Happy Thanksgiving,

This message by John Stevens is filled with scriptural references about thankfulness, providing us with a wonderful way to set our spirits together with the Lord during this time.

We are so thankful for all of you and your faith, love and support.

With all of our hearts,

Steve Seboldt and The Living Word staff

 

Excerpt: Thankful

The believer who knows that God orders his life for good is truly thankful for all things. In everything he gives thanks. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. Colossians 3:17. A similar passage is found in I Thessalonians 5:18: In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. The reason we do not give thanks for everything is that we do not have a revelation of God in every aspect of our lives. But the Lord Jesus whom we serve is in every aspect of our lives, every day, in everything that we encounter. We should be grateful even when we feel that we are under His discipline, because it has such a high and lofty ultimate purpose in the heart of God, that we might be partakers of His holiness, His very nature (Hebrews 12:9-11).

We cannot be really thankful unless we have a revelation of this; otherwise, we feel that God is doing something to us that should not be done. Then we find that our life becomes a resistance not only against adversity as we define it, but a resistance against God who is trying to meet us in that adversity. We become bitter over the devastation that comes to us, instead of bowing down and worshiping the Lord because we have an awareness of Him in it. The man who is truly thankful is the man who is really aware of the presence of God in every aspect of his life. He becomes a worshiper, because he is in tune with the Lord Himself.

We must view with thanks the good blessings and gifts that God gives us, and we must also view adversities as good gifts and blessings of the Lord. Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing; so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. I Peter 4:12-14. And after you have suffered for a little, the God of all grace, who called You to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. I Peter 5:10.

The Lord will help us put the emphasis on the things that are real, that are eternal, that are what He wants. I have shifted my focus from the trivial, and I refuse to be bitter or critical; for I have found the great moving of God in my life through these things that have happened to me. For all things are for your sakes, that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. II Corinthians 4:15,17-18.

And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. Hebrews 11:6. We believe that the promises of God are so great and precious that by them we can become partakers of the divine nature. Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. II Peter 1:2-4. We find ourselves delivered from corruption, and we become truly grateful and thankful. A thankful heart is an aware heart; aware of the presence of God. This is the basis of real worship (Revelation 4:8-11).