Thursday, 26. November 2009, 12:55:44
A Thankful Heart
Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Rom. 1:21(KJV)
This verse shows a sad connection. People who become godless in their thinking have the characteristic of not being thankful to God or anyone else. This condition generates a lot of pain and turmoil. But a heart that is thankful is one that recognizes the true picture and is willing to express gratitude and recognition to God and to others.
The Message Bible says: What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn’t treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives.
If we think we don’t need the help of others along our journey, our minds are full of foolish things, and our hearts are without good judgment. We that know God must remember to give Him the honor that belongs to Him. Give glory to God; be thankful.
TODAY’S THOUGHT TO TAKE WITH YOU:
I will not be as one who is unthankful, with pointless thoughts, and a foolish mind.
Wednesday, 25. November 2009, 11:09:48
Give Thanks Always
Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Eph. 5:20(KJV)
This instruction, to give thanks always, comes on the heels of Paul’s exhortation to be filled with the Holy Spirit. One of the signs of being filled is that we give thanks to God continually. We are to give thanks unto God for what He is doing in our lives and for His great work of caring for us in every situation in which we find ourselves.
The Message Bible: Sing praises over everything, any excuse for a song to God the Father in the name of our Master, Jesus Christ.
Praising and thanking God should be like breathing to believers. Even though we face tremendous difficulties in life, we thank God for what He is doing to secure our circumstances. Yet, we aren’t expected to thank God for what the devil is doing in his stealing, killing and destroying. If someone threw a rock through my window I wouldn’t thank God for that. I would thank God because He protected me and provides a new window for me. Always thank God for all things He is doing.
TODAY’S THOUGHT TO TAKE WITH YOU:
I am continually thankful for all that God does for me through Jesus Christ my Lord.
Tuesday, 24. November 2009, 12:41:44
In Everything Give Thanks
In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 1Thess. 5:18(KJV)
We are instructed to give thanks to God “in” everything, not “for” everything. Not all things that happen to us are the will of God. Sickness, disease, fear, torment, and pain come, but the scriptures declare that these come from the thief, the enemy of our soul, the devil. It wouldn’t make sense to thank God for what the devil is doing. But even in the midst of the trial, in the midst of the struggle with pain or sickness, we can always give thanks to God for who He is and for what He is doing for us.
The Message Bible says: Thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.
It pleases God when I praise and thank Him for the fulfillment of His promises in my life, even before I see the results. The more I express my faith in God’s ability to work all my issues out, and give thanks “in” everything, the better the results I experience. I have found that the more I magnify God in my life with thanksgiving and praise, the more He magnifies Himself in my life with influence and power.
TODAY’S THOUGHT TO TAKE WITH YOU:
In everything I give thanks to God for who He is and for what He is doing for me.
Monday, 23. November 2009, 15:30:20
Be Thankful
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Col. 3:15(NASB)
Let Christ’s peace control you because God has called you into His peace by bringing you into His body. So be thankful. Jesus does so much for us in order to keep our soul in harmony with God and with the events and situations we face on a daily basis. His input helps us settle down, face the facts, and finalize decisions we need to make. All He expects in return is that we would be thankful.
The Message Bible says: Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other: None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness.
Gratefulness is easy to express if we realize that a far greater influence has come to us than we could have produced ourselves in salvaging the state of our affairs. People that don’t recognize their own weaknesses mistakenly ascribe the solution of their problems to themselves. They struggle to give thanks to God. The harmony we desire in life comes from Jesus. Recognize His help and be thankful to God in all you do.
TODAY’S THOUGHT TO TAKE WITH YOU:
I am at peace with God and with those around me because of Jesus. I am thankful.
Sunday, 22. November 2009, 13:01:21
Walk In Love
And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour.
Eph. 5:2(KJV)
To walk in love means to conduct yourself as Jesus would and willingly sacrifice your plans and options as He did for you. When you walk in love you follow Jesus who has loved you. You don’t have to invent the wheel over again, just follow Jesus. You don’t have to forge your own trail, just follow the one He is on.
The Message Bible says: Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.
When I was in grade school I had to walk two and a half miles to a rural country school. When the snow was deep, my twin brother and I would walk in the steps of our older brother, who was in the lead. It was easier than trying it make our own path. Now I’m following Jesus’ love. It’s easier than trying to go my own way alone.
TODAY’S THOUGHT TO TAKE WITH YOU:
I don’t have to go it alone. I walk in God’s love by the power and ability of Jesus.
