SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/28/2019 8:25 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “When Are We to be Thankful?”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians
5:20
Message of the verse: “20 always giving
thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the
Father;”
We
looked at the first two levels of thankfulness in our last SD, and said we
would look at the third level in today’s, which is thanking God in the midst of
the battle while we are still undergoing trouble or testing—and even when it
looks like we are failing or being overwhelmed.
There
is an example of this found in the 6th chapter of Daniel as Daniel
learned that the king had signed a law that for so many days (I think 30) that
no one could worship any god but the king.
Daniel “entered his house (no in his roof chamber he had windows open
toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day,
praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously”
(Daniel 6:10). Daniel knew his life was
a risk, yet Daniel thanked God because God deserved his thanks, no matter what
his circumstances were. I think that you
have to believe that even if Daniel would have died that he knew he would be
better off.
Jonah
was a man who man full of prejudice and also disobedience, but in the belly of
the fish he concluded his prayer with these words: “But I will sacrifice to Thee with the voice
of thanksgiving. That which I have vowed
I will pay. Salvation is from the Lord”
(Jonah 2:9). Johan does not ask for
deliverance but he praises God for past deliverance as he acknowledges his own
sinfulness and unfaithfulness, and closes with a declaration of thanks for the
Lord’s goodness.
The
disciples had just been flogged because they were speaking in the name of Jesus
as seen in Acts chapter five, and yet after being released they continued to
give thanks to the Lord that they were worthy to suffer shame for the
Lord. While Paul was in a prison cell he
wrote to the Philippians in which he gave thanks for their faithfulness and for
the work of God that continues.
John
MacArthur writes: “If we can only thank God when
things are going well, our thankfulness is on the bottom rung of
faithfulness. If we can thank Him in
anticipation of what He will do in the future, we show more spiritual
maturity. But to thank God while we are
in the midst of pain, trials, or persecution shows a level of maturity that few
Christians seem to know but that our heavenly Father wants all His children to
have.
“Being
thankful is not a Christian option, a high order of living that we are free to
choose or disregard. As Joni Eareckson
Tada, a quadriplegic author, has observed, ‘Giving thanks is not a matter of
feeling thankful, it is a matter of obedience.’”
Quotation for today is from President
Calvin Coolidge who said “Press on:
Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence, talent will
not…genius will not…education will not…persistence and determination alone are
overwhelmingly powerful.”
7/28/2019 8:45 PM
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