As I wrote this post it felt like the wind was in my face the whole time! My research was frustrating, my mind felt empty, yet my fingers kept typing and my computer kept messing with me. It seemed as though nothing was coalescing and I just wanted to erase all of it and try something different on another day. BUT, I believe God wrote and edited this through me for His purposes, so I'm posting it and I'm trusting God to use these words to bless whoever they are meant for.
Psalm 100:4 Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise!
Did you hear that!? We can enter into the presence of God with just a heart of thanksgiving and praise! Don't you think your prayers would be much more powerful if you prayed them in the presence of the Almighty! Of course they would, and having a thankful heart is not just something you express when life is going well. We are to have a grateful and thankful heart in ALL things and I have arrived at the entrance of this truth just this week. Sure, I thanked God my whole life and I was grateful for all the blessings but it isn't until now that I am thanking Him for things I don't find pleasant or fair.
God has had me in a very tight corner and I have fought many of the lessons, like a furious fish flipping and writhing as the Great Fisher of men tried to reel me in for my own good! All the while, my inner voice screaming, "NOOOOOOOOOOOO! It's not fair!... I'm mad! I'm mad! I'm mad at you God! How could You allow this? Where are You! BUT, it wasn't until I quieted my heart and mind (actually I wore myself out) that I was able to hear the quiet, loving voice of God, and what He had to say was beautiful, comforting, peaceful and assuring. He showed me how my heart had turned more angry and how I was destroying myself with self-pity. God knew that I needed a heart full of praise and thanksgiving in order for my mind, body and soul to heal. God loves us so much that He will allow hard times just to get our attention back on Him...where we can be healed and find peace.
God has not left you (Matthew 28:20, I will never leave you or forsake you) nor has He a cold heart toward your suffering (Psalm 103:17, The loving-kindness of the Lord is forever), He is an ever present help in trouble (2 Corinthians 2:14, He leads me in triumph.). Thanksgiving began in my heart last week in the truest sense of the word. My circumstances have been very confining and unnerving but God allowed them because He knew that I would exhaust myself and then finally fall at His feet, only to find true and pure grace, which is really what all of us really want. The road of surrender of self is as long as we make it, just as the Israelites made an eleven day trip across the desert from Egypt to Canaan last forty years! Their stubborn, ungrateful hearts kept them prisoner, not God. God's desire was that they would appreciate and remember His goodness and pass on the stories of His faithfulness to generations to come. But, they complained, whined, argued, blamed, wanted more and never recalled one of God's blessings! Blessings such as feeding millions of them in a desert, giving them water from a rock, food from heaven (manna), leading them with a cloud by day and a fire by night so they would always have direction....But no....they rejected their God. Until we can thank Him for EVERYTHING we will never know the fullness of His grace and love.
Praise, unlike thanksgiving, is connected with God's character and attributes rather than His works. He is: Love, Light, Our Father, Our Joy, The Great Miracle Worker, Compassionate, Our Rock, Our Shield, Our Fortress, Friend and Counselor, Our Comforter, Great Communicator, Savior and Deliverer. He is Merciful, Perfect, The Way, the Truth and the Light. He is Our Intercessor, Our Victor and Our Hope. God is also Supreme (highest power and authority), Sovereign (controls everything/reigning), Omnipotent (all powerful), Omniscient (infinite in knowledge), Omnipresent (ever present), Immutable (unchangeable), Faithful, Holy, Just, Wise, Eternal, Good and The Creator of All Things! Pick any one of these characteristics or attributes and just spend time praising Him for what He is and soon a heart of gratitude will rise within you. You will begin thanking Him for being all those things, because He has been them all to you!
My heart and mind are singing again, and I know my body will begin to heal because His word says,"A happy heart makes the face cheerful." (Prov 15:13), "The cheerful heart has a continual feast" (Prov 15:15), "A cheerful look brings joy to the heart." (Prov 15:30), and "A cheerful heart is good medicine." (Prov 17:22). I lost my cheerful heart along the way and I want it back. My pain and depression have made my body sick, but I am adopting a cheerful heart again and God's Word promises good things will be the result! I had a deep stain in my heart and I blamed God for everything I didn't like. But, He was not about to let His precious daughter live with that lie and all the repercussions of it. Life is not fair nor is it always pleasant but why would we deserve that, when The Father didn't even give it to His son Jesus when He walked this earth? We are not entitled and when we finally get that, we will begin to understand what thanksgiving and praise is all about. I fought Him and complained...just like the Israelite's and that's why my journey was directed through a desert and lasted so long. I lived a life of being a Christian on the outside but an angry and bitter child on the inside. God's love for me does not allow room for hypocrisy and whenever I speak unbecomingly or act inappropriately I can feel the Holy Spirit within me grieving. If the truth sets us free then a double-mind or a double-life will hold us prisoner! He will allow us to self-destruct if we are hell-bent on it, He will not infringe on our stubborn self-will. If you seek Him though, rather than selfish endeavors, He will reveal Himself to you and rescue you from yourself. He wants us to be set free with His truth, so that we can share His love with others, with pure and honest hearts. Galatians 5:6b says, "The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love."