Saturday, 21. November 2009, 16:27:00
Believe The Love
We have come to know and have believed the love, which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 1John 4:16(NASB)
Love is of the heart. We respond to it and we make choice for it in our hearts. It is necessary, therefore, to believe God’s love from the heart. We must believe it is the best way for us, believe it is the choice that pleases God, and believe it will powerfully minister to the ones we share it with. When you choose to believe that love is the best of all options, you will never be the same again.
The Message Bible says: We know it so well, we’ve embraced it heart and soul, this love that comes from God. God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us.
I have committed my life to Jesus. I believe that love is the highway of life and all other options are low roads. I have determined to walk in love towards those around me even if no one else does. When you believe God’s love, you act. When you act, you love. When you love, God is pleased because you have believed Him. You’re right on.
TODAY’S THOUGHT TO TAKE WITH YOU:
Love is my choice today. I believe the love of God is the best way for me to go.
Friday, 20. November 2009, 12:59:12
Love Limits Our Choices
For the love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead. 2Cor. 5:14(KJV)
What does this mean? “Constraineth” means to control, to hold together, or to arrest like a prisoner. A prisoner has lost his rights to do things his own way. His choices are limited to the rule of the prison. Paul said that he was a prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ. Love must control us.
The Message Bible says: Christ’s love has moved me to such extremes. His love has the first and last word in everything we do. Our firm decision is to work from this focused center: One man died for everyone. That puts everyone in the same boat.
God’s love limits our choices. When I am faced with a tough situation, I don’t have the option of hateful behavior anymore. Loves limits my responses to the options allowed. I can love them, do good things for them, forgive them, etc., but I can’t do whatever I feel like doing in the flesh. This love produces a whole new way in which to live. Thank God the love of God constrains me.
TODAY’S THOUGHT TO TAKE WITH YOU:
God’s love limits the choices I have concerning my words and deeds towards others.
Thursday, 19. November 2009, 12:29:09
God Is Love
The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
1John 4:8(NASB)
Anyone who does not love has never been introduced to, or become acquainted with God. They do not know God as He truly is. But we are born of God through the new birth and therefore are born of love, for God is love. Love is now the very nature of our being. Love is our way of life because we have received life from God.
The Message Bible says: The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love--so you can’t know him if you don’t love.
We try to love others with our own human love and it only works to a small extent. When we tire, or grow weary, or give up, it’s because human love is limited. It’s based in selfish expectation. Human love expects something back for itself. If I love you, then I expect you to love me back or I can’t love you anymore. God loves differently. He loves unconditionally at all times. That makes Him a Master. God’s love is not self-oriented and it’s not just for the recipient. It’s for others to enjoy as well by association. One who doesn’t love in this manner doesn’t know God. For God is love.
TODAY’S THOUGHT TO TAKE WITH YOU:
My human love is limited and fails, but God’s love is perfect and powerful in me.
Wednesday, 18. November 2009, 12:57:33
Love Comes From God
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 1John 4:7(NASB)
We are to love one another with the love with which Jesus loves us. John exhorts that we must love like that to qualify as being born of God and to know God personally. We must progressively come to distinguish and know the love that God shares with us. We must get a clearer understanding of our required participation in this love as it radiates from God. We need to get a better handle on it than most have.
The Message Bible says: My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God.
In our natural human families we know that kids will take after their parents in traits and characteristics because they are born of them. Nature teaches us this very well. A dog is born of dogs and therefore will do “dog things.” A cat is born of cats and will do “cat things.” We are born of God and therefore we do “God things.” God is love.
TODAY’S THOUGHT TO TAKE WITH YOU:
I will love the way God loves me because I am born of God and know Him by love.
Tuesday, 17. November 2009, 12:07:54
Love Proves Our Relationship With Jesus
By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:35(NASB)
Jesus had just given the New Commandment for the New Covenant. “Love one another as I have loved you.” Now He says that if you keep on showing His love, among yourselves and towards others, then everybody will know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you are one of God’s kids. You will show off your family resemblance.
The Message Bible says: This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples--when they see the love you have for each other.
There is so much stuff and junk going on in the world, supposedly in the Name of Jesus Christ and Christianity. But, if what is going on isn’t being done in love like Jesus loves, it isn’t being done by disciples of Jesus. A disciple is a student, a learner of the Master Jesus. Some Christians accept Jesus and remain at the entrance to eternal life. Disciples enter the door in the same way, trusting in Jesus, but disciples don’t stop there. They follow Jesus and learn from Him and become transformed into His image. How do you know who these people are? They love like Jesus loves.
TODAY’S THOUGHT TO TAKE WITH YOU:
I am a disciple of Jesus. I follow Him and I learn to walk in His love. It’s the greatest.
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