Encountering God through Thanksgiving..... Craig Denison

 Encountering God through Thanksgiving

Craig Denison

Weekly Overview:

Having consistent and transformational encounters with God while on earth is meant to be foundational to the Christian life. Our God has not left us. Through the sacrifice of Jesus, we’ve been filled with the very Spirit of God who longs to reveal to us daily the nearness and love of our heavenly Father. We are never alone. There is nowhere we can flee from the presence of our God. May this week be filled with transformational encounters with the living God as we learn what it is to seek the face of the one who has formed us, knows us, and loves us unconditionally.

Scripture:“Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!” Psalm 100:4

Devotional:

Thanksgiving is a gift given to us by the good and loving nature of our heavenly Father. In and out of every season of life, we have a reason to give thanks because we serve a wholly faithful, good, and loving God. We serve the only King who would lay down his life for his unworthy, rebellious servants. We serve a God perfectly worthy of all the thanksgiving and praise we could possibly give.

In using the incredible gift of thanksgiving, we remind ourselves of how truly good our Father is. In thanksgiving, we experience the joy of a proper perspective and have our hearts stirred by the renewing of our minds. Psalm 100:4 says, “Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!” When we come before God with thanksgiving, we seek the face of our Father while grounding ourselves firmly in the truth of his perfect nature. When we begin our days, prayers, worship, reading, and fellowship with a heart of thanksgiving, we live out of a place of faith and reality found in the kingdom of God come to earth.

Our God is bigger and better than our circumstances, fears, wounds, misconceptions, and past failures. There is security and joy in declaring the goodness, kindness, loving, and eternal nature of our Father. We dictate the emotions we feel by what we choose to dwell on and believe. Our minds are the battleground for our emotions, actions, and desire to dwell in communion with our good God.

Ephesians 5:20 says we are to be “giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” And Psalm 92:1-5 says:

It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night, to the music of the lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre. For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy. How great are your works, O Lord! Your thoughts are very deep!

Our hearts become glad when we offer continual thanksgiving. Five minutes of thanksgiving and praise has the power to change the direction of each day. It has the power to stir our hearts and make us open to and aware of God’s will for us in every situation. It fills us with an atmosphere of joy and of the Spirit. And it can greatly assist us in choosing the life of communion with the Father over the pursuits of the world as temptations and situations arise. May you be empowered and filled with transcendent joy as you engage in continual thanksgiving.

Take time in guided prayer to practice thanksgiving and enjoy the fruits of a renewed mind and a heart filled with joy and truth.

Guided Prayer:

1. Meditate on the importance of thanksgiving. Allow Scripture to stir up your desire to offer thanksgiving in every season.

“Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.” Colossians 4:2

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.” Psalm 103:2

“Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!” Psalm 95:1-2

2. Take time to give thanks to God. Think about how he sent Jesus to die for you. Think about how faithful he is and always will be. Think about how good heaven will be. Give thanks for any gift he’s given you.

“I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving. This will please the Lord more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs.” Psalm 69:30-31

“We give thanks to you, O God; we give thanks, for your name is near. We recount your wondrous deeds.” Psalm 75:1

3. How do you feel after taking time to engage in thanksgiving? Have your concerns, desires, and perspectives shifted? Journal about the effects of thanksgiving on your heart and mind.

We are continually commanded by Scripture to remember the deeds of our God. When the world comes crashing down around us, it’s hard sometimes to remember how faithful God has been and will be. It’s easy to get so wrapped up in the fleeting cares and problems of this life and forget how perfect and never-ending the next life will be. Psalm 103:2 says, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.” May you be quick to remember the benefits of restored relationship with your heavenly Father today as you take time to bless and thank the Lord for all the wonderful things he’s given you.

Extended Reading: Deuteronomy 8

God Knows What We Need Before We Ask..... By: Betsy St. Amant Haddox

 God Knows What We Need Before We Ask 

By: Betsy St. Amant Haddox

“Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” - Matthew 6:8

The other day, I stopped to get gas at a local gas station. It wouldn’t have been an extraordinary event, except that about forty-five minutes after I got home, I received a phone call from a friend. She asked, “are you ready for some good news?” And I said, “of course!”

She proceeded to tell me she had my debit card.

I sat there, stunned. I didn’t even know I had lost it! Apparently, the next person in line at that pump saw my card on the ground where it had fallen out of my keychain wallet. Turns out, he was a friend of my friend. He went on social media, looked me up, realized we had that one friend in common, and contacted her. Guess what makes the story even stranger? They’re next door neighbors! She was immediately able to run over, grab the card for me, and meet me at a parking lot an hour later to return it.

The hero ended up messaging me on social media as well, explaining what happened. He typically goes to a different gas station on the other side of town. But he’d been out and remembered he’d forgotten to fill his wife’s car up like she’d asked, and since he was driving it, decided to get gas at the place that would be the most convenient rather than the cheapest. All of these tiny little events led to the Lord taking care of a need I had—before I even knew I had it.

Another example—last week, I started to make tortellini soup and realized my grocery order had left out the bags of tortellini. I called my husband to see if he could bring some home from work, but he wasn’t able to. We ended up deciding to order a pizza. Of course, that meant he was stuck waiting for it to cook before he could come home. About the time I was starting to wonder about his ETA, he called me in a panic and told me to go get our neighbor—her toddler son was around the block, walking down a busy thoroughfare by himself.

I joked to my husband that God stole my tortellini because without those missing bags, my husband would have never been on that street at that exact moment to see the child, recognize him, and be able to redirect him safely home.

No doubt about it, God orchestrates our steps and His timing is perfect.

