Be
Thankful
For You
by Dean Wall
Dedication Special thanks to Ted and Lana Pickenbrock for all their help. They are truly valuable and precious!
Copyright © 1992 Dean Wall * All rights reserved.
Dean Wall * Box 33233 * Denver, CO 80233-0233 * USA
Table of Contents Chapter 1 -- You Are Valuable And Precious
Chapter 2 -- Be Thankful For You
Chapter 3 --God Has A Plan For You
You Are Valuable And Precious
ROMANS 5:8 NKJ
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us,(NASB) "God demonstrates His own love."
(Goodspeed) "But God proves His love for us by the fact that Christ died for us when we were still sinners."
God loves you. He thinks you are valuable and precious. God recognizes your value. He believes you are worth dying for. He has proven it before the whole world. There can be no doubt, because He hung on the cross for all to see. He did it because He loved you.
You were helpless, without hope, without ability to get free from sin and satan's dominion. You had no way out. So God Himself died in your place. He did not die for Himself, but for you.
God has proven His love. He demonstrated the greatest love this world has ever seen. He took your place, suffering your punishment. That proved that God thinks you are valuable.
God sees your value. You may think no one does, but God does. You may think, "I do not matter to anyone. No one cares about me." God does. You are precious to Him.
JOHN 3:14-18 NKJ
14 "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
15 "that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
17 "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
18 "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.(Basic English) verse 16: "He had such love for the world."
(Moffatt) verse 16: "He loved the world so dearly."
He valued you so highly. You were so precious in His sight. He realized your worth was so tremendous -- that He gave of Himself.
Now the move is yours. Love must be responded to for a relationship to develop. The only way to receive God's love is by receiving His Gift, Jesus Christ.
Jesus is God's remedy, or cure, for mankind. Jesus has everything you need. He thinks you are valuable; there is nothing He will not do for you. He has proven it. There is nothing He would not suffer, just for you, because you are so valuable to Him.
You Are Indispensable
1 CORINTHIANS 12:18-22 NKJ
18 But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.
19 And if they were all one member, where would the body be?
20 But now indeed there are many members, yet one body.
21 And the eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you"; nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you."
22 No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.(RSV) verse 22: "which seem to be weaker, are indispensable"
Even those members of the Body of Christ which seem to be weak, or not much of a blessing, are indispensable.
You are indispensable in the Body of Christ. You have a unique position, and God is depending on you. Too much of the time we have been told, "It does not matter what you do, God will get things done whether you obey or not. If you fail God He will get somebody else to do it." That may be true but it might take Him a hundred years.
Face facts: when people failed God in past centuries, things got in a mess.
God is depending on you. You are important to God. You are indispensable.
God does not call everyone to do the same thing. Do not try to be someone else. Do what God called you to do. God's plan is for you to be you, and to do what He created you to do.
God Is Your Father
You are important to God because He is your Father, not because He needs someone to do something for Him.
I once read in a book that our children will never love us as much as we love them. Although there is no way to prove that statement, I believe it is true. Your children will never love you as much as you love them.
The only way you will ever know how your parents care for you is to have your own children.
You are indispensable to God because He is your Father. He loves you more than you love Him. He loved you first. He will always love you more than you will love Him. After all, He is the Originator, the Source.
JAMES 1:17-18 NKJ
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.This was God's own plan, His own purpose. He initiated this. He decided He wanted you in His family.
You might wonder why God would want you. That is His business and you are not the judge. We are to examine ourselves but not to condemn ourselves. God did not give you the job of condemning yourself. Examine yourself in the light of the Word: are you acting on the Word, are you cooperating with God, are you trusting in God? But never condemn yourself.
The devil is always ready to assist us in condemning ourselves. "You are not much good. The world would be a better place if you were not here. You are just in the way. Nobody cares, anyway. God doesn't even care," is what the devil says.
The devil is a liar. Your feelings about yourself, contrary to the Word of God, are not accurate or trustworthy.
God has proven where He stands concerning you. Do not let the devil, your feelings, or circumstances, rob you of a firm knowledge that God loves you. You are valuable -- indispensable to Him. He is interested in you. You are not just a number on God's computer. He knows your name; He knows your thoughts; He knows the number of hairs on your head; and He is interested in your joy being full.
