True Thanksgiving...

Long before the Pilgrims landed in America in 1620, there was a band of Biblical Pilgrims called Israelites who left a land of bondage headed for a promised land where they could worship their God in truth and not be forced to worship Idols and false gods.  These Pilgrims had the real first Thanksgiving.

Leviticus 7:11-15 (KJV)

 11And this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which he shall offer unto the LORD.

 12If he offer it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgivingunleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and cakes mingled with oil, of fine flour, fried.

 13Besides the cakes, he shall offer for his offering leavened bread with the sacrifice ofthanksgiving of his peace offerings.

 14And of it he shall offer one out of the whole oblation for an heave offering unto the LORD, and it shall be the priest's that sprinkleth the blood of the peace offerings.

 15And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten the same day that it is offered; he shall not leave any of it until the morning.

Thanksgiving means - the offering of thanks, especially for gifts received.  Scripture empasises the importance of giving thanks to God for all His gifts and works both as an expression of our dependance ON Him and our gratitude TO Him.

Jonah 2:9  (KJV)

 9But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.

In the Bible, thanksgiving is linked with praise:

Psalm 69:30  (KJV)

 30I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.

1 Chronicles 16:4 KJV)

 4And he appointed certain of the Levites to minister before the ark of the LORD, and to record, and to thank and praise the LORD God of Israel:

Psalms 100:4  (KJV)

4Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

Psalm 50:14 (KJV)

 14Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:

We have so much to be thankful for - everyday.  If we take the limits off God, we are going to see Him do even greater things than we ever have. 

We have at least 3 things to be thankful for:

#1) Common blessings - (things we take for granted such as the sunrise, sunset, life, hearing, seeing, feeling).

#2) Special blessings - (breath of life, family, friends,)

#3) The greatest blessing of all - Jesus Christ who gave His life that we might be saved and spend eternity with Him.

We have a duty to offer thanksgiving to God (everyday)

1 Timothy 4:3-4 (KJV)

 3Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.   4For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:

Psalm 107:8-9 (KJV)

 8Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

 9For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.

Psalm 147:7-9 (KJV)

 7Sing unto the LORD with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God:

 8Who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains.  9He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry.

So many times we ask, take and forget!

Like the story of the 10 lepers in Luke 17.  Out of the 10 only 1 returned to thank Him for their healing.

We should give God thanks and praise everyday.  So much of the world only remembers to thank Him certain times of the year if then.  As a child of God we can celebrate Thanksgiving everyday - Thanksgiving is OUR response to HIS grace.

Thanksgiving is responding to God's grace even in the midst of turmoil and trouble.  In "everything" Paul wrote, "give thanks".  It's easy to celebrate and give thanks when everything is going our way.  Real thanksgiving, biblical thanksgiving goes deeper than our circumstances!!  It's based on God's provision - not our performance.  

In the movie, FACING THE GIANTS, the coach told his team, "We are going to praise God when we win and we are going to praise God when we lose".  That's the mindset that we as God's children should have - We are going to praise God when we win (when things go our way) and we are going to praise God when we lose (when we think they aren't going our way).  One thing is for sure, if you have read the back of His book, you know we win :-)

Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

I know it's hard to be thankful when you have recently lost a loved one, have a loved one sick unto death, facing divorce or other marital problems, in financial hardships etc., and it's hard if you have a bunch of little problems troubling your mind.  Real thanksgiving is when we praise God IN SPITE OF the circumstances.  In 2 timothy 1:11-12, Paul shows us what real thanksgiving looks like:  He is in a dungeon, chained to a Roman soldier, looking back over 30 some years of serving Christ.  He could have whined and cried, "Lord look what I've done for you, why are you doing this to me?"  But instead he said:   11Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.

 12For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

He gives 2 reasons for his confidence, even while in the dungeon.  If we can claim these same reasons, we can celebrate real thanksgiving.

#1)  I can be confidant because I know God personally - There is a huge difference in knowing about God and really knowing God.  Even the devil knows about God and trembles because of what he knows.  To know God personally is to love and serve Him as your Savior, leader, counselor and friend.  It is not enough to know about God.  It is not enough to be an excellent studier of His word.  In order to celebrate real thanksgiving, you must know God personally.

#2)  I can be confident because God is able to guard all that I entrust to Him.

