Is it Thanks-Giving Time Yet?

If you were to wake up today with only what you gave thanks to God for yesterday, what would you have?

I was asked this question recently and it has stuck with me. I often catch myself thinking about it and what the answer would be for that day. I’ve examined my matter of “thankfulness” and have come up with a couple of reasons why giving thanks isn’t always where it should be in my heart and mind.

1.       I get caught up in the day-to-day life and simply forget.

2.       I take things for granted.

3.       My frustrations with some things, overshadows my thankfulness.

4.       Just plain laziness.

I discussed this question with my family and a few friends and luckily I found out I wasn’t alone. My daughter who teaches a pre-k class that is full of energy on Wednesday nights discovered that they were all she would have. She loves them dearly, but decided she needs to start being thankful for much more!

Scripture is full of commands and directives telling us to give thanks to God.

-          “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.” 1 Chronicles 16:34

-          “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.” Psalm 100:4

-          “Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind.” Psalm 107:8

-          “I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation.” Psalm 118:21

-          “At midnight I rise to give you thanks for your righteous laws.” Psalm 119:62

-          “He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. When he (Jesus) had taken the seven loaves and given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people, and they did so.” Mark 8:6

-          “Saying: “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign.” Revelation 11:17

We tend to focus on being thankful around Thanksgiving, but we clearly learn from scripture it needs to be a daily thing. As you move through your Sunday and the remainder of the week, think about all your blessings and “Give thanks to the Lord.” What if you were to wake up today with only what you gave thanks to God for yesterday, what would you have?

Crystal Owens
Crystal has a passion for reaching youth and a heart for missions.  She is currently the the youth leader at Moyock Assembly of God, teaches a weekly adult Bible study and a monthly Bible study for Women.

Confession is Good for the Soul

Philippians 3:14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

I know that confession is good for the soul, so here goes. I don’t think about heaven very much. I know what you’re thinking….But it’s true. I am a devout Christian and have been for many years, but I don’t think about heaven that often. I am excited about the idea when I do, but going to heaven is never at the forefront of my mind.  I realized the other day when my daughter and I had a conversation about heaven that this is an area that I do not ponder very much….now, something I did to consider more.

The reason I don’t give it very much thought is this…..I get so caught up in being grateful for my salvation experience that I don’t think about the afterlife. Not only did God keep me throughout my childhood, but he set a specific time for me to experience salvation. The God of the Universe sent his very son to die for me (John 3:16) Not only was I saved, but God continues to meet my needs and a few of my wants, takes care of my family, gives me ministry opportunities, comforts, guides, protects, and the list goes on. If he stopped at forgiving me and setting me on the right path during my teenage years, that would have been enough. Yet, he continually takes care of all of this other things daily. So, sometimes heaven is an afterthought when I think about the goodness of God….And willingly admit that even if heaven was not a part of the packaged deal, it would still all be worth it.

But…when I do think about the fact that there will be so much more to come, It’s like the icing on the cake, the peanut butter with the chocolate, the cupcake from my favorite bakery…you get the idea. I know it will be all of things that we have ever hoped and dreamed of. It will satisfy our every longing and desire.

Until then, learn from my unintentional mistake…get excited about the fact that there is more when this life is over. God keeps giving us more and more. And….when we finally reach the goal and win the prize…we will truly say it has been worth it all.

Kasey Scott
Kasey is currently a high school English teacher, whose students are young ladies who are substance dependent and incarcerated. Kasey has a passion to reach into the lives of girls in desperate situations and show them the Hope that is available in Jesus Christ. She also is the VP and Director of Curriculum Design for Edvance Services, an educational services company she co-founded with her husband.

Remembering Your Life Story...

Have you ever been driving, get to your destination and not remember how you got there? Recently I had a day of doing what I like to call the “mommy shuffle”. It felt like I spent most of the day driving back and forth taking my boys to school, to practice, you name it; all the while,  having little to no memory of my time in the car.

Each of our lives is a journey, each turn, stop or u-turn has a purpose. Most of us can recall major steps in our life our first boyfriend, our wedding day and/or the births of our children. But, have you considered the steps in your spiritual journey?  What about the pivotal steps that turned us from who we were to who we are?

