Tag: thanksgiving

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Colossians Devotionals

Guarding our hearts

Prayer

Devote yourselves to prayer; stay alert in it with thanksgiving. (Colossians 4:2)

As I mentioned in my last blog post, it’s easy for my heart to get stirred up by all the bad news I see on the internet and SNS.

But God was reminding me to stay alert to my own heart. To be aware of what’s going on there. And to constantly bring it to him in prayer.

And just as importantly, to lead my heart towards thanksgiving, choosing to rejoice in Him.

I was also reading Psalm 17 today, and it really confirmed what God was telling me.

You have tested my heart;
you have examined me at night.

You have tried me and found nothing evil;
I have determined that my mouth will not sin…

I will see your face in righteousness;
when I awake, I will be satisfied with your presence. (Psalm 17:3, 15)

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1 Thessalonians Devotionals

God’s will for us

Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in everything; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

A lot of times, we ask, “What is God’s will for me?”

While this is not the whole of God’s will for us, Paul does tell us how God desires us to live each day: “Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in everything.”

Life isn’t always fun. Many times we face trials.

How is it then that we can rejoice always and give thanks in everything? When life is hard, what do we have to rejoice about, to give thanks about.

We can give thanks and rejoice in how God sees us. That he has stamped his image on us (Genesis 1:26-27).

And as his priests, he has stamped his seal on us: “Holy to the Lord.” (Exodus 28:36, Deuteronomy 7:6, 14:2; 1 Peter 2: 5, 9).

And because we are his, his priests, his people, his beloved children, we have access to him 24-7.

We don’t have to be afraid he’ll reject us or turn us away. In good times and bad, in our triumphs and struggles, we can come to him with boldness.

That’s God’s will for us. To walk with him moment to moment, rejoicing in our relationship with him.

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Colossians Devotionals

Why pray?

Colossians

Devote yourselves to prayer; stay alert in it with thanksgiving. (Colossians 4:2)

Why pray?

I think we see several reasons in Paul’s instructions on how to pray.

“Stay alert in it.”

Those words remind me of Jesus’ words to his disciples.

Stay awake and pray, so that you won’t enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. (Matthew 26:41)

We pray so that we can be aware of how Satan is trying to attack us during the day.

We pray because we are weak. And we need God’s strength as we face Satan’s attacks and the trials we face each day.

But just as importantly, we pray so that we can see what God is doing around us and join in with what he’s doing, making the most of every opportunity he gives us. (5)

There’s one more reason to pray, though. To remember God’s goodness. To remember his grace and toward us. And as we remember and rest in those things, we start to live each day with gratefulness and joy.

So let us pray each day, staying alert in it, full of thanksgiving.

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Psalms Devotionals 2

A reason to give thanks

Psalms

Happy Thanksgiving all!

Psalm 100 is titled, “A psalm of thanksgiving” so I thought it was very appropriate for the day.

As I was reflecting on this psalm, however, it occurred to me how unusual it was. It seems much more a New Testament psalm than an Old Testament one.

Why?

It is a call not just for the Jews, but for all people to worship God.

Prior to the cross, it was the Jews who had reason to worship. They were the ones who could truly claim to be God’s people, God’s sheep. They were the ones who had special access to God.

But this side of the cross, everyone who believes in Jesus, both Jew and non-Jew, can now enter into God’s presence. All have the right to say, “I am God’s sheep. I belong to him.”

So let us serve him with gladness, coming before him with joyful songs.

Let us boldly enter his presence with thanksgiving and bless his name.

For the Lord is good, and his faithful love endures forever;
his faithfulness, through all generations. (Psalm 100:5)

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Psalms Devotionals 2

Choosing to give thanks…together

Psalms

Jerusalem, built as a city should be,
solidly united,
where the tribes, the Lord’s tribes, go up
to give thanks to the name of the Lord.

(This is an ordinance for Israel.) (Psalm 122:3-4)

That last phrase really struck me.

The people of Israel were commanded to go up to Jerusalem three times a year for special festivals and give thanks to the Lord.

Obviously, as Christians, we don’t celebrate those festivals. But we are commanded to give thanks. And to rejoice. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

We are particularly commanded to do this together with God’s people. (Ephesians 5:18-20)

Why is it important to have a heart of thanksgiving?

I think we see the results of not doing so in Romans 1.

For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened. (Romans 1:21)

It is so easy to focus on the problems that we face in life.

When we do that, we often become discouraged or cynical, we start doubting God, and we start thinking the way this world thinks.

And when that happens, our thinking starts to become worthless, and our hearts become darkened.

