[Faith-talk] Daily Thought for Sunday, November 24, 2013

[Paul]

Hello all you loyal readers out there, and how was your Sunday in church today? Mine was good with the preaching of a visiting pastor, Duane Dickens from the First Baptist Church of Glen Arden, MD, a suburb of Washington DC.  His text was found in Mark 7 concerning the healing of the daughter of the Syrophoenician woman.  His title was "Feed Your Faith and Starve Your Doubt." 

And now for the article for today.  It was written by the late Dr. Ralph Montanus (1919-1986), founder in 1947 of the Gospel Association for the Blind and first editor of its official publication, "The Gospel Messenger." The article selected for today is entitled "The Importance of Thanksgiving" and is rendered as follows:

In the Apostle Paul's epistle to the Philippians, chapter 4, verses 6-7, we read:

"Be careful for nothing, but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

There are two words in these verses which may be overlooked, but they are extremely important words.  They are "with thanksgiving."

So often we come to God saying "Lord, give me this ..." and, "Lord, give me that ..." as over and over we petition God for our wants.  But how often do we thank Him? Before approaching God with our own requests, we should first thank Him for the blessings already received.  We should be just as definite in our thanks to God for answered prayer as we are when we make specific prayer requests.

The story of the ten lepers whom the Lord Jesus cleansed illustrates perhaps as nothing else can how disheartened our Lord was when only one man returned to thank Him.  You remember that he inquired, "Were there not ten? Where are the other nine?"

The Bible is filled with many passages that reveal the importance and power of thanksgiving to God.  The two little words, "thank you," seem to be missing from our vocabularies in these days of utter and complete selfishness.

Without doubt, the reason so many have little faith and power in their prayer lives can be traced to their lack of praise and thanksgiving to God for blessings already received.  We cannot be guilty of ingratitude to God without hindering our prayer lives and our influence.

When this Thanksgiving Day arrives, we may well humble ourselves before God as we think of the wondrous goodness of our Heavenly Father toward us, and of the little time we spend in Thanksgiving to Him for all of His blessings to us.   Yes, giving thanks to God is essential if our lives are to be filled with joy and power.

The mighty men of power throughout the Bible were those men who knew how to return thanks to God.  In these days of worldliness and coldness, there are still men of power, as there have been down through the ages of church history, who know how to thank God.  Let us note some of the outstanding men who emphasize thanksgiving.

Among those who knew how to give much thanks and praise to God, David, the Psalmist, would undoubtedly be the most outstanding.  His psalms are filled with thanksgiving.  Then, there is the apostle Paul, who again and again burst out in thanks to God for definite answers to his prayers.  Paul knew how to offer thanksgiving to God, which resulted in much power for God.

Our precious Lord Jesus, our great example, manifested in His life this return of thanks to God.  It was His giving of thanks for a simple meal, after His resurrection, that immediately led His disciples to recognize Him.

If we would learn to pray with power, if we would have power in our ministry, as well as in our daily lives, then we must learn to give God thanks.  Let us, therefore, allow these two words "with thanksgiving," to sing deeply into our hearts and consciences.

One of the great signs of apostasy in II Timothy 3:1-3 is that of "unthankfulness." Just think of it! God considered unthankfulness to be among all the other dreadful signs of apostasy--selfishness, pride, covetousness, blasphemy, etc.

Could it be, dear Christian, that many of your prayers go unanswered, and that your life has become ineffective for Christ and your heart cold and indifferent, because you have forgotten the importance of thanksgiving in your prayer life? One cannot be filled with the Holy Spirit without being filled with praise and thanksgiving unto God.  Perhaps this is what you ought to do, come this Thanksgiving Day.  Take time to reflect and to meditate upon God's mercy and His blessings and goodness toward you, and then begin to thank Him and praise Him until His joy fills your heart and life.  Then, like the psalmist of old, you may cry out and testify, "My cup runneth over with joy."

And there you have it for today.  You know, I can just imagine Dr. Montanus looking through his spiritual mind's eye into the future and seeing what this world has come to since his going home to be with his Lord in 1986.  If ever his words were needed, they are sorely needed now in this day and age, in my opinion.

And now may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe, individually and collectively, in these last days in which we live.  Lord willing, tomorrow there will be another timely daily thought message especially for you.  Your Christian friend and brother, Paul