God's work is far from done in me, but I am confident that as I learn to still myself before Him and listen to His whispers of wisdom and truth, He will mature me into the woman that His love always intended me to be. It will be through a renewed heart of thanksgiving and praise that The Light (Jesus), will begin to shine brightly again within me, and that Light will guide my way. I'm tired of harboring a heart full of self-pity, victim-hood and resentment toward God and others. I've let the world and it's attitudes make me into a cynical person and it's only gotten me a complaining and indifferent heart that is of no use to God. I have recommitted to finding my power from the only source that puts out pure energy and light....Jesus himself. If I stay connected to Him then I can shine, and His light will chase the darkness away. God's desire is that other people will see Him in our hearts and witness His character in us so that they will want that for themselves. I struggle with that because I often have a wrestling match going on inside of me with my old self and the new one that I desire to be. The Apostle Paul...Author of the bibles epistles wrote about this same struggle that was within him, "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate, I do!" It is human nature to have this struggle, and God's Holy Spirit working within us is the only hope we have to progress in the right way. We will never be perfect so stop wearing yourself out with self-imposed pressures to be what only God can be. Try trading your right to beat yourself up for your right to praise God and give thanks! The bible is the Holy Word of God that encourages, directs and prods us on to want to be more like Jesus. Our failed attempts are always going to occur but let each confession and lesson-learned be another lit candle in your heart that chases the darkness away. We are to desire to be Godly, not to be God. Worship the Creator not the created and you will find real power and reason to rejoice. May His grace and mercy be with you all the days of your life and may you never want to be less than His child.
A heart full of thanksgiving and praise will take you into His presence! Isn't that where we long to be especially when times of disaster or trouble comes. You must remember that we are not praising God for the disaster,the pain, the sorrow but we will praise Him for being The Great Comforter to those affected. We will also praise Him "in" our circumstance because He will provide everything we will need to get through it and survive after it. Hebrews 13:15 says, "Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise." A sacrifice of praise is an act of putting our faith in God before our human feelings. It is believing that God knows best and has a plan even though we do not see it. When a person comes to a point where they can praise God in their toughest hour....it will be in that hour that they will be closest to the King of Kings and lover of our souls.
Supporting scriptures:
Ephesians 2:4,5, Because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive in Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions, it is by grace you have been saved.
Ephesian 4:1-3, As a prisoner of the Lord, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
Ephesian 4:29-32, Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And, do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ, God forgave you.
Philippians 1:27, Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.
Philippians 2:14-16a, Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe, as you hold out the word of life...
Colossians 3:12-14, Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And, over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Hebrews 12:1-3, Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and loose heart.
Don't beat yourself up....just be a relentless pursuer of the foot of the cross and God will change you. Pray on....
Psalm 100:4 Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise!
Did you hear that!? We can enter into the presence of God with just a heart of thanksgiving and praise! Don't you think your prayers would be much more powerful if you prayed them in the presence of the Almighty! Of course they would, and having a thankful heart is not just something you express when life is going well. We are to have a grateful and thankful heart in ALL things and I have arrived at the entrance of this truth just this week. Sure, I thanked God my whole life and I was grateful for all the blessings but it isn't until now that I am thanking Him for things I don't find pleasant or fair.
God has had me in a very tight corner and I have fought many of the lessons, like a furious fish flipping and writhing as the Great Fisher of men tried to reel me in for my own good! All the while, my inner voice screaming, "NOOOOOOOOOOOO! It's not fair!... I'm mad! I'm mad! I'm mad at you God! How could You allow this? Where are You! BUT, it wasn't until I quieted my heart and mind (actually I wore myself out) that I was able to hear the quiet, loving voice of God, and what He had to say was beautiful, comforting, peaceful and assuring. He showed me how my heart had turned more angry and how I was destroying myself with self-pity. God knew that I needed a heart full of praise and thanksgiving in order for my mind, body and soul to heal. God loves us so much that He will allow hard times just to get our attention back on Him...where we can be healed and find peace.
God has not left you (Matthew 28:20, I will never leave you or forsake you) nor has He a cold heart toward your suffering (Psalm 103:17, The loving-kindness of the Lord is forever), He is an ever present help in trouble (2 Corinthians 2:14, He leads me in triumph.). Thanksgiving began in my heart last week in the truest sense of the word. My circumstances have been very confining and unnerving but God allowed them because He knew that I would exhaust myself and then finally fall at His feet, only to find true and pure grace, which is really what all of us really want. The road of surrender of self is as long as we make it, just as the Israelites made an eleven day trip across the desert from Egypt to Canaan last forty years! Their stubborn, ungrateful hearts kept them prisoner, not God. God's desire was that they would appreciate and remember His goodness and pass on the stories of His faithfulness to generations to come. But, they complained, whined, argued, blamed, wanted more and never recalled one of God's blessings! Blessings such as feeding millions of them in a desert, giving them water from a rock, food from heaven (manna), leading them with a cloud by day and a fire by night so they would always have direction....But no....they rejected their God. Until we can thank Him for EVERYTHING we will never know the fullness of His grace and love.
