"In everything give thanks"

“IN EVERYTHING GIVE THANKS”

1 Thessalonians 5:18 - In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

Humans are not born “Thankful”. Our parents have taught us how to be thankful. They taught us that in everything we receive when we were young we need to say “Thank you”. It is gratitude, a positive way of saying or showing appreciation to somebody.
Honestly, we all agreed that it is very easy to “thank God” for every situation that blesses us. When we received salary increase, bonuses, gifts and even on the situation that saves us from getting into trouble. That is our normal attitude to be thankful in “good things” that comes our way.

1 Timothy 4:4 – “For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving”

But what if in “bad things” were we are in the opposite situation? Can we still shout thank you Lord or say thanks to God? I don’t think so. Be honest with yourself. Do you have the same spirit of gratitude when you are overpowered with problems and persecutions in your life?
What I want to share with you is how can still be in the spirit of “thanking God” in everything as what the scriptures told.

There are three (3) things in life that we must “be” in order to have thanking spirit or attitude.
1. We must be “Blind”
2. We must be “Mute”
3. We must be “Deaf”

1. Be Blind
I am not telling you to pull-out your eyes to be blind. No. What I want to share is we should be “blind” in the things that hinder us from thanking God.

Believe it or not – we are living in two worlds – the “natural world & the spiritual world. Natural world is the things that belong to our five senses. The spiritual world is where things happen in unexplainable way or in supernatural.

*Let us just have a short glimpse on what I am talking about the natural & spiritual world but we will not focus on these but rather have only an understanding about our lesson.

Do you believe that when man was created they are living in two worlds? They are in physical world and at the same time in spiritual – because they can feel the presence of God which is spirit. And even talk to Him directly.

Remember that when we became “born-again” we are born in the spirit.
Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit" (John 3:6). This is common sense from the spiritual realm. So we must walk in the spirit, live in line with the Spirit of God which is our being.

Ephesians 6:12 – “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

The Bible told us in Genesis that when man sinned – he was separated from God. Everything was taken from man – the authority, the power and the life itself. Genesis 1:28-30 - God created everything, but he gave authority for everything that he created to Adam. It was passed from God to Adam and Adam was the representative before God for mankind, the animals, the earth and all of creation.

Because of it, Adam's authority and everything he ruled over legally passed over to Satan and the dominion of darkness. Since God gave it to Adam, he couldn't rightfully take it back from Satan when Adam gave it to him. Everything was being subjected to death – because of SIN.

John 8: 44 –“You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Matthew 14:22-29 - “Jesus and Peter walks on the water”
Peter walks on water. As the story goes, we will notice that when the disciples saw Jesus walking into the water they were all terrified and afraid. Only Peter had the courage to ask the Lord if he can come to Him in spite of the strong wind at that moment. In verse 28-29, when Jesus asks Peter to come, he stepped out in the boat and walks into the water.

Peter is blind at that moment. Do you agree? Yes, Peter is blind of the raging storm where they are in. Peter’s eyes were focusing only to Jesus. At the time he (Peter) was walking in the water - his spiritual eyes empowered his human eyes. He was thankful enough in his heart the moment that Jesus asks him to “come”, he literally walks into the water. So, he is already thanking Jesus before he stepped out into the boat. Peter gives thanks.

*Being blind of the things that hinders our faith of thanking God will create or gives us positive results.
*Being blind of the problems or trials we are in the situation now will make our spiritual eyes focus on Jesus and we will be able walk on the water. We can give praise and thank God if our spiritual eyes are opened and focusing on Jesus alone.

There is also another story of a man whose eyes was transformed to see supernatural beings. In 2 Kings 6:8-18 – The story is about Elisha and his servant.

The story gives us a real definition of how we should exercise our faith so that God may open our eyes to supernatural things. Elisha, was very calmed and not alarmed even in the situation were his life is in danger because he knew that his God is far more powerful & greater than his enemies. That moment, Elisha’s servant was afraid and terrified because he can only see the enemy not their protector. But when Elisha prayed & asks the Lord to open his servant’s spiritual eyes – with a blinding flash, everything changed. Where once he could only see the armies of Aram, now he saw an even larger heavenly army of fiery chariots surrounding their besiegers.

There are many promises of God in His word that we are always protected by His Holy beings and even God and our Lord Jesus Himself.

Psalm 34:7 - “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and He delivers them.”
Jesus Himself was walking in this very same revelation when He told Peter to put away his sword because His Father had plenty of angels to deliver him (Matthew 26:53).
1 John 4:4 - “Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world”

It is no different for you and me today. No matter what we are facing, God has the power to deliver us.
As God opened the eyes of Elisha’s servant, so He wants to open your eyes to the reality of His power to protect you. Whether He does it through lenses of the written Word of God, or revelation coming through the gifts of the Holy Spirit, it is critical that you begin to see the world around you through the eyes of faith.

This is important because faith, at its very essence, is the ability to define your reality based on what God has said.