1 CORINTHIANS 12:23 NKJ
23 And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty,We must not think contrary to God's Word. We must not set up our own standards of judgment. God is the Judge. Let Him judge you. He has already judged you valuable and precious.
How foolish for us to think we are not worth anything, when God paid such a great price for us. No one forced Him to do it, either.
EPHESIANS 2:4 NKJ
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,One translation says, with what an excess of love He loved us. God's love toward us is excessive. It is more than enough. More than we ever could have hoped for.
You Are A Work Of Art
EPHESIANS 2:10 NKJ
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.He made you what you are. You are what you are by the grace of God. You are God's work of art, His crowning creation. When you are saved by grace through faith (verse 8), you are created anew in Christ Jesus. You were created for good works, able to do good.
Do not let that condemn you, but let it encourage you. God made you with the ability to do His will -- to do good.
Males never sit around saying, "I wish I could be a male. I am trying so hard."
This verse is saying you were made something: a work of art, able to do good. God made you with the ability to glorify Him, to walk worthy of His Name. He made you that way, so that is the way you really are. What we must do is relax and cooperate with God, by refusing to listen to the devil, and believing God's Word.
Since God made you good, you have the ability to do good.
You are precious to God. Your life is important to Him and He wants you to know that. He cares.
He is always ready to help you.
He loves you more than you love yourself. He loves you more than you will ever comprehend, because He is your Father.
Table of Contents
Be Thankful For You
1 TIMOTHY 2:1 NKJ
1 Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men,Not only are we to pray, but also to give thanks for all. When it says to give thanks for all men, it does not mean just the male of the species, but all humanity.
Give thanks for all. Even your spouse. Even your parents. Even your children. Even yourself. All!
COLOSSIANS 3:15 NKJ
15 . . . and be thankful.2 TIMOTHY 3:1-2 NKJ
1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:
2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,Unthankfulness is one characteristic of people in the latter days.
Gratitude is a sign of maturity. A baby is not appreciative of all you do for it. It does not rise up and call you blessed. No! It rises up in the middle of the night, squawking and screaming. A baby is not grateful at all.
Unfortunately, with some people, certain characteristics hang on even as they get older. But usually, with more age and experience (especially raising their own children), maturity comes. Then people realize how much they have to be grateful for to their parents. Then they come back to say, "Thanks, Mother, I realize now what you put up with."
Gratitude, or being thankful, is a mark of maturity. The opposite is true also. If you are not thankful, you are immature. This applies in the spiritual realm as well as in the natural. If you are not thankful to God it shows you are still immature.
God does not want His people to be unthankful.
People spend their lives, sometimes spending fortunes, trying to be happy. They try all the wrong ways to be happy.
The only way to be happy is to be thankful. Think about it. It is the only way.
Being happy and being thankful always go together.
When something good happened that you appreciated, you were happy, right?
We can start from the other end. Start being thankful then you will start being happy. Instead of waiting for something good to happen that thrills you, open your eyes to all the good there is now. Then you will be happy.
The best thing that could happen to you might be to spend a year in a communist prison and get rid of your television set. Why?
Because you would get your perspective right. You would realize what is important in life and what is not so important. You would have time to talk to God. Time to think.
When is the last time you thanked God for good water or warm clothing? If you spent a year in a communist prison you would probably never let a day go by without thanking God for all the things you now take for granted. Like shelter, clothes, food, trees, flowers, sunlight, and fresh air.
Television
I also mentioned getting rid of your TV. I am not against TV itself, just some things that are on it. Television is a big cause of unhappiness in our world.
Why does television cause unhappiness? Everything you see on television is unrealistic. Even documentary programs give a distorted picture.
Take a program about scuba diving in some famous spot. Expert photographers spend weeks or months filming there. Maybe they made 50 dives to get just the right shot to impress you. Then they edit it down, only showing you the best. What you get is an unreal picture of how good things are.
If you go there expecting everything to be as great, you will be disappointed. You are always disappointed in life because nothing measures up to the unrealism of TV.
Remind yourself every time you watch television, "This is not real. Life is not like that." Even with TV preachers it is not life-like. They have to wash their clothes, brush their teeth, eat, and mow their lawn, too. They are not always anointed like they are on TV. So in a sense it is not real. It just gives you a small slice of life. That part may be real, but it is not the whole reality.
