Thanksgiving
Psalms 106:1(NKJV) Praise the Lord! Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.
Thanksgiving is a decision. Like other dimensions of our Christian disciplines, thanksgiving is not necessarily an emotional response. Certainly there are times while thinking upon the goodness of the Lord and his blessings toward us we feel thankful and great emotion swells within. However, thanksgiving needs to grow into a discipline of the heart.
Believers who respond to God when they perceive his goodness and mercy manifest a wonderful thing. Thanksgiving given to God from an attitude of the heart on a daily basis is a sign of maturity. Immaturity responds to what it senses within its own realm of understanding. Maturity lives with a gratefulness that comes from a long time of seeing the faithfulness of God and understands that He is working on our behalf when we don't see it, when we don't understand it and even when we are tempted to think He is not! Thankfulness as a daily faith posture is pleasing and honoring to our God.
Join me this week as we make a decision to learn how to better live in an attitude of Thanksgiving.
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Maybe You Can!
I was talking with my 4 year old granddaughter Lucia. She was telling me the things she liked to do. Trying to expand her horizons I recommended tennis as a possibility. She said, "No Papa I can't play tennis because I tried it and I couldn't hit the ball." She made the mistake a lot of people make in life. Because they failed at something once or maybe just made a bad showing they eliminated it as a possibility. I explained to Lucia that as you grow you change in many ways. One of the ways you will change is that you will get better at hand/eye coordination. When that happens you might try tennis again and find that you are good at it! She seemed to listen and file it away at least.
As Believers we are constantly changing and maturing in our walk with the Lord. Our increasing abilities aren't only spiritual. As we mature spiritually it affects every area of our lives. Our spirit man, the place where the Holy Spirit abides, is like the control room of our existence. As our spirit man grows in the knowledge of God and as we allow the Holy Spirit to transform us in an ongoing way, we are stretched and expanded in natural abilities as well. I'm not saying you can become a pro basketball player when you could never dribble a ball but I am saying you aren't the same today as you were yesterday. Even your intellectual abilities are on the increase as the Holy Spirit is daily renewing your mind and moving you nearer the mind of Christ. Just because you failed in an area in the past don't just assume that you will never be able to be proficient there.
Husbands can become better husbands and fathers. Bosses can become better bosses and employees can become better employees. Sales people can reach new goals never attained before! Don't allow your negative experiences and past failures to determine your identity and stop you from pursuing new ventures. Like Lucia, I'm hoping you will keep trying new things and reaching for higher goals!
I was talking with my 4 year old granddaughter Lucia. She was telling me the things she liked to do. Trying to expand her horizons I recommended tennis as a possibility. She said, "No Papa I can't play tennis because I tried it and I couldn't hit the ball." She made the mistake a lot of people make in life. Because they failed at something once or maybe just made a bad showing they eliminated it as a possibility. I explained to Lucia that as you grow you change in many ways. One of the ways you will change is that you will get better at hand/eye coordination. When that happens you might try tennis again and find that you are good at it! She seemed to listen and file it away at least.
As Believers we are constantly changing and maturing in our walk with the Lord. Our increasing abilities aren't only spiritual. As we mature spiritually it affects every area of our lives. Our spirit man, the place where the Holy Spirit abides, is like the control room of our existence. As our spirit man grows in the knowledge of God and as we allow the Holy Spirit to transform us in an ongoing way, we are stretched and expanded in natural abilities as well. I'm not saying you can become a pro basketball player when you could never dribble a ball but I am saying you aren't the same today as you were yesterday. Even your intellectual abilities are on the increase as the Holy Spirit is daily renewing your mind and moving you nearer the mind of Christ. Just because you failed in an area in the past don't just assume that you will never be able to be proficient there.
Husbands can become better husbands and fathers. Bosses can become better bosses and employees can become better employees. Sales people can reach new goals never attained before! Don't allow your negative experiences and past failures to determine your identity and stop you from pursuing new ventures. Like Lucia, I'm hoping you will keep trying new things and reaching for higher goals!
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