If I was the primary caretaker of all the people and possessions that are important to me - I would be in big trouble because my wisdom and power are limited (to what God gives me).  I can't save anyone or anything.  But when I entrust to God all those people/things that are important to me, then I have enlisted the all-wise, omnipotent God.  This doesn't give me an automatic safety net but I know that He has my best interests in mind, that His plans are for my good and He knows my heart.  When I enlist Him for instance by praying His hedge of protection, I believe, I have faith that He is fully capable of taking care of everything and protecting everything, something I cannot do.  He will be there to fight my battles for me.  I have His promise that nothing can happen tomorrow that He and I can't handle.  

NO TRAGEDY CAN ERASE GOD'S SUFFICIENCY (I didn't write that but wish I had :-)

So here we are on the brink of Thanksgiving "day" and we don't have a clue what tomorrow holds, but praise God, we know WHO holds tomorrow!  So we can dare to give thanks to God and say with Paul, "for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day".  

When Ralph Waldo Emerson lost his son, he wrote in his journal - "all that I have seen teaches me to trust God for all that I have not seen".  To me that may have been the most beautiful thing he wrote!  

Hebrews 11:1 (KJV) Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

But, if we believe with our whole heart, "all that we have seen teaches us to trust God for all that we have not seen", our faith will grow - then we know the secret of our confidence and we are ready for "thanksgiving".

References. and excerpts: The Secret of our confidence - Bill Bouknight, Bible gateway, King James Bible