Few will be as beautiful as the beauty queens on television. Few will be as strong as the professional football players. No one can measure up against the extreme best in every area. TV always shows us the best in every area. You see the cream of the cream.
God did not make every flower the same. Nor every human. Different flowers bloom at different times, put off different aromas, and look different. God wanted them different. God planned for people to be different. He did not want us to all wear the same size clothing, to be the same height or weight. He did not make us all the same.
People are different physically. Your bone size is not determined by your dieting. Different people have different frames and are made differently. God wants you to be different.
But watch the ideal on TV and you fall short. If you do not fall short in one area, you will in others. Only one perfect person ever walked the earth: Jesus Christ. The rest of us have areas not yet perfect. Correct? Even if you are a beauty queen, you probably can't run as fast as the Olympic gold medal winners. There will always be areas you fall short in.
On TV things always work out in thirty minutes. It is unrealistic. Life is not like that. Some problems may take years to solve.
You can walk in victory. You do not have to let things defeat you. But life functions like the Kingdom of God does. It is like a seed. You plant a seed and it grows.
If you plant a seed for a baby it will grow. Unless you kill it or give it away, you will have a big responsibility for many years.
Yes, children are a blessing. But life is simpler without them. You have less work to do without children. Not that we wish we had no children. We are just facing facts.
You cannot get out of some things overnight. Once you get through them you may be glad for the experience. But it is not so pleasant when you are in the middle of it.
When you are surrounded by dirty diapers and dirty dishes, and your husband does not even care, you may think, "What am I doing here. I want to get out of here. I wish I were someone else. I wish I were somewhere else, anything but this!"
Every human being will face such temptation. It is the myth of greener grass somewhere else. The employee thinks, "I wish I was the boss so I could do what I want." The boss thinks, "I wish I was just an employee so I wouldn't have all this responsibility. I could just come to work, get my pay check, and walk out."
Everyone is tempted to think, "I have it bad. Nobody else has it as rough as I do. If I could just trade places with someone." Yet, others probably think they have it worse than you do.
You cannot be happy unless you are thankful.
Wealth = Happiness?
I read that the suicide rate is higher among rich people. Most poor people would never believe that. "What's wrong with them? The rich have it made! They can go anywhere they like. They do not have to stay here on the job like me. They can do anything they like. Why would they want to take their life? If somebody ought to take their life it ought to be me. Nobody would even miss me. But the rich people have it made."
Many are not happy even with great wealth. Many wealthy people commit suicide. That proves that having things, by itself, does not make you happy.
A new car or a new house will not give you lasting happiness. If your attitude is not right, getting a different car, or spouse, or house, or job, will not help for long.
If you get one car you will want two. If you have a house you will want to take a vacation. If you had a vacation last year, you will want three this year. Things will never make you happy.
LUKE 12:15 NKJ
15 And He said to them, "Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses."Jesus said, "life does not consist in abundance of things." He is not saying you should be poor. God is not interested in robbing your joy and making you miserable. Jesus is pointing out the truth: having things will not make you happy.
I believe you should have things, even an abundance of things -- but they will not keep you happy. Do not be deceived!
1 TIMOTHY 6:17 NKJ
17 Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.Richly means an abundance, a bunch.
If you expect to get your satisfaction and happiness from things you will be disappointed. They will be a weight: like a rock tied to you. They will stifle your happiness. But, if you have the right perspective, you can be happy like the Apostle Paul.
PHILIPPIANS 4:10-11 NKJ
10 But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again; though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity.
11 Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content:Rotherham's translation says to be "independent of circumstances." That is the key. If you are independent of circumstances you can be content wherever you are. (Remember Paul wrote this from prison.) You can be happy eating soup or a steak.
Complaining
NUMBERS 11:1 NKJ
1 Now when the people complained, it displeased the Lord; for the Lord heard it, and His anger was aroused. So the fire of the Lord burned among them, and consumed some in the outskirts of the camp.Were they in trouble? Were they in a bad situation? Yes!
Did they have a right to complain? No!
They did not have any meat to eat. They were having a rough time.
Would you put up with not having adequate food for weeks without complaining? Have you ever complained about anything to the Lord? Do you need to repent?
