Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 4:5-7
No Anxiety, just thankfulness. We just celebrated Thanksgiving. Many of us were excited and thankful for having our families together. We laughed and had a really great time together. For others, however, it was not a time of great cheer. Some found this holiday difficult because of their loved ones missing from the table and it was hard to get through this time. Yet, some how, those individuals still managed to find something to be thankful for.
This is the attitude we need to have every day. We need to find something to be thankful for even in our on times of trials and difficulties. God tells us to be thankful and not to be anxious about anything. Instead we are instructed to be thankful for everything.
For us this may seem easy when there is something obvious to be thankful for, like our health, our jobs, money, loved ones, etc. But what do we find to be thankful for when these things are missing? We are instructed not to be worried about our lack of these things. We can find our peace in God.
There is something I realized when going through a time in my own life of difficulity and that is when I begin to thank God for keeping me, I find that my problems begin not to look so big against the vastness of God's ability. My lack seems no longer impossible to fill because God's abundance is greater.
My disappointments are not so unmovable because God's joy passes all my understanding. My hurts, my bruised feelings or emotions are no match to the love of God. So what do we have to be thankful for, we have the mighty God to be thankful for. As we begin to have a heart of thankfulness we find that we can find release from the overwhelming burden of our lack.
This is why the scripture tells us not to be anxious, because our thankfulness to God helps us to receive God's peace and his peace guards our hearts and our minds against the things that would discourage us. I pray for us today that we have a thankful heart to God.
Prayer: Lord, today as we begin to prepare our hearts for the Christmas season, let us begin to focus on what we can be thankful for. Help us to be thankful for your love, your beauty, your saving grace and the many, many other things we are unable to count. Today help us have a heart of thanksgiving so we can free from anxiety but filled with thanksgiving. Amen.
Today, post a comment and tell us what you are thankful for. We hope to hear from you.
2 comments:
I am so Very Thankful to God! Each and everyday I pray and ask God to help me to understand the wisdom he wants me to have and to please give me the strength (the courage) to do his will and not my own.
What is so FASINATING is that God does hear our prayers and God will answer you! Your blog (Nov 29) titled "Words of Encouragement" is a testimony to this fact. I truly believe God lead me to your message because it was a message from him.
This is why I elected to leave this testimonial. I don't know nor do I care HOW GOD DOES IT, I am just so very thankful and giving God all the glory and praise for his response.
May God continue to use you for his glory. You are Blessed by God.
To Anonymous, I am thankful that God used this post to strengthen you, encourage you or simply reassure you that he is with you. I pray you come back often. I am on break until the New Year, but after that, I pray you come back and be a part of the Words of Encouragement Family. God bless you! And may you know with assurance that he will continue to take care of you!
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