Let us not fall into that trap.

Rather, let us remember all we have to be thankful for and choose to rejoice.

And let us not avoid the fellowship of other believers, no matter what problems we may be having.

Instead, let us say with David,

I rejoiced with those who said to me,
“Let’s go to the house of the Lord.” (1)

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Colossians Devotionals

A heart of gratitude

Colossians

I know I wrote about having a thankful heart on Monday, but to Paul, this seems to be an important theme. And if he thinks it’s important, so should we.

How important is thankfulness to Paul? So important that he talks about it three times in three verses.

And let the peace of Christ, to which you were also called in one body, rule your hearts. And be thankful.

Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.

And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:15-17)

If we have grateful hearts, it leads to peace in the church. After all, if our hearts are full of thanksgiving, particularly at the grace we have received from God, there isn’t much room for complaining about others for their failings.

If we have grateful hearts, Christ’s words come naturally flowing out of our lips in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.

If we have grateful hearts, it shows not only in our singing, but in every word that we say and everything that we do. Our whole life becomes a sacrifice of praise to God, as we seek to please the one who loved us and saved us.

May our hearts always be characterized by gratitude towards God.

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Philippians Devotionals

With thanksgiving

PhilippiansHope

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

…The Lord is near. Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:4-7)

“With.”

A tiny little word, but one that made me think this morning.

When, we’re feeling anxious, prayers and petitions come pouring out of our mouths quite readily.

Paul doesn’t say this shouldn’t be the case. Quite the contrary. He tells us to present our all our requests to God through prayers and petitions.

But he adds that one little word. Two, really.

“With thanksgiving.”

Along with our prayers and petitions should also come words of thanksgiving.

It all goes back to verse 4.

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

Even when we’re feeling anxious, rejoice! Give thanks.

Rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in his goodness. Rejoice in his grace. Rejoice in the forgiveness we have through the cross. Rejoice in the fact that God now accepts us as his beloved children.

If I were to paraphrase verse 6, it would be this way:

“Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition, not forgetting thanksgiving, but rejoicing in Him and his goodness, present your requests to God.”

And as we do, in the midst of our anxieties and trials, “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (7)

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Psalms Devotionals

A reason to be thankful

Psalms

Sadly, here in Japan, people don’t celebrate Thanksgiving.

But with this being the fourth Thursday of November (in Japan, anyway), I thought it would be good to remember the things we ought to be thankful for, especially in a year where it seems that there has been precious little to be thankful for.

The Psalmist wrote,

Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him and bless his name. (Psalm 100:4)

Why? What reason does he give?

For the Lord is good, and his faithful love endures forever;
his faithfulness, through all generations. (5)

“The Lord is good.”

It’s easy to say that in good times. But how about in the bad times?

Why can we say the Lord is good? Ultimately, we look to the cross. For it was there that God proved his faithful love to us.

While we were still sinners, when we had no inkling of even drawing near to him, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

From Adam who sinned in the garden, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, with all their failings, to the people of Israel who repeatedly failed to trust God, to all the Christians throughout the centuries, God has proved his faithfulness again and again.

He did so to a people who have not always served him with gladness and who have not always acknowledged him as God in their lives.

And yet, though we have at times been faithless, he has always been faithful. (2 Timothy 2:13)

And he will continue to be.

Now that’s a reason to be thankful.

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Romans Devotionals

Glorifying God and showing him gratitude

Romans

It is Thanksgiving Day in the United States.

Here in Japan where I live, we don’t have such a day, unfortunately. But even in the States, it seems many people have lost sight of what Thanksgiving is about.

Namely, who are we giving thanks to?

It makes me think of Paul’s words to the Romans. He said concerning unbelievers,

For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude.

Instead, their thinking became worthless and their senseless hearts were darkened. (Romans 1:21)

Again, Paul is talking about unbelievers here, but how often do we act like unbelievers? How often do we fail to glorify God in our lives? How often do we fail to show him gratitude to him?

When we fail to do these things, our thinking becomes worthless and our hearts become darkened. Instead of pursuing God, we start pursuing other things, worthless things.

But as Jeremiah put it, when we do that, we become worthless ourselves. (Jeremiah 2:5)

Let us not live that way. Instead, let us always remember to glorify God in our lives, never failing to give him thanks.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his faithful love endures forever. (Psalm 118:1)

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James Devotionals

Let us sing praise

James

As today is Thanksgiving in the States (as I write this, anyway), James words struck me as I read them.