I have no desire to suffer but I do not desire to displease the Lord. He has done so much for me. He is so good. Because He has blessed me so much, I want to please Him. If I can please the Lord I am happy about it.
When the people complained it displeased the Lord.
1 CORINTHIANS 10:10-11 NKJ
10 nor murmur, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer.
11 Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come.They were a bad example. Do not follow their example or it will bring you trouble.
Be Thankful COLOSSIANS 3:15 NKJ
15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.EPHESIANS 5:4 NKJ
4 neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.Giving of thanks is always appropriate. Having an attitude of gratitude is always appropriate. It is never out of place.
You say, "But there are so many bad things." Yes. But God is not the one responsible for the bad. He is not liable for the evil. It is mankind's fault (with the devil's help). God is not to blame.
JAMES 1:16 NKJ
16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.Even beloved brethren can make mistakes. Do not be in error.
JAMES 1:13 NKJ
13 Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.JAMES 1:16-17 NKJ
16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.God is not bad one day and good the next. He will not bless you one day and take it away from you the next. Nothing comes from God that you cannot and should not be thankful for.
Give Thanks For Everything
1 THESSALONIANS 5:18 NKJ
18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.EPHESIANS 5:20 NKJ
20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,The Bible says, "Giving thanks for all things."
Some people are confused and give thanks for what the devil has done.
It is better for you to be thankful for cancer than to be bitter about it. It would even be better to be thankful for cancer," than to say, "God, why did you do this to me. I am mad and I hate you." Any doctor can tell you which attitude is healthier.
But God did not give you the cancer, so you should not thank Him for it.
After eating a delicious meal at your house, I might say to you, "Thanks for everything. It was wonderful." Do I mean, "Thank you for murdering people in Europe. Thank you for starving children in India."? No! I am talking to you. When I tell you thanks for everything, I mean everything you did.
Giving thanks for all things to God does not mean you should thank Him for what the devil did. It means thanking God only for everything He did.
You should not give thanks to God for what somebody else did. If I gave you a nice meal would you tell someone else, "Thanks for the nice meal."
What must God think when someone says, "Thanks for this cancer. Thanks for this bankruptcy. Thanks for this problem in my marriage."? He probably thinks, "Do not thank Me. I did not give it to you."
Yet, it is probably better for you to be thankful even if your gratitude is misplaced. However, one of the worst things that could happen to you is to get the wrong idea about God. But it is still better for you to be in an attitude of thankfulness instead of an attitude of bitterness, even if you have your thanks misdirected.
Do Not Be Depressed As we learn more about the Word of God and victory, we may face greater temptation to be depressed. Especially if things are not working out the way we think they should. Maybe even to be depressed about ourselves. "I wonder why my faith is not working as good as the pastor's or some big-time evangelist's. God did it for them. What is the matter with me? I must not be good enough. What am I doing wrong?"
It can deteriorate to where there is no thankfulness. No peace. No joy. No trust in God. Just defeat, misery, and depression. Who do you think wants you in that situation?
Would you want your children to go through life feeling guilty? Feeling bad about themselves? Would you be happy for your children to think, "I am sorry I was born. I feel so bad about myself. I cannot stand to face anybody. I am so ugly. I am so incompetent. I can't do anything."
MATTHEW 7:11 NKJ
11 "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!"God desires a relationship with people as a father: a good father, a perfect father. Jesus said to people who were good parents that the Heavenly Father is much better than any earthly father. HOW MUCH MORE!
Your heavenly Father does not want you enduring life, feeling bad, guilty, defeated, and discouraged. Like the carrot is always beyond reach where you will never get it. "Well, I will be happy when I get a promotion. I will be happy when I get married. I will arrive when I read at least ten Bible chapters every day. I will be happy when I . . . ."
No. No. No!
God wants you to be happy. That does not mean you should say, "I am not happy with my husband so I will get rid of him, because God wants me to be happy." No. You got him so you keep him. Be thankful and you will see things change.
Be Thankful For All Mankind 1 TIMOTHY 2:1 NKJ
1 Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men,All mankind includes you. If you are not thankful to be you, then you are missing God's will. You are not acting on that scripture.
1 CORINTHIANS 15:10 NKJ
10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.The Apostle Paul was what he was by the grace of God. But does this apply to us?
