The Grateful Heart

1Thessalonians 5: 18 Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

Thanksgiving Day was officially proclaimed by George Washington in his first year as President of the United States. Washington set aside November 26^th as a "day of public thanksgiving and prayer." Signed by Washington on October 3, 1789 and entitled "General Thanksgiving," the decree appointed the day "to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God." While the country may have moved on far away from God, there is no doubt where our roots lie. But something always didn't quite sit right with me about Thanksgiving Day; and not just my aversion for mom's creamed onions (talk about the fear of God!). It was the notion that we had to stop one day out of the year and give thanks to God. I mean, God is good every day, no?

That is where we find the key verse for this devotional. God's will for us in Christ Jesus is to be thankful in all circumstances. To possess the grateful heart Washington spoke about. But we live in a "what have you done for me lately" society. Our thanksgiving is usually reactive. Someone does something and we thank them. God however wants our thanksgiving to be proactive. We thank Him for who He is, regardless of whether something specific happens. It keeps the proper focus on God in this life; where it belongs. Let's face it, the enemy wants us distracted. The older we get, the more distractions we have. Career, family, spouse, children, the economy, and any number of other things fight for our attention daily, if not on a minute by minute basis. Being thankful to God keeps us focused on God. If we focus solely on our problems, then our problem solver slips into the background. Jesus taught us:

"That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life--whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn't life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren't you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?  "And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don't work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? "So don't worry about these things, saying, 'What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?' These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. "So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today. Matthew 6: 25-34 (NLT)

Worrying can consume us beloved. It can lead to great trepidation about what has happened in our past or where our future lies. It can lead to anxiety and all sorts of worldly diagnoses regarding our mental health. Look at the important lessons Christ is teaching us here:

Firstly, do not worry about everyday life. Everyday life bogs us down with minutia. We tend to fret over things that have no true value or things we have no real control over. In the story of Mary and Martha we see this in action. Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus listening while Martha was worried about everyday life:

But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, "Lord, doesn't it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me." Luke 10: 40 (NLT)

We are likewise distracted in our lives. Often times it can be like Martha, in working for the Lord. After all she was preparing a dinner for Him! Ministry work is never supposed to distract you from your relationship with God. I have seen too often where people have turned their relationship with God into their ministry. That is not what God intended. What inevitably will happen is what happens here things will start to seem unfair to you. You will see the Mary's of the world as being lazy instead of seeing them for what they are:

But the Lord said to her, "My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her." Luke 10: 41-42 (NLT)

Upset over all these details! Isn't that just like us sometimes! But look what Jesus says there is only one thing worth being concerned about and that is your relationship with Him! Constantly being thankful to Him keeps your concerns in check. The second lesson from the Matthew verses is that worrying cannot add a single moment to your life. But it can sure take moments away from you can't it? We need to rely upon the promises God has already made to us in His Word, such as Romans 8: 28:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8: 28 (NIV)

We cannot just gloss over verses such as this because there is so much power in them. Liberating power. No matter what trial you are facing, no matter what valley you find yourself in, God is still working all things out for your good! No matter the pain and the tears. No matter the heartache and the sorrow ALL THINGS. We have a tendency to forget what God has already done in our lives. All that He has delivered us from. We compartmentalize whatever situation we find ourselves in and treat it as a separate event from the rest of our lives. Think of David and Goliath. The giant was over nine feet tall and there was not one fighting man in Israel who could look upon him without fear. Forget whatever God had already done in their lives this guy was over nine feet tall! When we think about David in this story we remember his bravery and the five stones but here was why he had no problem in facing the giant:

But David said to Saul, "Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." 1Samuel 17: 34-37 (NIV)

David remembered what God had already done in his life. He knew he never should have survived the bear or the lion. Think about it. He was a teenage shepherd boy yet he killed a lion and a bear!! Because David had a grateful heart he knew that the giant did not matter. Because David had a grateful heart he knew that he himself did not really matter. Because David had a grateful heart, he knew that God was the only thing that mattered. A grateful heart is full of faith. That brings us to the next lesson from the Matthew Scriptures and that is that worrying is actually a manifestation of a lack of faith in God. Sound harsh? Let's look at the words of Jesus in several situations. First in response to Peter sinking because he believed the waves around him instead of the Lord before him, Jesus said this:

Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. "You have so little faith," Jesus said. "Why did you doubt me?" Matthew 14: 31 (NLT)

Second in response to the Disciples being terrified by the storm and worried they were all going to drown Jesus said this:

When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Silence! Be still!" Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. Then he asked them, "Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?" Mark 4: 39-40 (NLT)

Lastly, in response to the disciples asking why they could not cast a demon out, Jesus replied:

"You don't have enough faith," Jesus told them. "I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it would move. Nothing would be impossible." Matthew 17: 20 (NLT)

Nothing is meant to be impossible in our lives beloved. The storms distract us because we lose faith in who God is in our lives. The storms terrify us because we forget who God has been in our lives. We cannot cast out the things that plague us in our lives because our faith forgets the lions and bears God has already delivered into our hands. Faith is not distracted because the things that seek to distract us are powerless before our God. Romans 8:28 is only real if you believe it.

The last lesson from the Matthew verses today is this is always about what thoughts dominate our minds. Fear is the entertainment of a thought. An irrational thought, but a thought. Note that Jesus is teaching us here that it is the mind of the unbeliever that has these thoughts dominate their mind. We have been set free from such futile thinking beloved! God tells us where our focus needs to be in Paul's letter to the Church at Philippi:

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me--everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4: 8-9 (NLT)

Note the phrase "fix your thoughts." Never forget that this is a process. It is a conscious effort to decide what will dominate our thinking. And what is the end result? The God of peace will be with us. Fear and anxiety is the absence of the peace of God. And it all starts with possessing the grateful heart George Washington spoke about centuries ago. That grateful heart will focus us on the things of God. We will remember all God has already done for us. It will focus us on our problem solver instead of our problems. Instead of the storm around us we will focus on the fact that God is still in our boat. So let us think today about the things we should be thankful for every day of our lives, not just November 26^th.

I am thankful that my name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. That I have the promise of eternal life now. That the God who created the entire universe by a single spoken sentence would care enough about me to send His only Son to die as an atonement for my sin-sick soul. I am thankful for my calling, for being assured that my life has a purpose to fulfill. I am thankful for the bears and lions in my life which God has already delivered into my hands. I am thankful that no matter how big the giant is in front of me, that my God is bigger. I am thankful that as long as I seek His kingdom and righteousness first, then He will supply all of my needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus. I am thankful because no matter how deep my valley may go, He is with me. His rod and staff they comfort me and I am only going through the valley. I am thankful because He prepares a table for me in the presence of my enemies and that my cup will overrun with the blessings of God. That surely one day, I will see Him in glory and spend all the days of my life dwelling in the house of the Lord.

Happy Thanksgiving and let us be thankful always with a grateful heart for all that God continues to do.

Reverend Anthony Wade Thanksgiving 2011.