Is anyone among you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone cheerful? He should sing praises. (James 5:13)

I think most people are quick to pray when they are suffering, sometimes asking why, sometimes asking for relief, often asking for both.

But when we are cheerful, how often is our first response to sing praises to God? To thank him for all he’s done for us. For that matter, how often do we praise him for the simple things in life: family, friends, clothes, a place to live, food?

But it should be said that even in the midst of struggle, we should keep an attitude of praise.

The church James was writing to seemed to be having their share of struggles. But earlier in this chapter, James was telling them to remain steadfast. Why? Because the Lord is returning. And because of that, we have hope.

If Jesus were never returning, if he were never going to bring judgment on all the evil in the world, it would be difficult to rejoice.

But because he is, even in the midst of trial, we can keep our eyes on the end and know that all will be made right.

What’s more, in the first few verses of his letter, James wrote,

Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing. (1:2-4)

All our suffering does have a purpose behind it. It is not meaningless. And in the end, we will see God’s compassion and mercy, even as Job did.

So as Paul wrote to the Thessalonians,

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

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Psalms

Maintaining a heart of worship

Psalms

Psalm 134 is the last of the song of ascents, and it has been conjectured that it was sung after the pilgrimage to the temple in Jerusalem had been made, and the people were ready to go home.

And as they started on their journey home, they sang to those who were still working in the temple that evening,

Praise the LORD, all you servants of the LORD who minister by night in the house of the LORD.

Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the LORD.  (Psalm 134:1-2)

One word that gets lost in the NIV translation is the word, “Behold.”  The NASB puts it,

Behold, bless the Lord. (1)

In other words, “Hey!  Pay attention!  Remember to bless the Lord.”

The worshipers were exhorting the priests and Levites not to become lax in their duties, but to stay alert, and to continue worshiping and serving the Lord.

There’s a cross-reference in my Bible that is very interesting.

It points out that in I Chronicles 9:33 that there were Levites that were specifically designated for singing praises to God and it was their job to do so day and night.

Perhaps it was these people that the psalmist had in mind.

But whoever the psalmist was specifically addressing, it’s a reminder to all of us that God is never to be far from our thoughts day or night.

I was reading a book today about how cynicism can creep up into our thinking, and how it can affect our prayer life.

Cynicism creeps into our thinking mostly because we let God slip out from our hearts and minds.  We forget his love.  We start to doubt his goodness.

As a result, we start to wonder if it’s even worth our time praying to God, and because of this, our relationship with him drifts even further apart.

But when we keep a heart of thanksgiving in our hearts, and we remember who God is and his goodness towards us, it keeps cynicism from getting into our system and poisoning our spirits.

There are few things worse than a cynical priest, and it’s worth remembering that as God’s people, we are also his priests in this world.

How about you?  Are you letting cynicism poison your spirit?  Is it poisoning your attitude toward this world?  Toward your life?  Toward God?

Then let us refocus our hearts and minds.

Focus on God’s goodness.  Focus on his love for us.  Focus on all he’s done for us.  Bring back a heart of thanksgiving.  And all your cynicism will melt away and be replaced with God’s joy.

As the pilgrims departed, the priests called back to them,

May the LORD bless you from Zion, He who made heaven and earth.  (3)

As you go on through this journey in life, I pray that God may bless you with every spiritual blessing from heaven.

And may he purge you of all cynicism from your heart and fill you with his joy.

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Psalms

When justice finally comes

Psalms

Whenever I look at Psalm 75, I can’t help but sing to myself the old chorus based on this psalm.

We give thanks to thee O Lord, we give thanks.
For thy name is near,
Thy wondrous works men declare.
We give thanks to thee O Lord, we give thanks.

Looking at the whole psalm, however, it’s interesting that I never realized what we were giving thanks for.  What wondrous works are we praising?

Ultimately, we’re looking at the time when God brings final judgment on all mankind.

God speaks in this psalm and says,

I choose the appointed time; it is I who judge with equity.

When the earth and all its people quake, it is I who hold its pillars firm.

To the arrogant I say, ‘Boast no more,’ and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horns.

Do not lift your horns against heaven; do not speak so defiantly.’  (Psalm 75:2-5)

And the rest of the psalm talks about how God will lift up the righteous and bring down the wicked.  The psalmist closes by praising God, singing,

As for me, I will declare this forever; I will sing praise to the God of Jacob, who says, “I will cut off the horns of all the wicked, but the horns of the righteous will be lifted up.”  (9-10)

I’ve mentioned before in previous blogs how so often we see the injustice in the world and wonder where God is.  Why he doesn’t do anything.

