The Hope of a Thankful Heart
Good Morning Friends,
I am blessed to pray with some great people of prayer each week. They are all kinds of people, all of them great people, amazing people, who have learned or are learning to accept God’s plan, to live through the tension and in the tension of life understanding that the meaning of history is the Kingdom of God, that we can embrace uncertainty with The Hope of a Thankful Heart.
Scripture: Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Philippians 4:6 (NRSV)
Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NRSV)
‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
Matthew 6:25-26 (NRSV)
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance towards redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.
Ephesians 1:3-14 (NRSV)
Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: I am the Lord, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who by myself spread out the earth;
Isaiah 44.24 (NRSV)
Message: Happy Thanksgiving! Today we rejoice in the gift that never stops giving…in the superabundant provision of God that overflows in nature and in our lives. We see that when God becomes the spiritual and physical center piece of our lives then we can build memories of thanksgiving. When we learn to hope. What we know about God and what we do in our lives as part of our faith have a way of getting broken apart when we think about what we do not have. It is so much more hopeful and practical to look at life through the perspective of what we have and not the spirit sapping, deficit thinking of the world. Indeed the world is fractured and broken and limping in pain but it damages us further and makes us incapable of living out our life fully, as we were created, if we do not look for and find hope in the God of glory, Jesus the great surgeon bringing everything together through His reconciling and healing energy. We are to see how Jesus sutures, knits together and heals everything. He is hope. For, as Paul points out to the Ephesians, the things that we do have as Christians changes everything… the inheritance of God, His counsel and good pleasure, His Spirit… And all this shows us how to be thankful in everything. Indeed in Christ we are made abundantly free to live and give thanks in every emotion and every experience. Because He has paid the price twice, we can live gloriously with a joyous and a hopeful and thankful heart.
You are one of God’s prized possessions. Be thankful that God identifies you as one of His own, a genuine member of His kingdom. He made you and paid for you. He has saved you to have an abundant life. You are twice as priceless when you reflect His presence having in yours and hoping that others have a thankful heart.
Pray we realize that worry is no match for Jesus. Pray still in the hope that we make right decisions and that God turns our poor ones into good ones in the end. Pray that we trust the Father. Pray that we pursue the right ambition. Pray that we accept God’s rule in Christ… that we learn to live to please God. Pray that we be thankful and turn to worship, not worry. Pray that we would know that God is with us and for us. Pray that in the uncertainty of the future and perhaps because it is uncertain we can show our hope and in that hope be thankful. Pray we give thanks for the gifts we have received but also pray with thanksgiving for the simple gifts we have given in love of Christ. Pray we discover the greatness in the kingdom of simple acts of kindness. Pray in the hope that nothing will be lost. Pray we be transformed.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 