First published in facebook, November 20, 2011 at 1:11am

Watch Yo' Mouth

The Bible says the tongue is sharper than any two-edged sword!  I was studying Ephesians and reading Ephesians 4:29-32.  I have heard vs 30 quoted a lot by preachers (And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.)  Usually referring to sin in general.  But when read in context with vs 29, 31 and 32, it reads slightly different than the way I'd always heard it preached!
Ephesians 4:29-31  Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. 30And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. 31Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:  
When read in context, it sounds like the words of our mouth are what grieves the Holy Spirit!!  A lot of people (preachers) take scripture out of context to fit what they are saying when they need to fit what they are saying to scripture (the Bible changes not!).
We grieve the Holy Spirit when we MISTREAT others or TALK to them in a certain way.  Verse 29, says for edifying.  
You know what is in the heart does come out of the mouth in ABUNDANCE.  If your heart is full of praise and worship, it will come flowing out.  If it's full of bitterness and strife that will come flowing out too.  You might be thinking well my heart is clear, I don't cuss, I don't gossip, I don't lie, I don't tell dirty jokes, BUT, the Bible says out of the mouth proceeds blessings and cursings. Have you ever seen someone with a perpetual frown, so much so that it looks frozen in place?  If you can't think of one good thing God has done for you, it will put a frown on your face!  If you have joy and praise in your heart, you can't help but smile!  It will not only come out of your mouth, it will show ON your mouth!  Ever notice though, when we are down, there are times we DON'T WANT to be lifted up.  People come up smiling and we just want to snap their heads off so they are as miserable as we are.  Come on now, we've all been there, right?  What's in the heart?  Blessings or cursings?  What about putting curses on our lives, our children's lives, our spouses lives, our parents or even friends?  You know we can even curse or bless our children's children?  Any momma's reading this ever said to their child - "someday you are going to have kids just like you" when your children were acting up?  How many of us get up in the morning and when our feet hit the floor say, "I can already tell it's going to be a bad day"?  Well sure it is NOW, you just spoke it, the devil ran with it and what you said you now have!  You get what you asked for.  How many of us get up in the morning and say Good morning Lord, or is it good Lord it's morning?  Who do you want running with your words?  God or satan?  If it's God then speak blessings on YOUR LIFE and the lives of others.
How many compliments do you give in a day?  To your spouse, children, parents, friends etc.  How many compliments or blessings do you give your cranky old neighbor, that person that took your seat at church or worse yet your parking place!  How many blessings do you give those thorns in your side that not only stick you but literally rub you the wrong way?  Do you speak blessings on those who hurt or irritate you?  It's not what goes into the mouth that defiles the temple, its what comes out of the heart.  Philippians 2:14-16a says, Do all things without murmurings and disputings: 15That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; 16aHolding forth the word of life;  We can speak life, through Jesus!  1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, 18In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.   and Hebrews 13:15 has this to say, "By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of [our] lips giving thanks to his name."    Sacrifice of praise.  We are to continually praise, pray, uplift and edify.  If we do that we won't have time for cursing, back-biting or inappropriate joking - Amen!
Did you know the Bible is very clear on what we should do and say?  Nothing is left out!
2 Timothy 2:16 But shun profane [and] vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.  That means no off color jokes and jestings!  That may sound strange but God knew that a little leads to a lot.   Pretty soon you think there's nothing wrong with it and soon it drags you right back out into the world!  We are to refrain from anything that is not uplifting and edifying.  Giving thanks at all times.  We don't have to praise God FOR our storms but we need to praise Him THROUGH them!  Give thanks and praise to God at all times,  in every circumstance, "for this is pleasing to God".   This will NOT grieve the Holy Spirit.  Praising and thanking God through our storms will give us a new attitude of gratitude. 
To change the mouth, we have to change the heart.  We must feed not only the body  but our mind and soul.  Garbage goes in, garbage comes out.  If you take in filth and corruption, you will spew filth and corruption.  If you want -- notice I said if you WANT -- God won't force you to do anything.  If you want to change your heart, stay in the Word, read it, listen to it, absorb it.  Surround yourself with Godly people, like minded people who love the Lord.  (I heard an old saying once, "you are the company you keep").  We need to scrutinize what we read, what we watch, who we talk to, spend time with.  "let no corrupt communication" get into your ears and into your heart.  Guard your heart first then guarding your mouth won't be such a problem.  We've all said things and been convicted immediately.  It's a choice, just one of many that we must make. If our hearts are clear and we stay in communication with the Lord, the devil will flee.  Now listen carefully - if you are a child of God and trying to live acceptable and righteously before the Lord, the devil will try to attack you again.  We should rejoice in that also because we are a threat to him, he is NOT a threat to us.  When he finds out he isn't getting to you, he will back off.  He will come back with a new tactic but again staying in the Word and close to the Lord will keep him at bay.  As christians we should be full of praise, belief, understanding, and thankfulness.  That is what should flow from our heart and our mouths.  Words are powerful -- How we use them reflects our relationship with God.  Nothing identifies us more as christians than the ability to watch what we say -- at the same time, nothing can destroy our witness faster nor more permanently!!  You can speak blessings every day for 20 years but say one thing wrong and THAT is what people will remember.  
When we accept Jesus and ask Him into our hearts, He starts a new work in us.  We become new, BUT some things we must WILLFULLY change.  Proverbs 4:24 says to avoid all perverse talk, stay away from corrupt speech.  That doesn't take much interpretation, it's pretty plain.  What we have to remember is the devil can't read our thoughts but he can hear our words.  Everything that comes out of our mouth should be uplifting and edifying, not only giving praise to God but uplifting each other.  God can't stand gossip, back-biting, lying - if you don't believe that, read through Proverbs!  If someone isn't acting the way we think they should or doing things the way WE think they should, it's not our place to judge or COMMENT, it's our place to pray and let God take care of them.  We need to pray to remove curses from our lives and the lives of others NOT speak cursings. God wants us to be clean, pure and Holy acceptable.  That starts in the heart.  He loves us so much, He sent His Son to die for us, He is preparing a place for us.  He wrote a whole book of instructions just for us, He left no detail out.
Have you been grieving the Holy Spirit?  Have you said something lately you need to repent of?  God knows.
Have you spoken curses over your life, or someone else's?  Maybe you did and didn't realize it until you read this blog.  Maybe you just need to give God some praise.  Whatever it is, He's waiting to hear from you.  Speak positives over your life.  Pray the scriptures, speak the scriptures, watch your life turn around by the words of your mouth.
Until next time,
God bless
tawanab

With Praise and Thanksgiving

That is how I start everyday and how I want to start this blog. Giving God praise and thanks for everyday, for the precious breath of life and for allowing us to start over, getting the internet back again and for so many more things I can't even name. My family has learned a valuable lesson in priorities that I pray we never forget. When we thought we were losing everything, however, we were actually gaining everything. We've moved, started over, still flat broke and probably more content than we have ever been. We've spent the last 5 months settling in and reading and studying God's word. We've learned a lot from our study and I will be blogging those lessons. For right now I just wanted to say hello to everyone who read my blogs in the past and thank you. I hope you will come back and read again and I pray that I can share what I've learned and challenge you to study for yourself. We serve an awesome God and I've had the opportunity to see Him work in my life but I can truly say I've never loved Him as much as I do now or known Him like I do now (and I'm not through by any means). I have a relationship with Him like I've never had and that makes reading His word and studying it easier than it ever was, I can't wait to share it.