But in this psalm, we see that justice will indeed come.

So let us wait patiently for it and praise God not only that he will bring justice, but that for now he has shown us mercy, waiting so that as many as possible may be saved.  (2 Peter 3:9)

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Psalms

Remembering our times of victory

Psalms

We’re taking a brief jump to Psalm 108, basically because it’s a combination of Psalms 57 and 60.

Verses 1-5 come from the latter part of Psalm 57 while verses 6-13 come from the latter part of Psalm 60.

Whether it was meant to be a medley of the two psalms or David created new music for the combination of the two, I don’t know.  One wonders though why he would do this.

I have two guesses.

One is that it was written at the same time as Psalm 60 after Israel’s defeat at the hands of their enemy.  And perhaps, David was recalling his time when Saul had him trapped in the cave and God delivered him.

So as he was struggling with doubt and despair after defeat, he turned his thoughts to the time at the cave, and was basically saying to himself, “Don’t get discouraged by this defeat.  Look at what God did for me in the past.  If he delivered me before, he’ll deliver me now.”

The other possibility is that it was written after both incidences.  And now looking back on both, David was singing a psalm of praise to God for all that he had done for him.

Whatever the case may be, I think it’s important that like David, we remember our times of victory.  That in times of trouble, we recall how God delivered us in the past.

And that after times of deliverance, we remember to thank God for what he’s done.

Why?

Hope.

Remembering these things give us hope for the future when things look grim.

Without hope, it’s hard to go on when we face trials in our lives.

But with hope, we can face anything that comes against us, knowing that God’s on our our side and that he will help us.

What victories have you had in your life?  Take the time to write them down.  Write down the times God has answered prayer.  Write down the times God has delivered you.  Praise him for it.

By doing so, when you face trials in your life, you’ll find them easier to bear.

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Psalms

The God who is just

Psalms

If there is one theme in Psalm 9, it’s God’s justice.

David says of God,

You have sat on your throne, judging righteously.  (Psalm 9:4)

And again,

He will judge the world in righteousness; he will govern the peoples with justice.  (8)

And yet again,

The LORD is known by his justice.  (16)

This is not to say that we do not see evil in this world.  We do.  But David says of God,

The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.

Those who know your name will trust in you,
for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.

Sing praises to the LORD, enthroned in Zion;
proclaim among the nations what he has done.

For he who avenges blood remembers;
he does not ignore the cry of the afflicted…

the needy will not always be forgotten,
nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish. (9-12, 18)

In other words, justice may be delayed in our eyes, but it will come.  And though we may go through times of trouble, we can know that God is still there and has not abandoned us.

Though we may suffer and it seems that God is distant, he is not ignoring us, but he hears each cry we make.  He has not forgotten us, but he will rise up to act on our behalf.

And when he does, let us remember to thank him for what he has done, as David did, who at the end of his trial sang,

I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart;
I will tell of all your wonders.

I will be glad and rejoice in you;
I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.  (1-2).

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Esther

Celebrating God’s goodness

Give thanks to the Lord

Feasting.  Joy.  Celebration.

These are words you see again and again in this chapter.

After the Jews succeeded in defending themselves against their enemies, they celebrated their salvation.

Not only that, but Mordecai and Esther started the first annual celebration not required by the law of Moses, Purim.

In commanding the start of this new holiday, they said,

These days should be remembered and observed in every generation by every family, and in every province and in every city.

And these days of Purim should never fail to be celebrated by the Jews — nor should the memory of these days die out among their descendants.  (Esther 9:28)

What can we get from all this?

Basically, we should never forget God’s goodness in our lives.

Not only that, we should pass on our stories of what he has done in our lives to the next generation.

So often we pray for things, and when God answers our prayers, we give him a brief thank you and then completely forget about it.

That was something that Mordecai and Esther didn’t want to happen.  And so they commanded that Purim be celebrated annually so that people would never forget.

When God does good things in your life, write them down.

It might be a good idea to write down your prayer requests, and to take note how God answered them.

Then, say during Thanksgiving, take the time to go over what you wrote and thank God for them during your celebration.  Or do it during Christmas, if you don’t celebrate Thanksgiving in your country.

And make sure to share with your children all God has done for you.

But above all, let us always remember and pass on what Jesus did to deliver us from our sins.

It’s so easy to start taking it for granted.

But Jesus paid such an awful price, that it’s something we should never take for granted.

During Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving, be especially sure to celebrate your salvation.

But let us not just do it during those times, but all throughout the year.

As David wrote,

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever.  (Psalm 118:1)