HEAVENSREEF

If I am not thanking GOD for all things that come my way, isn’t this a form of selective faith?

Think on this: why do we remember to thank GOD always for the good blessings that come our way, but we can’t seem to see the bad stuff in the same way?  We tend to run from the bad, from the hard and we seem to respond with that fight or flight attitude.  

But scripture tells us this:

EPHESIANS 5:20 “GIVE THANKS ALWAYS, AND FOR EVERYTHING.”

Wow…….that means any and all things!  The word that jumps out in that scripture is: always.  Not sometimes, or when we feel like it, but always.  

We should come to understand then, that our thankfulness should not depend on our circumstances and feelings.  A thankful heart is a humble one.  A thankful heart thinks vertical and knows that all things come from the LORD.

The times when the heart breaks, is also a time of breaking our will, our pride.  If we only want the good stuff to come our way, we are truthfully living in a dream world.

What do we do then, when our hearts have been broken and we are in despair?  How does one give thanks for that?  But if we don’t give thanks, then we are selectively thinking that maybe I know better than GOD!  Maybe my way is the best way and HIS way is too hard?  In this circumstance, when we can’t thank GOD, we can thank HIM for sending HIS son to die for our sins!  We can thank HIM that we are HIS and in that very moment GOD is holding us……..because:

ISAIAH 42: 3 “A BRUISED REED HE WILL NOT BREAK…….”

Sometimes there are no words for what we are going through…….only tears.  And there seems to be no place to turn…….only to HIS word:

PSALM 69: 30 “I WILL MAGNIFY HIM WITH THANKSGIVING.”

In the midst of our troubles, don’t we need a big GOD?

So our thanksgiving magnifies HIM and all that GOD is: a good and just and perfect GOD, who knows all things and wants the best for us.  Because HE knows best, our thanksgiving will create in us a trust worth having and a trust worth living.

If GOD removes that one hard thing, how will we ever learn this trust, this hope, that HE is teaching us?  If we magnify HIM in the thanksgiving in all things, doesn’t this change more importantly our hearts?

Could it be that when we have selective faith, then we are also being selective in our trust of GOD?  Doesn’t HE want us all in for HIM?  When we are, then we must give thanks for all things, for every day, every circumstance, every problem and the list continues to go on and on.  

A thankful spirit is not selective about what it is thankful for……..a thankful spirit is thankful always, even now, whether in the valley or on the mountaintop………

It’s ok to move forward with that small faith.  Don’t ever let anyone tell you your faith wasn’t good enough or big enough.

The steady discipline of even a small faith will grow and mature over time…….so take one day at a time, one step at a time, always looking to the ONE who holds you.  You may move daily in fits and starts and worry and wrestling, but keep going, keep persevering, because GOD sees into your heart!

ZACHARIAH 4: 10 “FOR WHO HAS DESPISED THE DAY OF SMALL THINGS?”

Today’s thanksgiving in all things, is tomorrow’s mature and steady faith that stands upon the ROCK that cannot be shaken, even in the midst of a storm.  Trust daily, faithful and thankful in all things that come your way……… taste and see that the LORD of our universe is very, very good in all things, because HE loves you with a deep abiding love that never ends!

REVELATION 14: 12 “HERE IS A CALL FOR THE ENDURANCE OF THE SAINTS, THOSE WHO KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD AND THEIR FAITH IN JESUS.”