Thankful Every Day

The Thanksgiving holiday has come and gone. But every day should be a day of thanks. God has done so much for us all! He is our all-loving, all-powerful, ever-faithful heavenly Father who delights in our praise. And when we are thankful, our heart is also glad.

Today we're not required to make sacrifices of thanksgiving as they were in the old testament, but the giving of thanks continues.  God wants us to be thankful and to sing praise unto Him, and it pleases Him when we do!

Psalm 95:1-3: O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.

Psalm 100: Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

Psalm 147:7:  Sing unto the LORD with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God.

Some days, we may not feel like being thankful, but there is always something to be thankful for: God will never leave us nor forsake us; if we've "made our bed in hell," He is still there; if we've messed up, His mercy endures forever; when we look to Him, we know that His truth endures to all generations. He will always love us. We're the apple of His eye, His precious children.

Psalm 69:30-32: I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving. This also shall please the LORD better than an ox or bullock that hath horns and hoofs. The humble shall see this, and be glad: and your heart shall live that seek God.

Let your heart live by seeking God; praise Him and be glad! What a simple way to turn a day around when needed or to add joy and rejoicing when things are going well.

The greatest thing we have to be thankful for is explained in Romans 5.

Romans 5:8-11: But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

Praise God that He sent His Son Jesus Christ to redeem us from our sin and reconcile us to Him.
Now we can walk as sons and daughters of God and enjoy a close personal relationship with Him.

2 Corinthians 9:8,11:  And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work....

Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.

God is making all grace abound toward us! Our souls, our lives our enriched day by day. We can keep looking to God and praising Him, through thick and thin, for He is ever faithful and loves us!
Thanksgiving Day or any day, all thanks and praise and glory go to God, our loving heavenly Father!

What Do You See? What Do You Say?

We can face life head on, look it square in the eye, and meet it with God's Word.

Caleb and Joshua did just that. Moses sent them to spy out the promised land along with ten others. All were leaders of their tribes. All saw the same things as far as what was literally before their eyes. But what they focused on was far different, and the impact on their lives greater still.

After 40 days of scouting in the promised land, they returned and reported back to Moses.

Numbers 13:27-29:And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan.

It was a land of abundance with walled cities and strong people. They all saw this. They saw grapes so large it took two men to carry a cluster; they saw pomegranates and figs. They also saw strong people and fortified cities. But what did they focus on?

Caleb and Joshua remembered God's promise. This was the land He would give to the children of Israel, and they saw everything in light of that promise. Nothing was bigger than that!

Numbers 13:30:
And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.

He was bold! He was ready! And he knew God had promised it to them. He quieted everyone down and told them, they were "well able to overcome it."

And yet ten that went with him, seeing exactly the same scenario, saw it completely differently. And they jumped in to set the record straight, according to what they saw.

Numbers 13:31-14:1:
But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.

The people could have believed they were "well able" as Caleb had said. But they chose instead to believe the ten, that they were "not able." They cried all night, they murmured against Moses and Aaron, deciding they would have been better off to die in Egypt. It's amazing how fast fear and negatives can spread, how quickly things can get blown all out of proportion.

Ultimately, because of how they saw the situation, because of what they said about it, the ten and all who believed them died in the wilderness. Of their generation, only Caleb and Joshua were allowed by God to live in the promised land.

They saw the same land, the same crops, the same walled cities and the same strong people. But Joshua and Caleb saw it all in light of God's promised; He would give this land to them. There was abundance; there were cities already built; it was going to be theirs. Any people, no matter how strong, no matter how big, were much smaller than God Almighty. He was the same God who brought plagues to Egypt and delivered them from bondage, healing them and delivering them.

He is the same God today. Whatever we are facing in our lives, we can face it head on. We can look it square in the eye and face it with God's Word. Whatever the situation, nothing is bigger than God Almighty. He is the creator of the heavens and the earth and He loves us. We can go to God's Word, know His promises and stand upon them.

I John 5:4b: And this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith [believing].

Keep standing on God's Word and the victory is yours. What a glorious life He has given us!