Brown's Daily Word 11-6-07

Good Morning,
Praise the Lord. He is good all the time. His mercy endures forever. His love never fails.
The Apostle Paul began most of his letters in the Bible, with thanksgiving. To the church in Rome he wrote. “First, I thank my God for all of you.” (Romans 1:8) To the church in Corinth,“I always thank God for you." (1 Corinthians 1:4) To the church in Ephesus, “I have not stopped giving thanks for you; remembering you in my prayers.” (Ephesians 1:16). To the church in Philippi he wrote, “I thank my God every time I remember you.” (Philippians 1:3). To the church in Colossi, “I always thank God when I pray for you.” (Colossians 1:3). Paul made sure that he let people in the churches know that he was thankful for them. Imagine how much better our church and our relationships would be if we expressed our thanks for each other.
Do you know what I have found to be true in my life? I have found that I have an overwhelming need to give thanks. Harriet Martineau was an atheist. One morning she and a Christian friend stepped out into the glories of a beautiful fall morning. As Harriet saw the brilliant sun peaking through the haze, & the frost on the meadow, and the brightly colored leaves making their way lazily to the ground, she was filled with the beauty and burst forth with "I am so thankful. I’m just so grateful for it all." Her believing friend asked, "Grateful to whom, my dear?"
There is something inside of each of us that needs to give thanks to God. When I spend time giving thanks to God for all I have, I feel close to him, don’t you? I think that is exactly why 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” It is God’s plan and his will for us to give thanks to him. He made us for that.
Psalm 24:1 says, “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.” It reminds us that it is a privilege that God has loaned us everything we have. 1 Corinthians 4:7 says, “What do you have that you did not receive from God? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?”
Dr. Dale Robbins wrote, “I used to think people complained because they had a lot of problems. But I have come to realize that they have problems because they complain. Complaining doesn’t change anything or make situations better. It amplifies frustration, spreads discontent and discord, and can invoke an invitation for the devil to cause havoc with our lives.” Complaining makes us miserable. Psalm 77:3 says, “I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed.” Complaining is the archenemy of thanksgiving. The two cannot co-exist in the same heart.
Ephesians 5:19 says, “Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything.” Always is the key word. We are not just to give thanks to God on Thanksgiving, but every day.
In Daniel 6 we read that Daniel got down on his knees three times everyday and prayed and gave thanks to his God. I read recently that if you own one Bible, you are abundantly blessed, because a third of the people in the world do not have access to a Bible. If you awoke this morning with more health than illness you are more blessed than 1 million people who will not survive the week. If you have never experienced the danger of war, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation you are more fortunate than 500 million people on earth. If you have food in your refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over your head, twenty dollars in your pocket and a place to sleep you are richer than 75 percent of the world. George Herbert said" Lord You have given us so much, give us one more thing, give us a grateful heart".


In Him,
Brown


More than any other religion or, indeed, than any other element in human experience, Christianity has made for the intellectual advance of man in reducing languages to writing, creating literatures, promoting education from primary grades through institutions of university level, and stimulating the human mind and spirit to fresh explorations into the unknown. It has been the largest single factor in combating, on a world-wide scale, such ancient foes of man as war, famine, and the exploitation of one race by another. More than any other religion, it has made for the dignity of human personality. This it has done by a power inherent within it of lifting lives from selfishness, spiritual mediocrity, and moral defeat and disintegration, to unselfish achievement and contagious moral and spiritual power and by the high value which it set upon every human soul through the possibilities which it held out of endless growth in fellowship with the eternal God.
... Kenneth Scott Latourette, Advance Through Storm