Are you what you are by the grace of God? Did God design you or are you just an accident? Are you God's plan? Did God want you? Or are you a mistake? NO! -- God makes no mistakes!
Does God want you to be the way you are?
You may say, "I know God does not want me to be the way I am." How does He want you to be? Perfect? Yes, but perfectly you. A perfect rose is different from a perfect petunia. A perfect mouse is different from a perfect horse. Being a perfect you will be different from being a perfect someone else.
This is God's will for you: be thankful you are you. Not so much to be thankful for your faults. Get your eyes off your faults and on God and His plan and say, "God, if you wanted somebody like me, I am glad I am here."
If you saw things the way God does you would have a different attitude. I do not know why all you are going through is necessary. But God does.
When you have children you may think, "Why do I have to go through all this?" but eventually you will look back and say, "I am sure glad I had children." It is the same way with some of the spiritual things you are going through. Some day you will be able to look back and be thankful. (At least be thankful it ended.)
Be Happy
There is only one way to be happy: be thankful.
You can either wait until there is something you feel like being thankful about or you can change your attitude and start being thankful regardless of feelings. Then you will realize you are much happier than you used to be.
You can do it either way. But if you wait to be happy until something wonderful comes, you may not be happy much of the time. Once a year you might get happy. The rest of the time you may be miserable. Why torture yourself? You might as well be happy every day.
Why not be happy?
There is only one way: be thankful. If you do not have what you would like to be thankful for, just be thankful for what you do have. God will be doing everything He can to get something better to you. It may not show up by this afternoon but it will come. In the meantime you can go on and enjoy life, by being thankful.
Does God want His children to be happy or miserable? God will be happier if you are happy. How many of you can be happy when your children are always unhappy? God has feelings, too. He is not moved by them, but He must be happier when we are happy.
There is a fine line here. God wants you to be concerned about other people. When you have the love of God in your heart you are concerned about other people. You are concerned about people dying and going to hell. But you cannot be full of joy and spend all your time thinking about how many people are going to hell every second.
If you do, what you quickly get is a guilt problem. You do not have what Jesus said, "My peace I give unto you. These things I have spoken unto you that your joy might be full." Your joy is empty. You are down, down, down. And you are getting lower by the second.
You say, "Preacher, shouldn't I be concerned?" I said there is a fine line. You should be concerned, but you cannot carry the weight of the whole world. God did not design you to be God. You are not responsible for anybody going to hell unless God says you are. You are only responsible to do what God tells you to do. If He did not tell you to go to China you are not responsible for China. God is big enough to take care of China without you.
You Have A Place T. L. Osborn, a world-famous evangelist, was quoted saying a secret of success was not letting your vision go beyond God's plan for your life. He was saying you should be content in what you are by God's grace, and not try to fill someone else's shoes.
You will not be a successful world-wide evangelist just because you decide to do it and are diligent. Just because you pray as much as Elijah did, does not mean you will be a prophet. Just because you read the Bible as much as Kenneth Hagin, does not mean you will be a nation-wide Bible teacher.
2 CORINTHIANS 10:13 NKJ
13 We, however, will not boast beyond measure, but within the limits of the sphere which God appointed us -- a sphere which especially includes you.You have a place -- a sphere. Do not try to fill someone else's place. Do not let your vision go beyond God's will for your life.
You will never be a rose if you are a petunia. You are what you are and God wants you to be fruitful and productive being you. He wants you to be happy about being you. He does not want you to carry the weight of what someone else is supposed to do.
I wish many more had a ministry like T. L. Osborn or Kenneth Hagin. But if God wants more, He can make more. I believe plenty of people would yield to God, be diligent and faithful, and do what God wanted. If He wanted another Kathryn Kuhlman, He could get someone to obey and answer such a calling. Plenty of people would.
God is a big God. He is a good God. Let Him be God. Do not try to play God. Rejoice in the Lord always. Let Him carry the weight of the world. Trust in Him.
If He tells me to go next door, I will go next door. If He tells me to go to Mexico, I will go to Mexico. If He tells me to change jobs I will. Until then I should quit worrying about whether I am out of God's will. I will rejoice in God and be thankful. I will walk with God and be happy. I will enjoy His presence and blessing.
