Happy Thanksgiving! We focus this weekend on gratitude because in part it is a great tradition that started here in Canada as explorers like Martin Frobisher and Samuel de Champlain celebrated their safe arrival across the ocean. They had lived the great adventure and although they didn’t exactly find what they thought they were looking for, their lives were opened to a world of opportunity.
On January 31st, 1957, Parliament proclaimed...
"A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed ... to be observed on the 2nd Monday in October....Wow, if everyone did that?! It is easy to lose sight of the harvest when everything is always at your fingertips at the grocery store.
As believers we can all too easily forget the journey that God is taking us on or realize the incredible harvest of blessings He has flowed into our lives. In many ways we need to recognize the ‘larger-than-life existence God has for us involves incredible risk and be willing to be put in to the deep like the early explorers. We will focus on what leads us there and how gratitude keeps us there!
The absence of gratitude in our lives makes us spiritually sick
A grumbling spirit is like a toxin that spreads through your body and it is not only poisonous to you, but to all those around you.
How serious is a sin of discontent? Without it, our lives degenerate into envy, dissatisfaction and complaining and taking what we have for granted.
It happened to the children of Israel and it was a serious offence.
Numbers 14:2 – 4
Numbers 14:10 - 12
I believe God is taking us on a journey as well and yes, it will cost us to move into His preferred future for us. He in continually
1 Corinthians 10:6 - 11
It probably shouldn’t surprise us that idolatry and sexual immorality provokes God’s anger, but what about grumbling? Are you surprised that it is right here condemned in the same place as these other ‘blatant sins'?
Here’s the thing. When we complain about our circumstances, we are actually grumbling against God’s provision in our lives at this very moment and treating his care with disdain.
Also, when God’s people murmur against His appointed leaders – whether Moses or Aaron – God takes that personally as grumbling against Himself
When was the last time you gave thanks for clean water, heat in your home, that you don’t have to go outside to go to the bathroom? It only takes a trip to a third world country to realize how blessed we really are!
The highway of praise is the gateway to gratitude
Go through, Go through the gates, Clear the way for the people; Build up, Build up the highway, Remove the stones, Lift up a standard over the peoples (Isaiah 62:10)
As you read the Psalms, you read about entering his gates with thanksgiving! The gates here are referring to just that, praise!
When the people of God give God praise, something happens in the atmosphere. The obstacles of ideologies, culture and spiritual strongholds are confronted. Continuous praise, that is both sacrificial, and a lifestyle eventually removes the inferior and establishes a Heaven-like realm over geographical locations. It happens wherever the people of God gather to worship, but eventually it has an effect on entire cities. This heavenly atmosphere changes people’s perception of reality. This process is called building a highway. A worshipping community changes the atmosphere over the city and actually gives those who don’t know Christ a place of easy access to know Him!
Bill Johnson in Inheriting the Supernatural.
Gratitude to the Lord rejects a spirit of discontent.
Philippians 4:8ff
Gratitude is one of the strongest ways to build up your spiritual immune system from the invasion of a virus like a disgruntled and discouraged spirit.
What is your threshold of gratitude? What will it take for you to get to the place of gratitude? You can’t make yourself more thankful but what you can do is open the window of your heart to it so that when it comes through your neighbourhood, you will more easily able to embrace it.
Here’s the thing. The most sure fire way to dull a child’s sense of gratitude is to give them whatever they want.
Gratitude is also an act of humility. One of the things that I admire about Pastor Jung and the Korean church here is their heart of gratitude every time I see them from watching them bow their heads to each other to constantly expresses their thanks to me every time I see them.
A spirit of gratitude brings spiritual, emotional as well as physical healing.
In Numbers 15:37, the children of Israel were commanded to make tassels on the hem of their clothing and attach tassels at each ‘corner’ with a blue cord. corner = kanaf
(Rob Bell in Velvet Elvis)
Malachi 4:2...under your wings (kanaf) The Sun of righteousness will rise with healing in his wings.
Mark 5:21 stories of healing – the woman who was haemorrhaging for 12 years touches the fringe of his robe and she touches it believing there there is healing in Jesus!
The Takeaway
This morning I want to challenge you to create a living tassel that will not only bring healing in you but serve as a healing work in the life of another.
1. Declare His praises!
2. Write a letter of thanksgiving!
Select one person from your live who has been instrumental in bringing you to the Lord, drawing you closer in your walk with the Lord and write their name in the next few minutes as you prayerfully consider who they might be. If you can, take the letter with you and read it to them in person.
3. Take time to write out 10 things that you are thankful for! It might even start with the gifts from God that you take for granted to the people that God has placed in your life.
C.S. Lewis states that there is a thin line between pretending to feel something and beginning to feel it. There is a reason that this holiday is called ‘Thanksgiving’ not ‘thanksfeeling’!
One writer correctly points out that we need to learn to be grateful for even flawed or imperfect gifts. We need to express thanks when our child attempts to make the bed. To the wives, be thankful when when your husband’s express affection, even if it is awkward. To our teenagers, always hug your mom even if your friends are watching!
No comments:
Post a Comment