One of my earliest memories was of my 1st grade Sunday school teachers. They were an older couple that taught every Sunday their dedication to serving was a great example for each of us. To this day I carry their life lesson with me. From the time I was in their class to the present day I have had countless moments that were divine appointments from God - times when the Lord just whispers something in my ear or gives someone a word for me or even puts people in my track that I would least expect.  Not long ago, I sat down with my journal recalling each of the moments that have completely made me fall in love with my creator even more, the moments that have gotten me where I am today.

As a young adult I so badly longed for significance a need for unconditional love. In those dark moments of feeling utter rejection, my heart was opened to a love that is far greater than anything on earth. For the first time I was exposed to an acceptance like nothing I had ever experienced before.

Remembering this particular time in my life floods my heart with a gratitude that cannot be summed in words. My love for Jesus is renewed and my desire to serve Him is exhilarated to new levels.   

So I encourage you in the coming days to sit down with your Father and reminisce the situations, people, places, stories in your life that have been written as your life story. And if you haven’t started this journey with Jesus but you know somewhere deep inside of you, you are tired of living this life not remembering how you got from one place to the next? I encourage you to pray a small prayer accepting Jesus as your personal Lord and savior.

I am not sure where you are on your journey but it never hurts to remind yourself how you got there. 

“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9

Ashley McDougal
Ashley is the Children's pastor for 3N1 Church in Virginia. Her passion is to see the Church being Christ's Church consistently no matter where they are and of course Children!! For more info on 3N1 you can check out their website at http://3n1church.com.

Pamphlet or Encyclopedia

A young boy sits at the table staring down at the words on the page; the words seem all jumbled and they don’t make sense to him. As he tries his best to understand the words, his father smacks the back of his head while calling him “dumb” and “stupid” and saying “you will never be anything”. The boy becomes very discouraged and drops out of school before completing the ninth grade. His father’s words plague him into adulthood. He struggles with self-doubt and he fears that he will never amount to anything. Not until the boy becomes a man does he realize he is not dumb, but has a developmental reading disorder called dyslexia. Dyslexia is a condition where the brain does not properly recognize and process certain symbols; it has nothing to do with one’s intelligence. Even though the words of his father still sometimes invade the man's mind, he has been able to overcome the negative words spoken to him as a child through learning who he is in Christ. He grew up to be a man who strives to be an encourager and to speak positive about others.

I know all too well the impact words can have on one’s perception of themselves; the above story is about my husband. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. (Proverbs 18:21) Our words are so powerful; they carry a life giving force or a destructive force. It is our choice if we want to be an encourager or a discourager; this includes conversations we have with ourselves. As Christians we should be speaking life giving words to others and to ourselves. Words that discourage or tear down are filled with hate. If we claim to be born again Christians and are filled with the love of Jesus, so our words should reflect that love.

In Malachi 3:16 we read that God listens, hears and records in a book of remembrance the words that we speak that honor His name.

^“Then those who feared the Lord talked often one to another; and the Lord listened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him of those who reverenced and worshipfully feared the Lord and who thought on His name.” Malachi 3:16 AMP

Every encouraging and uplifting word you speak is being recorded! This has made me examine what I am saying and thinking. Will my pleasing conversations be contained in only a pamphlet or a set of Encyclopedias? Determine to speak what is pleasing to God; let your “book of remembrance” be larger than a set of Encyclopedias. For those that honor God, He will publically recognize and openly declare them to be His jewel.

“And they shall be Mine, says the Lord of hosts, in that day when I publicly recognize and openly declare them to be My jewels (My special possession, My peculiar treasure). And I will spare them, as a man spares his own son who serves him.” Malachi 3:17 AMP

Michelle Odom
Michelle is an Ordained Minister through United Christian Fellowship and co-founder with her husband, John, of MJ Ministries, a “Practical Evangelism” ministry expressing the Gospel through action. MJ Ministries is dedicated to revealing God’s love through the practice of hospitality using our God given gifts, talents and resources. We are challenged to Engage others in the pursuit of Jesus, Encourage others to realize their potential in Jesus, and Empower others to have influence for Jesus. “Mission Possible” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God” Mark 10:27

The Crossroads

The Christian life is intended to be a life lived in the very presence of God.  The intention of God is that we are blessed to be a blessing.  The book of Deuteronomy has a lot to say about the blessings and how this divine favor touches and prospers us in every aspect of our lives.  Whether or not we live the blessed life is entirely up to us.  Each of us face crossroads in our faith – marked by some event, large or small.  These crossroads cause us to make decisions to either live by faith, in obedience to God – or to detour into doubt and disobedience. 
Deuteronomy 30:11-20  The Message
  This commandment that I'm commanding you today isn't too much for you, it's not out of your reach. It's not on a high mountain—you don't have to get mountaineers to climb the peak and bring it down to your level and explain it before you can live it. And it's not across the ocean—you don't have to send sailors out to get it, bring it back, and then explain it before you can live it. No. The word is right here and now—as near as the tongue in your mouth, as near as the heart in your chest. Just do it!

