20
Nov '18
Encountering God through Thanksgiving by Craig Dennison
20
Nov '18
Encountering God through Thanksgiving
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.
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.
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.
Go…
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
01
Nov '18
Stepping Off the Tightrope BY RACHEL DENISON
01
Nov '18
I’m pretty hard on myself – probably too hard. I’m your textbook perfectionist. And I’m learning it’s the height of idolatry to even think I could or should achieve perfection. And yet, subconsciously, I do.
I don’t go around thinking specifically in my head, “Oh, Rachel. You know, you really are perfect.” It more comes out in the way I am disappointed at my shortcomings or failures, surprised by my own selfishness or harshness, or unaware of my impatience and unfair standards. It comes out in the way I hurt others or am critical of myself.
Recently in a Bible study, through the help of wise counsel and Scripture, I realized I’m harder on myself than God is on me – much harder on myself than I ever should be. And that I’m truly unfair to myself.
Somewhere along the way, I began to believe to have authentic faith it has to look like a steady line upward. Surely, authentic God pleasing faith couldn’t contain inconsistency, questions and most certainly not apathy! I realized I’ve developed a very all or nothing, pass or fail sort of mentality when it comes to faith and pleasing God.
With that being my mentality, I was feeling pretty beat up – by myself – for continually falling off the tightrope I’d built. Clearly I’m not going to be perfect, no matter how much I think I should be. It’s impossible – not going to happen. And with my soul, tired from endless striving, I went to Scripture in search for a cure. By the grace of God I stumbled upon this verse in 2 Peter:
“Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God.” –2 Peter 1:3-4 (MSG)
For me, this verse wraps up the Gospel. When I take time to process and believe in my heart this truth, my striving ceases. My eyes are taken off myself and fixed on “the One who invited us to God.” My eyes are turned to Jesus. How could it be that God simply wants to get to know us, personally and intimately? How could it be that everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been given to us by relationship with Jesus? Sometimes I need to remind myself of the cross, the lengths God has gone to simply to know me.
The verse reminds me that I don’t have to clean myself up before going to God, that he wants me to come to him just as I am. We have an open invitation each and every single day to personally and intimately get to know God’s perfect Son, and in that God is pleased. In simply getting to know Jesus, the Father is satisfied. He says, “It is finished. It is for this purpose I sent my Son.” How beautiful is that?!
If you’re anything like me, let’s take some time this week, this month, this year, to drop the task list, the “I shoulds”, the pressure of the tightrope, and take God at his word. In getting to know Jesus – intimately and personally – he is pleased. It’s as simple and beautiful as that. He is after one thing – authentic relationship, to know you and be known by you. Let’s stop making it harder than it has to be. He wants to strengthen our weary souls and lift the burden of perfection right off our shoulders. He has placed it on his perfect Son who paid it all for you and for me. May you be blessed as you meditate on this truth and let in settle into your soul. May you feel lighter than ever before as you stretch out your hands to God in surrender and let him set you free.
May God bless you richly with intimate, personal knowing of him as you seek him.
20
Oct '18
The Unchangeable Word of God
20
Oct '18
The Unchangeable Word of God
by Kenneth Copeland
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” Genesis 1:1-3
God is all-powerful, therefore His Word is all-powerful. He can and does back up everything He says. Since He is Creator, His words contain the power to create. You can see that truth borne out in the very first three verses of the Bible. You’ll notice in those verses that the Spirit of God was moving before God spoke, but nothing happened until God said. Creation did not take place until God released words of faith.
Everything in this material creation, everything you can see, touch, taste or smell came into existence as a result of the Word of God. That means God’s Word is the parent substance of all matter. Think of it! The paper this devotional is made of came from a tree that can be traced from tree to seed to tree to seed, all the way back to God’s Word, “Let there be….”
In light of that fact, do you think His Word still has the power to change this natural, physical world? Do you think the Word that created the dirt your physical body was made from has enough power to heal that body? Do you think the Word that brought into being all the silver and gold, all the wealth of this entire earth, has enough power to supply you with the resources to pay your electric bill?
Of course! God’s Word is eternal. It is sovereign. It cannot be changed. (People try to change it by saying it doesn’t really mean what it says. But, thank God, it does mean what it says and there’s nothing that can alter that fact.) Psalm 119:89 says, “For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.”
This material universe, on the other hand, is temporal. It can and does change. If you take something that is unchangeable and use it to apply pressure to something that is changeable, it’s obvious which one of them will yield. The changeable one! Therefore, whenever you take the Word of God and apply it in faith to this temporal realm, that realm must give in and conform to the Word.
Jesus understood this truth. He lived His life by it. He had such faith in God’s Word that when He spoke it, this material creation bowed its knee and obeyed Him. Demons fled. Diseases disappeared. Death gave up its grip. Bread multiplied. Winds stopped blowing. Waves ceased.
In fact, by the power of God’s Word, Jesus was able to live and minister on this death-bound planet, and yet be completely free from all its bondages. And you can too!
You can speak the Word in faith to disease and it will leave. You can speak to your electric bill and it will be paid. You can speak to any circumstance, and know that the Word spoken and acted on in faith will release His power and change the changeable…all because you are standing on the unchangeable Word of God.
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06
Oct '18
Don’t Just Believe. Belong!
06
Oct '18
You are called to belong, not just believe.
Even in the perfect, sinless environment of Eden, God said, “It is not good for man to be alone.” (Genesis 2:18 NIV)
We are created for community, fashioned for fellowship, and formed for a family, and none of us can fulfill God’s purposes by ourselves. The Bible knows nothing of solitary saints or spiritual hermits.
While your relationship to Christ is personal, God never intends it to be private. In God’s family you are connected to every other believer. The Bible says, “In Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” (Romans 12:5 NIV)
Following Christ includes belonging, not just believing. C. S. Lewis noted that the word “membership’ is of Christian origin, but the world has emptied it of its original meaning. Stores offer discounts to “members,’ and advertisers use “member names’ to create mailing lists. In churches, membership is often reduced to simply adding your name to a roll, with no requirements or expectations.
To Paul, being a “member’ of the church meant being a vital organ of a living body, an indispensable, interconnected part of the Body of Christ. We need to recover and practice the biblical meaning of membership. The church is a body, not a building; an organism, not an organization. (Romans 12:4-5)
There is nothing else on earth like the church!
Power Thoughts Devotional24
Oct '17
Pursiut of His Presence
24
Oct '17
Kenneth Copeland Ministries: Pursuit Of His Presence
http://bible.com/r/9Q