Lately, it seems that God has been using songs to speak to me. You know what I mean. Haven't you ever been going through something and the words to a song will pop into your spirit or come on the radio at just the right time and the lyrics will minister to you as though the song was written just for you. This morning God went old school on me! "How can I say thanks for the things You have done for me? Things so undeserved yet you gave to prove your love for me. The voices of a million angels could not express my gratitude. All that I am, and ever hope to be I owe it all to Thee." Can't you hear Andrae Crouch singing? "To God be the glory, to God be the glory! To God be the glory for the things he has done! With his blood he has saved me...With his power he has raised me. To God be the glory for the things he has done!"
This is a season of thanksgiving and not just because of the holiday next week. I believe God is calling us out of the focus on the struggle and into the next phase...praise for the victory! But to get there we must shift into gratefulness and appreciation for what God has done. Granted, this has been a rough year on a lot of levels. Marriages have been attacked, churches have been divided, unexpected deaths...but we are still here! Folks, that's enough to tell God thanks! There aren't enough words to tell Him but I believe if you just try, your perspective will begin to change.
One of the first scriptures I really focused on after rededicating my life to God was 1 Thessalonians 5:18 "...give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." (NIV) Paul wrote this to the church of Thessalonica, which was a fairly new church, and it falls in a list of instructions that he gives the church on how to live as a Christian. This verse is sandwiched between "pray continually"(v17) and "do not quench the Holy Spirit." (v18) That HAD to be important, right?! But I didn't really understand what Paul was saying to me. How could I give thanks if my world was a mess or when I was broke? So I posted it in my office and I would read it everyday and study and it began to speak to me about how to keep going in times when it felt like God had abandoned me. If you let the thanksgiving overtake you, the hurt or the pain can't overwhelm you.
You may be in a time in your life, where mustering up a word of thanksgiving would take all you have, but I encourage you to do it! Paul is not saying that there won't be struggles but rather he is saying that when they come acknowledge who God is and the fact that He knows what you are facing. When you thank God in the midst of your circumstances, you are taking the power away from the situation and putting your faith in Him! I know this has been a rough year, month, or day but you are alive! Don't take the ability to breathe, walk, love for granted! Tell God thanks for the things He has done instead of focusing on what you don't have! Healed you? Thank Him! Blessed you with lunch money when you didn't have any? Thank Him! Got an apology from someone who never has? Thank Him! Woke you up this morning? Thank Him!
He is a great God and He is worthy of our praise and thanks! To God be the glory for the things He has done! AMEN...
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