The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps. - Proverbs 16:9

The next time you feel inconvenienced or like your day is interrupted, stop and consider the sovereignty of the Lord. There is purpose in everything, and nothing is wasted. We only see the immediate, but God sees the grander picture.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. - Isaiah 55:9

On the Lack of Lightning Bolts..... By Katherine Britton

 On the Lack of Lightning Bolts

By Katherine Britton

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. - Proverbs 3:5-6

I memorized these verses years and years ago, along with John 3:16 and other verses that good little children in Sunday School learn. In my five-year-old mind, I associated the proverb with a mental picture of a road stretching out for miles until it merged with the horizon. That was the “straight road” that I could so easily understand – clearly marked, unswerving, and, most importantly, unchanging. All I had to do was trust God and keep following that path. Little did I know, right?

At times the journey has felt more like an anecdote that Abraham Lincoln told of a man traveling through a thunderstorm. Through the mud and the sheets of rain, the poor traveler felt that he would lose his way entirely. The thunderclaps seemed right overhead, jolting his senses every few moments. Only the flashes of lightning helped him keep to the road. Finally, after a particularly loud crash, the man fell to his knees and cried, “O, Lord God, if it’s all the same to you, I would like a little more light and little less noise!”

The major and minor uncertainties I’ve encountered – and will encounter in the future – often leave me with that sentiment. I think back to the promise of paths made straight and grumble that the signposts would be a lot easier to follow if they were in neon. We all ask, is this the career path you want me to take, God? Is this the man you want me to marry? Should I buy this house? Are we supposed to settle at this church? In what kind of school should we enroll the kids? God, I could really use a lightning bolt to clarify things!

It’s easy to forget that the proverb reserves the promise until the last quarter of the verse, not the first. Review the wording of verse 6 with me. “In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”

I memorized this verse years ago, but I’m still learning it by heart. Task-oriented person that I am, it’s easier to visualize myself making “progress” towards a goal than it is to stop and refocus on inner attitudes. It doesn't occur to me that part the plan is simply standing still, waiting, and listening. I demand lightning bolts to see God’s working rather than taking responsibility for the part assigned to me. My part lies in the trusting, the repudiating of self, and a settled confidence that he will work all things for his purpose. Then… the path is straightened. We may not even realize it this side of heaven, but the promise is that he guides our feet when our eyes are on him.

I fully believe that the Lord guides us in specific ways – through the Word, through the counsel of godly mentors, through nudges of the Holy Spirit – and yet we get caught up in the road metaphor a little too much. We’re so distracted looking for the path that we forget a lifestyle of worship. To an extent, it matters less what we’re doing than how we’re doing it. As Paul wrote, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31)

The wonder of God’s plan for us lies in this – in taking our eyes off the road at our feet and looking to him, God finds our way for us.

Intersecting Faith & Life: Step one: trust in the Lord with all your heart. Step two: do not lean on your own understanding. Step three: in all your ways acknowledge him. Result: whatever your path, he will direct your steps and make your path straight.

Further Reading:
Psalms 37:34
Philippians 1:4-6

A Prayer for the Pursuit of Perfection..... By Meg Bucher

 A Prayer for the Pursuit of Perfection

By Meg Bucher

“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” - Matthew 5:48 NIV

“Why do you expect me to be perfect?” Every teenager asks this as they are being disciplined or held accountable. The pressure they, and we, put on ourselves to be better than we are is more immense than we like to admit. Buried under denial, shame, and guilt, lies a sinner in everyone in need of a Savior.

“I don’t expect you to be perfect,” I repeatedly explain to my daughter. “But I do expect your best effort.” Our heavenly Father expects, and holds us accountable, for no less a standard. The same effort one student applies to achieve straight A’s could lead the next to barely passing grades. The effort is the most important lesson in character development.

The above verse commands us to be perfect, or complete and whole. “Jesus sets up the high ideal of perfect or complete love- including both attitude and action,” the NIV Study Bible explains of Matthew 5:48. “This is God’s high standard for his people, empowered by the presence of Jesus in their midst.”

Perfection is an illusion for humanity, but not for God. We strive for it, because in every human heart lies the desire to be closer to God. To be close to our holy God requires the pursuit of perfection. “The future tense holds out an emphatic goal that is to shape the disciples’ entire life… the future tense also implies a promise, because the Father is not only the divine goal but also the divine enabler,” the NIV Application Commentary explains, “Jesus puts his command in such a way that disciples may look for divine help as they press toward God’s goal for them.”

Life within the love of Christ Jesus allows us tap into divine power to achieve a level of obedience and success which we could not accomplish in our own strength. Jesus’ use of the word perfection was in the context of an objective goal. (Strongs) We can and do achieve great things without a thought towards God. But in this verse, Christ is calling us to do more than just reach a worldly benchmark. The perfection He is commanding us to aim for is complete: physically, mentally, and spiritually.

Perfection is achieved by the Spirit of the living God living in us. Paul also wrote, “But when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.” (1 Cor 13:10). God doesn’t ask us to be perfect here on earth, much like I don’t expect my children to be perfect. But He does command we stay on the path toward perfection, and seek Him with all of our hearts.

Let’s pray now for God to persevere us until the day we are finally and completely made perfect.

Father, 

We praise You for this day, and Your purpose for it. This is the day that You have made, and we will rejoice and be glad in it! Father, let the chains of our sins fall off so we may run unhindered after Christ Jesus today, and always. Remove the self-condemnation, shame, and guilt we feel when we sin, mess things up, and fall terribly short. Renew us each day, Father God. Restore us on the road to perfection, which will culminate when we meet You in heaven for eternity.

Oh, God! Help us to focus on Your perfection and rely completely on You as we journey through this day. Help us to forgive ourselves alongside others, Father. Enable us to run free and hard in the race You have set for us to run… not for earthly crowns, but the eternal reward and rest of heaven.

In Jesus’ Name,

Amen.