk in thy ways."

So here is our challenge. What do our prayers look like? Or rather, what do they sound like? Are they mixed with elements of praise, humility, honesty, hope, a plea, and even an acknowledgment of our expected failures, along with a request for God's forgiveness in advance? 

Or are they prayers done by a list of needs with no personal empathy or emotional attachment? Are they short and lifeless? Are they full of repeated phrases or platitudes that have long lost their meaning?

Most of us know the Lord's Prayer, and that is a great starting point for learning to pray; however, we must move beyond this initial form to a heartfelt relationship in prayer. Solomon's humble recognition of God's greatness and activity is his way of saying, "Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name." His requests and hopes are pinned solely upon the goodness and mercy of the great God he serves. His prayer is a humble act of recognition and thanksgiving, marked by submission to God and a recognition of His sovereignty, as well as by Solomon's understanding of his privileged position. 

This type of vivid prayer opens our eyes to God's activity and leads us to live in sincere reverence for God and a more obedient walk. So, what do your prayers look like? Are they lively or limp? What do they sound like? Full of praise or full of complaining? 

God loves to hear from His children, so whether your prayers are accompanied by great fanfare or confined to the secret place, may they be prayers full of praise, humility, honesty, and hope leading you into a deeper love and a more steadfast obedience to God.

Week Forty-FIve - You Can't Say Can't

"I can't" is a common response when people don't want to do something or feel inadequate to the task. I used to tell the college students that "I can't" means "I won't" because we can do all things through Christ. (Philippians 4:13)

Granted, there are some things we can't do, like jump over the moon or swim the Atlantic, but when it comes to life's challenges, God will prove Himself capable of helping us do things we never dreamed we could do.

Let's look at 1 Corinthians 10:13 in light of this idea of saying we can't. The scripture reads, "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able: but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."

This verse tells me that no problem is unique. We all face common challenges. We are all tempted to lie, cheat, or even steal, but we don't have to yield to these temptations. We can rise above the temptation. We can do all things through Christ. Seeing others who have successfully faced and overcome these same temptations gives us hope and encouragement, showing us that we, too, can achieve victory.

Our tests and temptations are tailor-made, and God is the Tailor. He gives grace for trials when we need it. And the promise of this verse is based on God's faithfulness and ability, not our own. To deny God's power is to rebel or call God a liar. He says we can, so we can!  

An attitude of can't influences our thinking, attitudes, and behavior; it inhibits our potential. It says God is unable to help us. Nothing could be further from the truth. God is at work in the lives of His children at all times, and especially when we face challenges. He isn't intimidated. He loves to take these challenges as opportunities to reveal Himself. He loves to help us succeed.

By accepting God's promise, we rise to growth and hope. It places the focus off ourselves and onto God, where the impossible becomes possible and the can't becomes can!

With every trial, God promises a way of escape. The end of a problem is just as sure as the start because God is there all the way through, and His promises never fail.

Next time you hear yourself saying, "I can't," ask yourself if that is really true! Because you can do all things through Christ, and God's promise of faithfulness means you can.