 Look at what I've done for you today: I've placed in front of you
      Life and Good
      Death and Evil.
 And I command you today: Love God, your God. Walk in his ways. Keep his commandments, regulations, and rules so that you will live, really live, live exuberantly, blessed by God, your God, in the land you are about to enter and possess.

  But I warn you: If you have a change of heart, refuse to listen obediently, and willfully go off to serve and worship other gods, you will most certainly die. You won't last long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

  I call Heaven and Earth to witness against you today: I place before you Life and Death, Blessing and Curse. Choose life so that you and your children will live. And love God, your God, listening obediently to him, firmly embracing him. Oh yes, he is life itself, a long life settled on the soil that God, your God, promised to give your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

As New Testament believers, we have been grafted in to the family of Abraham.  We are heirs to the promise just as much as the children of Israel.  The Word of God says that if we walk in the Spirit, we will not fulfill the desires of the flesh.  As we choose to deny our doubt and walk in faith; as we take the road less traveled we will walk on a level of life that no one on the face of the earth has access to.  It is only through Christ that we are blessed.  It is only through Christ that we are to be a blessing. 

Christianity has long put the blessing in a box and marked it “open with you get to heaven”.  Christianity has long assumed a false cloak of humility through self-denigration. 

Christianity is actually meant to be a blessed life – why fight it?  The word says in these verses that we who are obedient to the Word “will live, really live, live exuberantly, blessed by God, your God, in the land you are about to enter and possess.”

We are at a major spiritual crossroad today.  Our Father God is calling us to wake up from apathy and misunderstanding about His will for us.  We are to walk in life and that in abundance, just as Jesus said.  We are not to be downtrodden, just hoping we make it to heaven in the “sweet by and by”. 

We are to walk as children of God – in the blessing of the Living God.  There is much to say about this new life in the New Testament letters to the churches.  Yes, we do have many problems to face in this life – after all, the earth is still under the curse of sin.  However, we are not.  We are overcomers in Christ and yet more than that, we are more than conquerors.  We are to live above the curse on a level of blessing that the Spirit of God will reveal to us more and more as we trust and obey and learn more about the true destiny of the children of God.

Be blessed!
Rhonda Roughton
Rhonda is founder of INK Ministries. INK Ministries' mission is to build up the body of Christ through writing, preaching and teaching with an emphasis on the New Covenant and who we are in Christ. "Write down the vision and make it plain on tablets so that whoever reads it may run with it." Habakkuk 2:2-3. This is a "hands-on" ministry as well as a writing ministry - moving in the gifts and power of the Holy Spiit to bring hope, healing and deliverance to all those who hunger for more of Him.

Are We Asking the Wrong Questions? (Part 1)

On January 20, 1961, newly elected President John F. Kennedy made this statement in his inaugural address:  “And so, my fellow Americans:  ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.”   President Kennedy was challenging the American people to change the questions they were asking themselves.  Why? Because he knew that this would steer their thoughts in a more positive, productive direction.  It would shift their focus from something small and selfish (what can I get?) to something much larger and nobler (what can I give?).  And this shift would be reflected in their words and actions.

Might I suggest that it is about time the church in America today was challenged in a similar manner?  For far too long we have been asking ourselves the wrong questions, questions that are small and selfish, questions that have robbed us of power and influence and left us comfortable and acceptable in an ungodly culture.  And while such questions have allowed us to build big churches, I wonder, is that really the kind of church envisioned by Jesus? By Paul?

Matt. 16:18  “…on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”

Rom. 12:2  “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will.”

