Dear Revival-Fire Church Family,
Here in the USA, tomorrow we will be observing the holiday of “Thanksgiving”. My wife & I wanted to wish each of you a very Happy Thanksgiving! Even if you do not live in the US, we speak God’s grace upon you, that as we celebrate this time, He may impart to you a renewed measure of His loving power!
Happy Thanksgiving 2018!
Earlier this month, as we were approaching this next holiday the enemy tried to get us off tract with what God wanted us to do, which was “to be thankful”. I say this because as many of you also felt, we were a little “shell shocked” after the recent Midterm Elections here, as the Liberals won the House of Representatives. But, as the Lord spoke to us, shortly after (the prophetic word He had us send out on Nov. 10th), we are not to allow those things to move us, because we know that God is in control & things are not as they appear to be.
After this, as Thanksgiving was approaching, we couldn’t help finding ourselves being drawn into a awareness of “thankfulness”, because of ALL that the Lord has done for us. I am sure that we all have had such times & it is always good that we reflect on them. We have SO much to be thankful for! Unfortunately some people can get fixated on “what they do not have” & they can find themselves being pulled into a snare, not realizing that they have missed something very special! Because when we take our eyes off of being “thankful”, God says we can find ourselves being pulled into a state of covetousness.
Most people do not like to talk about covetousness…many do not even recognize it exists & may even make excuses by explaining that their dissatisfaction in what they have is normal & doesn’t need to change. But, God tells us something different. InĀ Luke 12:15, Jesus said: “Take heed & beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consists not in the abundance of the things which he possesses”. In Col. 3:5, the Lord says: “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry”. That is a powerful statement & something we all should take to heart…He commands that we KILL these things in our lives! In Heb. 13:5, the Lord says: “Let your manner of life be without covetousness, & be content with such things as you have, for He hath said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you”.
We have His promise that He will “provide all of our need, according to His riches in glory, by Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:19)! So, if we find ourselves being un-thankful, what is going on in our heart? Our heart is literally at war against the word of God (yeah, gulp!). Jesus said we were to “take heed & beware of covetousness”. He said this because He knew what covetousness truly was…it IS Idolatry (ouch!!!). Some may find it hard to admit that this is true, but it is something that we cannot let slip, because God is ever present in our lives…He has promised that He will never leave us or forsake us. But, He goes even FURTHER than that & adds…He will never FAIL us! (Deut. 31:6, 8, Josh. 1:5)…that is a 3 fold confirmation from our Father!
We all can look back on our lives & see many things. Sure, we all have had some good times…we all have had some bad times…we all have had some easy times…we all have had some difficult times. The thing is, no matter what has happened, we can maintain a heart of thankfulness! How can we do this? In Phip. 2:4, God says: “Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others”. I know that some people can actually take this verse & make their lives worse…LOL! How? By their looking at others that are doing MUCH better than them! Look at the mansion he has…or look at his Ferrari…or look at her clothes & jewelry…or look how healthy they are! There are always going to be others who may appear to be doing better than us. Looking at others this way can make us unthankful, because we can always find someone who is doing “better than us”…but God in His wisdom told us “you shall not covet” (Ex. 20:17).
But, the Lord didn’t stop at verse 4 of Phil. 2…He continued in verse 5-11, where we find a powerful message: “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”.
It should be easy to see that when He said to “look on the things of others” He wanted us to look at those who have less than us, so we could SEE just how BLESSED we truly are! This will cause thanksgiving to arise in our hearts! He said “LET this mind be in you”! All of His life on Earth, He looked on the things of others…all He did was SERVE! Wow…those words in verses 5-11 are truly humbling, if we can receive them! He served & was thankful…He was content with the things that He “had”. That’s quite a statement considering He was God & chose to make himself of no reputation, take upon him the form of a servant & be made in the likeness of men! That was bad enough…but He didn’t stop there, did He? He, being found in fashion as a man, humbled himself & became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Wow…kinda makes us wonder about ourselves, doesn’t it? We look at our lives as they are…with our struggles, our challenges, our disappointments, etc…they don’t really come close to comparing to what He did for us! We have SO much to be thankful for, in JUST what He did there! Not even adding all that He has done as we walk through this life, with all of its problems & situations! But, did you know that our having “thanksgiving” in our hearts is not just something that we all should possess…it is actually something that we dearly “need”. Why? Because without it, we cannot enter into His gate! Psm. 100:4 says: “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving & into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him & bless his name”.
Hmmm…could this be why some of our prayers are not being answered? Just something to ponder! So, as we come to this special day where people in the USA set aside as “thanksgiving Day”, to many this is just a day they get off work…or “turkey day”…or a day to watch football on TV. But to us, it is a special time…a time for us to reflect on ALL that the Lord has done for us this past year. So, let’s take some time & REALLY give some thought to some of the things He has done for us. I know there are probably some things that the enemy would try to point out that God “did NOT do for you”, but we do not want him to get an advantage over us, for we are not ignorant of his devices (2 Cor. 2:11).
NO, God is sovereign & He knows what is best for us, He knows the right timing for things to come! Instead, let’s choose to “let this mind be in us”…a mind that sees only the goodness of God…a mind that only sees the blessing of God…a mind that is truly THANKFUL & full of thanksgiving!!! Why? Because doing so can change our entire outlook on life…it can actually change the atmosphere around us…it can make even good things gravitate to us. What a powerful perk for just doing what we are suppose to do!
As we celebrate this special day, let’s enter His gates with thanksgiving in our heart! Let’s carry a heart of thanksgiving all year long…for we know that because of Him, we will see good days ahead!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Love & blessings,
Pastors Mark & Julie Moore
Revival-Fire Church
Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »