Thanksgiving Eve's Thoughts

Psalm 100
Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all ye lands!
Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come before His presence with singing.
Know ye that the Lord, He is God;
It is He that hath made us, not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful unto Him and bless His name.
For the Lord He is good;
and His mercy is everlasting.
His truth endureth to all generations.

This was my favorite Bible verse when I was a child, so I thought I would share it with you on this Thanksgiving Eve.

What I am Thankful for: I am thankful for a loving husband that will put up with my mood swings, lousy attitudes and moans and groans. I am thankful that God is changing my heart and working on me to be more patient and understanding. I am thankful that He has convicted me of thinking too much on the negative side of things. I'm thankful for the normal things such as my health, my wonderful church family, and loving friends. I have the best kind of friends anyone could ask for. Friends who will tell me when I am wrong about things, friends who will remind me about what God says about thinking negative and just general all around keeping me on the "straight and narrow". They do it with a loving tone and attitude, not judgemental. Therefore, I take it as "constructive criticism" rather than "destructive".

I am truly blessed in my life, and I hope that when I come into contact with others, I pass on the love that God has in my heart to others. I pray that I am a "shining example" of God's love to others as my "church elders" and friends are to me.


Bible Seeds

Everything We Need

Today's Seed: "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by his own glory and goodness." 2 Peter 1:3

Hidden in the middle of this seed is a powerful little phrase that can be easily overlooked as we hurry through our daily Bible reading. Three little words, "everything we need."

It doesn't say that God gives us some of what we need or part of what we need. It is a firm commitment; we are given "everything we need." God has given us "everything we need" through Jesus Christ. it tells us that we have been given all that we need to live life, and to live it in a godly manner.

Stop and thing--what do you need right this moment? According to this promise, whatever that may be is available to you. Now there are some qualifiers to the promise; What we need comes to use from Gods "divine power." Therefore, we must have received Jesus Christ as our Savior. and with that the presence of the Holy Spirit, who dwells within us, giving us power. That is the first qualifier. The second is getting to know Jesus Christ, who he is, how he lived and the example and instructions he left for us. So our needs must also be in accordance with the teachings of Scripture.

Dig Deeper: The Greek word for "knowledge" is ginosko. it means to take in knowledge, to come to know, recognize, and understand,. In the New Testament, ginosko often indicates a relationship between the person knowing and the person being known.

Weed & Water: Because everything we need will com3e through our relationship with Jesus Christ, we need to know him. The only way we can really get to know a person is to spend time with him or her. We also need to converse with him or her. So spending time with Jesus will include our reading the Bible to learn about his attributes, commands, and promises. It will also include our talking with him about our needs. In listening to him, we may find him clarifying the difference between what we see as our "needs" and what he sees as our wishes, wants, and desires. Have you ever stopped to consider that God might view your "needs" differently than you view them?

Sprout & Scatter: Many people get discouraged when they feel that God does not keep his promises. At such times they have confused their needs and God's view of their needs. As you begin to get to know God in a relationship you will understand the difference between needs and wishes or wants. Then you may be able to bring encouragement and hope to others. Matthew 6:33 reminds us: "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

Think about it:

• How can you get to know God better?
• What is one "need" you have that God might see as a wish or want?

Prayer Pot: Dear God, show me the difference between my needs and wants and help me to .....

Image by jspad via Flickr

To my "friends" out in "Blogland" I thank you and wish you all a Very Happy Thanksgiving. ( Don't eat til you get sick, just happy).

Good Night to All and May God Bless!

PJ