pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: thanksgiving


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All in All

Readings: Isaiah 55: 1-5 and 1 Corinthians 10: 1-5

Even though the Israelites wandered around the desert for 40 years, they were well cared for. God had led them out of 400 years of slavery and had rescued them from Pharaoh’s army. He had provided manna, quail, and water when needed. He was constantly leading them from the cloud and pillar of fire. If not for their times of disobedience, it would have been a nice, relatively short journey. In their disobedience is a lack of trust in God.

Even though we too wander off from time to time and become lost in the wilderness of our sin, we too are well cared for by God. Through Jesus Christ we have been redeemed from slavery to our sin. In the time we spend in worship and personal study we are fed by the Word. As we go through our daily life we are guided and led by the presence of the Holy Spirit. We too are blessed richly by God. We too are a chosen people.

In my life it can be very easy to take for granted all of the ways God blesses and cares for me. I think that can be true for many of us living in a modern and free country. So we too must heed Paul’s warning. We too must not get complacent and take God and His blessings for granted. We too must not accept where we are but ever seek to be continuing on our journey of faith.

In order to not fall into complacency let us stay in regular contact with God. In our times together may we daily offer our sincere thanksgiving for His many blessings and also delve into the Word so that we are always growing to be more and more Christ-like. If we pursue God with all of our hearts, He will become our all in all.


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Thank You God

Thank you God!  Today is a day when we give thanks to God for His many blessings.  We are grateful to be with friends and family and to gather together in fellowship over the meal.  We are thankful for all of our material and physical blessings as well – for job and home and other possessions.  We are richly blessed and it is good to give thanks to our provider.

We are most deeply blessed, though, by our relationship with the living God.  In God we find our Savior and our hope.  Like Job, all we have can fall away, yet we can still count ourselves blessed because we know God and God knows us.  Although hard times will come, we can trust in God in the midst of and through these difficulties.  God is faithful and true.

I am most thankful for His love and mercy.  In my humanity I stumble and I sin.  In these times my love for God fails.  But His love never fails.  In these times, when I repent and seek God again, His mercies flow down upon me like a powerful rain, washing me clean, making me new, drawing me back into that relationship again.  Thank you God.

Scripture reference: Psalm 25: 1-10


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An Act of Praise

“I will praise the Lord all my life.” (Psalm 146, verse 2a)

We find this line at the beginning of Psalm 146, one of the “Hallelujah” psalms.  Each of the last five psalms in the book focus on the idea of praising the Lord.  It is a great way to end the book of Psalms.  In verse 2a the psalmist pledges to praise God all of the time.  This too should be our pledge.

How would our daily life and perspective on life change if we really did live in a state of constant praise to our God?  How would our life look if all we did was bring praise and glory to God?  I imagine our witness would be quite different!  If we lived and breathed a constant praise to God, imagine how our light would shine!

We are created to live this way, implanted with the spark of the divine since our conception.  God’s desire is for us to reflect His light and love all of the time, not just in church for an hour or just when we are with our church friends.

To live as a constant praise to God requires some choices.  First, we must fully trust in Him as our all in all – our provider, comforter, healer, creator, …  Second, we must actively thank God for all of the blessings in our daily lives.  In doing so we reinforce that God is really our all.  From this deep well of trust and thanksgiving, may we pour out our lives today and every day as an act of praise to our God and King!

Scripture reference: Psalm 146


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The Gift of Music

Have you ever heard a song and continued with the words or the tune long after it stopped playing?  Ever had a song come to mind as you were praying over a concern or trouble?  Music has a way of soothing and also a way of encouraging.

Psalm 124 is believed to be a call and response song often sung as people made their way up to the temple for worship.  The content of the song recalls how God has intervened in the past to save Israel from its enemies.  It was a concrete reminder of how God is always present to protect the people, always there to preserve at lead a remnant.  As Psalm 124 was sung, it also reminded the people of their dependence on God.

We too are often blessed by God’s hand and are often living under His protection.  The words of songs or hymns that we know can remind us of these gifts.  Their words can also encourage and lift us up in times of need.  Music can be powerful.

Psalm 124 prepared the people for worship as they made their way to the temple.  It put them in the right frame of mind.  I imagine at times people would sing or hum the song as they went through the ups and downs of their daily lives.  Music serves to connect us to God as well, reminding us of who God is and of how we are in relationship with God.  May we too find encouragement and strength when needed and may we offer up our praise and thanksgiving as well through the gift of music each day.

Scripture reference: Psalm 124


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Stand Firm

When life is going well we feel that God is with us, watching over us, guiding us, blessing us.  We feel the God of love’s presence and offer up thanksgiving for His role in our life.  When life seems a little bit sideways or the struggle comes to our little corner of the world, then often we wonder where God is.  The answer, of course, is that He is just as close in the trial as in the smooth sailing.  But for some reason our natural inclination is to assume God has abandoned us when life gets challenging.

Paul encourages us to put on the full armor of God.  By doing so we will be able to stand firm in times of trial.  The fully prepared Christian has truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, and God word.  To put these on means to use and train with them each day as a Roman soldier would with his shield, sword, and armor.  If one does not train and practice daily, one is not fully prepared when the challenge arises.  We need daily practice of the disciplines of faith so we are strong and ready when the battle comes our way.  If we are diligent each day, we will be ready all the time.

When the waters get a little rough it is not because God has left the building.  It is because Satan has entered and stirred up the waters a bit.  In this moment we can flex our spiritual muscles and fall back on our training.  We can draw strength from God’s promises of salvation and peace.  We can gird ourselves up with truth and righteousness.  We can live strongly in our faith.  The full armor of God will allow us to withstand the devil and put him to flight.  Stand firm in the full armor of God today!

Scripture reference: Ephesians 6: 10-20


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Lost in Him

If one were to pick up the newspaper or turn on the TV or surf the internet, one would maybe think that Christmas is just around the corner.  It may be that there is more on sale after Christmas than there was before Christmas.  Even for those who had a blessed and wonderful Christmas and thought they were satisfied on December 25, all of the advertising draws one to ponder what else one might need.

I wrote ‘need’ but really should have used ‘want’ instead.  When we are stuck on focusing on what we want too much then contentment becomes elusive.  Yes, it is difficult to be still and quiet amidst all the noise, yet God is still very present and is still seeking our presence.

The psalmist reminds us to sing out to God our thanksgiving, to see Him at work in the rising of the sun and the falling of the rain.  God delights in those whose hope is in Him.  Today may we get so lost in singing our praises to God that we become lost in Him, so that the noise of this world fades away and He is all we have left.

Psalm 147: 7-14


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Shout for Joy and Sing

Do you feel blessed by God?  Sometimes that is a hard question to answer.  Maybe in some ways one feels blessed while in other ways, not so much.  Life naturally brings is hard moments when it is hard to see God’s blessings.  Yet, in the big picture, we are so blessed by God in so many ways.  We are indeed blessed.

In Psalm 65, David reminds us that those God chooses are blessed by the things of His temple.  We too have the opportunity for these blessings.  Each Sunday is a chance to receive God’s blessings, poured out in song, prayer, and word.

David also reminds us of another of God’s blessings.  In verse five we are reminded that God is the “hope of all the ends of the earth.”  Or hope lies in Christ and the power over death that He won on the cross.  By the blood of the Lamb, God offers us the forgiveness of our sins.  What a blessing indeed!

God blesses each of us in so many ways.  In ways large and small, He provides.  For all of His blessings, whether physical, emotional, or spiritual, I am thankful.  This day may we shout for joy and sing as an offering of our thanksgiving to our Lord God Almighty!

Scripture reference: Psalm 65