I should not stay up all night, every night, worrying about people going to hell. I care about the people of the world and I would like to help them. I will do what God directs me to do. I can send money or send missionaries. I will endeavor to do what the Bible teaches in Philippians 4:6.
Do Not Worry PHILIPPIANS 4:6 NKJ
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;(TEV) "Don't worry about anything . . ."
(Phillips) "Don't worry over anything whatever . . ."
Do not spend time worrying and fretting about anything. Whether it is people starving in India or your perceived lack of ability to do something. Do not worry all night thinking, "I wish I were a better person. I wish I were different. I wish I had curly hair instead of straight hair. I wish You would have made me smarter. I wish I had a big brain instead of a big belly. I wish I hadn't made that mistake. Now my life is ruined forever."
No!
Be anxious for nothing. God wants you to be carefree. God wants you to be happy. Being thankful is the opposite of being worried.
It is fine to ask God for things. Jesus said, "Ask. . .that your joy may be full." (John 16:24) It is fine to pray. But do not start grumbling and complaining while the answer is still on the way. Rejoice that it is on the way. Thank God it is coming. Thank God for what you already have. Thank God for who you are.
If God wants to change you, He can. He can make you a new person, if He wants to. He can change a Saul into a Paul. He can change a barren Sarai into a Sarah, mother of nations. He can change you.
You just walk with God. If He wants to change you He will. If He wants to make you a musician He can. (Of course, you must cooperate.) There is no sense being fretful and wishing you were like someone else.
God has a plan for your life and you have not totally missed it. Even if you have strayed a little, God is still able to take your life and make it what He wants.
You are what you are by the grace of God. If He wanted you different He would have made you different. Period.
Table of Contents
God Has A Plan For You
COLOSSIANS 3:15 NKJ
15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.(Williams) "practice being thankful."
(Knox) "learn to be grateful."
It does not come automatically. A child is not naturally grateful. A child does not say, "I am so thankful you changed my diaper all those times," when they first learn to talk. They have to be taught to say, "Thank you."
Many people would be thrilled to trade places with you, even with all your problems.
Happiness is relative. Put your hand in front of your eye and it blocks out the huge sun. Likewise, if you focus on trivial things, they obscure so many good things from your vision. There is much you have to be thankful for. There are so many things the Lord has done for you. Do not let the little things block your vision.
How much will it matter a hundred years from now? If it is major, it will make a difference a hundred years from now. If not, it is minor.
So what if something did not happen this week. Time is not over. No one said that you had to quit, that it is giving-up time. Life is not over yet.
No human being can truthfully say that God has been bad to them. No one can ever say that God gave them a raw deal. They deserved what they got, or worse. They may curse the fact they did not respond to God's love. Maybe they were deceived by the enemy into thinking God did them wrong, but He did not. It is not His nature.
What a privilege to know such a Being! God is wonderful!
God is not withholding anything good from you. It is the devil or your lack of faith.
Everything happening on the earth is not God's will. Otherwise, Jesus would not have told us to pray that God's will be done on earth as it was in heaven. If it were automatic, there would be no need to pray for it.
In John 15:11 Jesus said that He spoke these words that your joy might be full. Joy is a fruit of the spirit. So if you allow the life of the spirit to flow through you, people should see that fruit. When you walk up to an apple tree you see apples hanging there. When you walk up to a Christian you are supposed to see joy and peace.
You Have A Part
1 CORINTHIANS 12:18 NKJ
18 But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.You are responsible to do what you are told.
God did not intend for the pastor to do everything -- anymore than your lungs are to do all the work of your body.
Jesus never told the disciples to go out and witness; He said they would be witnesses. They would be the evidence. You are the evidence that Jesus is alive, because of what He has done in your life: the changes, the answers to prayer prayed in His Name.
1 CORINTHIANS 12:14 NKJ
14 For in fact the body is not one member but many.1 CORINTHIANS 12:27 NKJ
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.(Berkeley) verse 27: "members with assigned parts."
Every member needs to do their part.
You do not raise a child to maturity overnight. God's work with us, in us, and through us, is not an overnight thing. If you will be faithful and trust God, He will work in you so you can handle what He has for you.
EPHESIANS 4:16 NKJ
16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.Every member of the body is necessary. Every part must do its share for the full growth of the body. So you are important!
Do your part!
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