Praise, unlike thanksgiving, is connected with God's character and attributes rather than His works. He is: Love, Light, Our Father, Our Joy, The Great Miracle Worker, Compassionate, Our Rock, Our Shield, Our Fortress, Friend and Counselor, Our Comforter, Great Communicator, Savior and Deliverer. He is Merciful, Perfect, The Way, the Truth and the Light. He is Our Intercessor, Our Victor and Our Hope. God is also Supreme (highest power and authority), Sovereign (controls everything/reigning), Omnipotent (all powerful), Omniscient (infinite in knowledge), Omnipresent (ever present), Immutable (unchangeable), Faithful, Holy, Just, Wise, Eternal, Good and The Creator of All Things! Pick any one of these characteristics or attributes and just spend time praising Him for what He is and soon a heart of gratitude will rise within you. You will begin thanking Him for being all those things, because He has been them all to you!
My heart and mind are singing again, and I know my body will begin to heal because His word says,"A happy heart makes the face cheerful." (Prov 15:13), "The cheerful heart has a continual feast" (Prov 15:15), "A cheerful look brings joy to the heart." (Prov 15:30), and "A cheerful heart is good medicine." (Prov 17:22). I lost my cheerful heart along the way and I want it back. My pain and depression have made my body sick, but I am adopting a cheerful heart again and God's Word promises good things will be the result! I had a deep stain in my heart and I blamed God for everything I didn't like. But, He was not about to let His precious daughter live with that lie and all the repercussions of it. Life is not fair nor is it always pleasant but why would we deserve that, when The Father didn't even give it to His son Jesus when He walked this earth? We are not entitled and when we finally get that, we will begin to understand what thanksgiving and praise is all about. I fought Him and complained...just like the Israelite's and that's why my journey was directed through a desert and lasted so long. I lived a life of being a Christian on the outside but an angry and bitter child on the inside. God's love for me does not allow room for hypocrisy and whenever I speak unbecomingly or act inappropriately I can feel the Holy Spirit within me grieving. If the truth sets us free then a double-mind or a double-life will hold us prisoner! He will allow us to self-destruct if we are hell-bent on it, He will not infringe on our stubborn self-will. If you seek Him though, rather than selfish endeavors, He will reveal Himself to you and rescue you from yourself. He wants us to be set free with His truth, so that we can share His love with others, with pure and honest hearts. Galatians 5:6b says, "The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love."
God's work is far from done in me, but I am confident that as I learn to still myself before Him and listen to His whispers of wisdom and truth, He will mature me into the woman that His love always intended me to be. It will be through a renewed heart of thanksgiving and praise that The Light (Jesus), will begin to shine brightly again within me, and that Light will guide my way. I'm tired of harboring a heart full of self-pity, victim-hood and resentment toward God and others. I've let the world and it's attitudes make me into a cynical person and it's only gotten me a complaining and indifferent heart that is of no use to God. I have recommitted to finding my power from the only source that puts out pure energy and light....Jesus himself. If I stay connected to Him then I can shine, and His light will chase the darkness away. God's desire is that other people will see Him in our hearts and witness His character in us so that they will want that for themselves. I struggle with that because I often have a wrestling match going on inside of me with my old self and the new one that I desire to be. The Apostle Paul...Author of the bibles epistles wrote about this same struggle that was within him, "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate, I do!" It is human nature to have this struggle, and God's Holy Spirit working within us is the only hope we have to progress in the right way. We will never be perfect so stop wearing yourself out with self-imposed pressures to be what only God can be. Try trading your right to beat yourself up for your right to praise God and give thanks! The bible is the Holy Word of God that encourages, directs and prods us on to want to be more like Jesus. Our failed attempts are always going to occur but let each confession and lesson-learned be another lit candle in your heart that chases the darkness away. We are to desire to be Godly, not to be God. Worship the Creator not the created and you will find real power and reason to rejoice. May His grace and mercy be with you all the days of your life and may you never want to be less than His child.
A heart full of thanksgiving and praise will take you into His presence! Isn't that where we long to be especially when times of disaster or trouble comes. You must remember that we are not praising God for the disaster,the pain, the sorrow but we will praise Him for being The Great Comforter to those affected. We will also praise Him "in" our circumstance because He will provide everything we will need to get through it and survive after it. Hebrews 13:15 says, "Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise." A sacrifice of praise is an act of putting our faith in God before our human feelings. It is believing that God knows best and has a plan even though we do not see it. When a person comes to a point where they can praise God in their toughest hour....it will be in that hour that they will be closest to the King of Kings and lover of our souls.
Supporting scriptures:
Ephesians 2:4,5, Because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive in Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions, it is by grace you have been saved.
Ephesian 4:1-3, As a prisoner of the Lord, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
Ephesian 4:29-32, Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And, do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ, God forgave you.
Philippians 1:27, Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.
Philippians 2:14-16a, Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe, as you hold out the word of life...
Colossians 3:12-14, Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And, over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Hebrews 12:1-3, Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and loose heart.
Don't beat yourself up....just be a relentless pursuer of the foot of the cross and God will change you. Pray on....
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