So we must not focus on the difficult situation where you knew that God is more than enough to change it. We must be blind in this natural world and as we open our spiritual eyes, we may be able to see as God sees.

2. Be Mute

Is there power of confession? How you got saved? What did you do to be saved?
Everything was being made by confession or declaration. But if we ask – how about those people who can’t talk or confess their sins, can they be saved? Yes. They can read, they still can hear and they have hands to express their emotions. But the Bible speaks only to those who can talk.

Have you ever heard a story about cursing? Somebody confessed negative things to happen then it happen? There are people who will rebuke you of saying negative things. They will tell you to “stop saying that or else it will come to pass. Are there any instances in your life that you feel that you are going to get sick and when you confess it – it happens?

As Christians we must not only have positive confession but rather “Bible confession”. We must begin confessing what the Word of God has to say about our lives and circumstances instead of what those in the world may speak about the situation.

In confessing God's Word, we must not pick out only the Scriptures we desire, but also the ones the Lord desires for us. He certainly desires to bless us, but He also desires to cleanse us. We must be as enthusiastic in our confessions to be cleansed from all that would offend the Lord as we are in confessing the physical blessings He has promised us. We must learn to set a guard on our mouths, as it is very important to control our conversation. We will ultimately receive the things that we speak. If we speak evil long enough, it will come to pass; likewise if we speak good.

Proverbs 18:20-21 - Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof"

The confession of our mouths will eventually bring forth the things we speak.

Matthew 12:34b – “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”
Proverbs 4:23 – “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.”
Prov. 13:3 - He who guards his lips guards his soul, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin
Pr. 21:23 - He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity
Phil. 4:13 – “I Can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”.

So, the word of God is simply telling us to give thanks. When you confess things in a thankful manner – you are giving praise to God. And you are in command to happen of all good things what God has promised. Confessing things according to His word – we are actually allowing God’s hands to move and work in our lives.

3. Be Deaf

When Christians have to be deaf? In what situation does Christians have to be deaf?

Mark 10:46-52 – “Bartimaeus” the blind man.

The story literally told us that Bartimaeus was a blind man. Let’s just call him Bart. When he was in Jericho and has been told that Jesus of Nazareth at that moment was in their place. He shouted, Jesus, Son of David have mercy on me. But the crowd rebukes him not to make any noise. I wonder why, at the beginning, people tried to stop the blind man from calling out to Jesus since everybody knew that He can heal and perform miracles?

Who is Bart at that moment – a blind man? Yes. But believe me; he was also “deaf”. And in what way he became deaf? The moment he heard that Jesus of Nazareth was only few meters away from him , his normal human ears was empowered by the joy in his heart that this is the time he was waiting for – to be healed. Bart’s spiritual ears of faith was working and controlling him that is why he doesn’t care of the people around him, rebuking him to keep quiet. He was very happy to know that Jesus came. There is a joy in his heart that couldn’t be explain why he begun to shout and call the Lord Jesus. Bart’s faith started working in his heart when he begins to hear that the Healer came.

Roman 10:17 - So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God
Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. Doubt and unbelief come from listening to the world’s opinions and ideas and the devil’s lies. Faith means simply “believing that God will do what He says He will do”. Your faith in God is built on what you know about Him and His plan for you and His will for your life. There is only one place you can go to find what you need to know about God and that is His Word.
Shortly before you were born again, you heard the Word of God and faith rose in your heart. You acted on your faith, believing in your heart that God’s Word was true – that Jesus died for you and that God raised Him from the dead and so you confessed with your mouth that He is your Savior and your Lord and you were transformed. Faith for healing and the blessing of God comes to you the same way – you hear the Word. Your faith is what makes the promise of God as reality in your life.
John 8: 44b –“When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
As we go back to our previous text that the god or the father of this world is the number one liar and there is no truth in him. Since from the beginning he was the deceiver. He successfully deceived man with his lies. Therefore we must be always alert, always equipped by the word of God so we can stand on His word whenever “deceiving words” comes on our way.
Remember, we must also be aware of the negative thoughts that are not according to the word of God and in vice versa we should not also confess it to our brothers or even to unbelievers.
But there are Christian who are already deaf in hearing God’s voice. Sometimes, in our prayers we often find ourselves deaf in the voice of God. We always do the talking asking God to do this, do that and bless me with this and bless me with that…did we ever stop for a while or paused for a minute to let God speak to us? Open your spiritual sear that you may hear His audible voice don’t just let you do the talking.

In our conclusion:
We must not listen to those people who don’t know Jesus. We must open our spiritual ears so we can be able to hear what God is telling us. If somebody told you negatives words - just thank God, because you knew that “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28 KJV).”

Our God the Father through His Son Our Lord Jesus Christ never ceased on loving us. For He said in Jeremiah 29:11 - "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:17

“IN EVERYTHING GIVE THANKS”

jemartvalenzuela - UR Lord of lords (Qatar) (10/28/10)
jemartv19@yahoo.com
(note: i share this message from the life i am experiencing now. everything i wrote came from the "thankful" heart of mine. whatever my situation is - i am blessed. i will always give thanks to HIM who made to be more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus my Lord!)

