Giving Thanks by Pastor Lynn Darnell
What chaos we have around us. My friends are plagued with cancer. Other friends have lost their jobs. Still others have had their home repossessed or have been threatened with foreclosure. Wives killing husbands, husbands killing children; children are beating up on each other. Men are marrying men and women are marrying women. Men and women are living together without marriage. Children are having babies. What is there to give thanks for??? For those who have not met my God; I see nothing. But for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord. Do you know Him?
In the middle of all this chaos, I have peace. A year ago, we began having trouble with our house. To make a long, sad story short; our foundation had shifted due to the drought and our house was basically pulling apart. Each end had fallen down putting stress cracks in our brick that were several inches wide. The engineers were called and the foundation specialist came and the house came back together with a foundation stronger than ever before. Our insurance company found a well hidden crack in our policy and wouldn’t pay. That left us with a new debt of $40,000. On top of that we had to redo all of our landscaping and put new guttering in. Then when we thought we were through the worst. The rains came. Our downstairs began flooding. It seems that when the foundation was being fixed our outside drainage pipes had been destroyed and now we needed to dig everything back up and reseal the house to keep out all the water. When the carpet was pulled up we found many cracks in the floor that had to be fixed. Once all that is fixed, we can put down new flooring and get new furniture to replace all that was ruined in the flood. All this right when our plan was for my husband to retire from his secular job. In the natural we should have lost our home by now. Our budget didn’t allow for all these extra thousands of dollars. And yet we are still in our home. Our bills are paid and we are believing God to complete all the work that still needs to be done.
How did we weather this storm? We serve a risen Savior. We have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We are obedient to his commands. He is the beginning and the end. He is Jehovah Jireh, my provider. Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world. We have been faithful in our tithes, offerings, and alms and He has been faithful to provide for us. Do you know Him?
Psalm 26, says “Vindicate me, O Lord, for I have walked in my integrity. I have also trusted in the Lord; I shall not slip. Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; Try my mind and my heart. For Your lovingkindness is before my eyes. And I have walked in Your truth. I have not sat with idolatrous mortals, Nor will I go in with hypocrites. I have hated the assembly of evildoers; And will not sit with the wicked. I will wash my hands in innocence; So I will go about Your altar, O Lord, That I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving. And tell of all Your wondrous works. Lord, I have loved the habitation of Your house. And the place where Your glory dwells. Do not gather my soul with sinners. Nor my life with bloodthirsty men, In whose hands is a sinister scheme, And whose right hand is full of bribes. But as for me, I will walk in my integrity; Redeem me and be merciful to me. My foot stands in an even place; In the congregations I will bless the Lord.”
God has never failed me. He is not a man that He should lie. He has healed me from cancer, MS, chemical poisoning and many more. He has taught me His ways and I have been the better for it. Do you know Him?
In Hebrews we are warned about five dangers: “For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him” (Heb. 2:2,3). We must each work out our own salvation daily. “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness” (Heb. 3:7,8). We must be fertile soil and hear and obey the word of the Lord. “And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, called by God as High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek, of whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food” (Heb. 5:9-12). We must have teachable spirits in order to grow and mature in the Lord. “ For yet a little while, And He who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; but if anyone draws back; My soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul” (Heb. 10:37-39). If we pursue the Lord we will see great and might things. “See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven” (Heb. 12:25). Obedience is better than sacrifice. It will bring the blessings of the Lord into our lives. Do you know Him?
Brothers and sisters there is a shaking going on right now. Do not be surprised at the fiery trial that is upon you. (Heb.12:26-28) “whose voice then shook the earth: but now He has promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven. Now this, Yet once more, indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptable with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.”
I can give thanks, because I know Him. His word is true, His spirit is comforting, and His son is my redemption, my healer, and my deliverer. I can trust Him. He is the Great I AM, the Holy One who reigns forevermore. If I ask for wisdom He will give it liberally. He lets me drink of living water and He forgives all my sins. I thank Him! Thank you Lord!
Do I worry about the shaking? No, because I have Psalm 15 and I have found rest in the Lord.
“Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill? He who walks uprightly, And works righteousness, And speaks the truth in his heart: He who does not backbite with his tongue. Nor does evil to his neighbor, Nor does he take up a reproach against his friend; In whose eyes a vile person is despised, But he honors those who fear the Lord: He who swears to his own hurt and does not change; He who does not put out his money at usury, Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved” (shaken). Do you know Him? If you do then give thanks for you have everything to be thankful for.