I would suggest….no, I would insist, that Christ has called His followers to something much bigger and nobler than many have been made aware of.  Notice that Paul’s challenge to the church to “not conform” is accompanied by the antidote to such a condition, the “renewing of your mind.”  Our thinking as Christians has got to be different from the culture we live in if we are going to be distinguishable from it in our words, actions, attitudes and motivations.  And part of thinking differently is asking the right questions.  Might I suggest some that would radically transform your life as a believer and the look of the church in America if they were to be asked (and, of course, answered honestly)?  I will borrow from Mr. Kennedy’s format in asking them:

            My fellow Christians, ask not “What can I get away with and still go to heaven?” – ask “What is the absolute best I can do for the One who gave His absolute best for me?”

It is discouraging to see so many who profess Christ being more concerned with what they can “get away with” than with what would be the best reflection of Him to their world.  Paul wrote in Colossians 3:2,3 “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.  For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”  The problem with many who claim to be Christian is that they have not “died” to self.  Yet Jesus Himself stresses this as being the first criteria in following Him.  “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”  (Matthew 16:24)  Until one has died to what they want (earthly things), they can never set their mind on what He wants (things above).  This produces shallow Christians at best whose main concern is “Will this send me to hell?” instead of “Will this bring heaven to others?”

Let me illustrate this problem in some practical ways:

The choices we make with our bodies, do they represent the absolute best stewardship of God’s creation?  Or is overeating, dressing immodestly, sporting holes and markings that God didn’t see fit to put there, etc. all about me, not about reflecting Him?

The way we spend our money, does it represent the absolute best stewardship of God’s resources?  Or are houses bigger than we need, big-screen high-def televisions, the latest clothing styles, failure to tithe, etc. all about me, not about reflecting Him?

The conversations we have with others, do they represent the absolute best stewardship of God’s gift of language?  Or is gossip, crude humor, cutting remarks, disrespecting authority figures, etc. all about me, not about reflecting Him?

As you can see, the list could go on and on.  We could talk about the way we use our time and energy, the treatment we give to those who are different from us, our performance on the job and a million other decisions we make daily.  The point is this - every moral choice we make (and this includes the vast majority of them), matters because each one reveals our heart and will either bring Christ into greater clarity for those around us or further cloud their view of Him. 

The evangelist D.L. Moody once said, “The world has yet to see what God can do with a man totally consecrated to Him.”  I’m pretty sure God is still searching for men and women who will say with Paul “…to me, to live is Christ.” (Philip. 1:21)  Not just in some areas or moments, but in every act and every decision every day!  It is not the easy road to walk, nor is it well-traveled.  But for the few who will venture to ask the right question – “What is the absolute best I can do for the One who gave His absolute best for me? – for the few who will dare to answer it  honestly and act on it courageously, there is the privilege of joining the great  faith heroes of the past whose radical passion for Christ “turned the world upside down!”  (Acts 17:6 – KJV)  The world is waiting….will you dare?

Clark Hausman
Clark is the pastor of Moyock Assembly of God.

Be Gullible

Matthew 18:1-4
1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
2 Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, 3 and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.

I was watching a reality show the other day...I know what you're thing but they are addicting. The mom was having a hard time with life and the one that had the faith that life would change was her small son. I am not sure, if the mom was comforted by her son's faith based response...but I took notice.

Having children will change someone's life in many ways. As newborn babies become children, hopefully these blessings change our level of faith in God. Children have a unique way of being so agreeable sometimes. They may seem a bit gullible at times and some children more so than others. They take their parents at their word and believe whatever they tell them. They KNOW that you will feel better; they KNOW the bills are paid. They also know they will be fed, clothes, and protected. There is no anxiety because they just believe.

When we become "Grown-up Christians" it is the hope of God that we will move to a child-like faith. One that believes our father's word. One that moves from questions to an assurance. Once God says it there are no more questions. I love the fact that God makes our relationship with our earthly children as he desires our relationship to be with him....one where we take him at his word. Believe God today; know that when he tells you something he will do it. Know that he will take care of your every need...Know that you are dearly loved and rest easy knowing that having God as your father means you never have to worry again.

Kasey Scott
Kasey is currently a high school English teacher, whose students are young ladies who are substance dependent and incarcerated. Kasey has a passion to reach into the lives of girls in desperate situations and show them the Hope that is available in Jesus Christ. She also is the VP and Director of Curriculum Design for Edvance Services, an educational services company she co-founded with her husband.