What is life without LIFE?

What is life without LIFE?

When we think of what is the meaning of Life, we always consider so many things. Some will say that having good fortune, good job, good health, beautiful house, nice car and a happy family is somehow gives the definitions of what life really meant. We also often say to ourselves as what we have learned from our parents that to achieve a better life in this world, we had to study & worked hard in order to fulfill our dreams and gives us satisfaction in everything we need.

But have we asked ourselves why I am here? Is there any purpose of my life? Is there any God or creator who put me here for a reason? Of course, some people can actually find the meaning of life without believing in a Creator through setting them goals-wealth, fame, helping others and decide to devote their lives by achieving them. If we are like this people, then in some sense our lives seem to become about achieving wealth, or fame, or whatever, to take on that meaning. It seems possible to impose meaning on life through our own decisions and desires.

Indeed, if we will ask the question “what is the true meaning of life?” will just meant on “what is really our goals that we should set to ourselves?”
Now you can ask me, “eh, Kuya Jemar, di ba yun nga kahulugan ng buhay na maging happy tayo at makamtan mga bagay na gusto natin dahil gusto yun ni Lord.” Yes, if you believed that there is someone who created you for a purpose – my answer is a big YES. Everything what God says in His word is true. He wants us to prosper (Jeremiah 29:11 – “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”-NIV). Thank God for this wonderful promise! But is this the true meaning or purpose of God why we have been created? Definitely it is more than that. You see, God speaks to us through His word and if we will just merely read the word and claim it without faith to the One who has spoken then it will absolutely meaningless. Faith believes and believing is achieving.
There was once a story in the gospel about “Ten Lepers” in Luke 17:11-19. The disease was called Leprosy and during the time of Jesus they were always in the “quarantine place” or far places where they are not allow to get acquainted with other people or even with their family. They are outcast for short. They are treated as “dirty or unclean”. Now the story tells us that these men with disease saw that Jesus was coming and they shouted with a loud voice - Jesus, Master help us! These lepers only heard that Jesus can heal the sick. They never witness Jesus on the actual healing session, but they believe that they too can be healed. So, what happens next when the Lord Jesus saw them He felt compassion and He healed them. If you will read through this passage you will noticed that all the ten lepers were healed but only one came back to Jesus to worship and thanked Him.

My dear friend, we are like these dirty, unclean and outcast lepers as far as the Word of God says. In this world even if you gain all the riches, the wealth, fame and glory, all these things are worthless without Jesus to heal and to clean you. These lepers have given another chance to live and to have life. No matter what we possess now, material things, wealth and money that keeping us away from God are all “disease” that we need to be healed. Yes, we are unclean in the sight of God.

Your life is not life if you don’t have LIFE

Our life is simply based on simple words that we often heard since childhood. The word of Jesus in John 14:6 - “I am the way, the Truth and the Life; no man can come to the Father except through me”. These are the words people sometimes actually misinterpreted. Many religious groups nowadays are unfortunately praying to God the Father with their own ways. They normally have a skeptical attitude towards praying of asking petitions to God. Since our childhood, the beliefs in which our ancestors embraced taught us if we sin or did something wrong - God will punish us. I remember when I was at a young age of 7 years old, every time I commit mistake my Uncle will tell me that God is very angry and He will punish me of what I did. This is definitely wrong mentality about God! They created and implanted fear in our minds towards God. God is a forgiving and loving God! God wants us to repent on our sins. He gave His only Son to die for us – to have life. That is the true meaning of LIFE. We must accept the source of LIFE which is the Lord Jesus Christ. Because only in Him we moved and have our being! (Acts 17:28a)

Jesus said in John 10:10 – “The thief (Satan) comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full”. Jesus came to give us life and the life He was talking about is not just life – but an abundant life. Freedom of sin, healing our disease, restoring broken relationships, and He literally destroyed the works of Satan in our lives! This entire wonderful gift from our God was freely given to us through the cross. When Jesus died on the cross, Satan thought that he killed the Son of God – but he was wrong. Jesus death was the beginning of LIFE for us, to everyone no matter who you are or what you are – Jesus died for you, for me to receive the abundant LIFE! Because Jesus himself is our source of LIFE.

We are like the ten lepers. Our sins and iniquities have separated us from God. We are once outcast. Far from the blessings of God; but by His grace we have been saved through faith and reunited with God through Jesus death on the cross. Like these lepers we have been healed and given a new life. We must return to Him, worship and give thanks.

Now if you are creating life in your own or from the standard of this world – you are creating a meaningless life and it will end meaningless. The true meaning of life is not based on the material things, fame or how much money we have but it is from the joy deep within our hearts that only Jesus can provide. Life is not life without the LIFE Himself dwelling in us.

I challenge you to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and personal Savior for you to receive LIFE and experience the abundance of blessings in which He has promised!

May you have a meaningful and abundant life through Christ Jesus
Kuya Jemar Valenzuela