Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Thanksgiving (04/18/05)
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TITLE: Thanksgiving Warfare | Previous Challenge Entry
By Doug Leek
04/22/05 -
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It is simply not human nature to offer up sincere thanksgiving. Sure, we can recognize the blessing in our lives and say, “Thank-you Lord.” This is acceptable to God. As the old hymn reads, “count your blessings, name them one by one”, we are supposed to do just this. However, we all know how hard it is to rise with the sun every morning and begin uttering thanksgiving to God. When we face the drudgery of everyday life and the world seems to be caving in on us, our thoughts are not naturally thoughts of gratitude. Our fallen nature does not allow such sincerity…such selflessness. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9) So, here we have proof that nothing good can come from us. This includes an attitude of thankfulness.
So, how do we accomplish the command in I Thessalonians 5:18, “In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you”? The obvious answer is that we can’t. The Holy Spirit does it through us. Like prayer, thankfulness is a spiritual endeavor. To be accomplished correctly, it must be by God’s power in the midst of spiritual warfare. Then, the true test will come when we are faced with the trials of life and we are still able to offer thanksgiving to the Lord. It is amazing to behold someone who is facing extreme suffering and still able to say “thank you”. In cases such as this, his or her will has been abolished and God’s will reigns supreme. “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials knowing that the testing of your faith worketh patience.” (James 1:2-3) This is the perfect proof of the filling of the Holy Spirit and the main ingredient for true, sincere thanksgiving.
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