I hope you are surviving the arctic blast that has sent the country into a deep freeze for the last 4 days. Here in Texas, we have hit as low as 13° F overnight but THANK GOD the power grid has held up and we have not had a repeat of 2022 when our power was out for days. Well, I guess that is a good way to reveal today’s emphasis…BE THANKFUL! We are currently in a series called “The Call on Our Life” which is based on 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. In Part 1, we discussed that there are roadblocks we must persevere through to achieve the state to “ALWAYS BEING JOYFUL” regardless of circumstances. In the Part 2, we examined what it means to “NEVER STOP PRAYING.” Today we wrap up with what I believe is the hardest one of all. Let’s read our theme verse one last time…
“Always be joyful.
Never stop praying.
Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.”
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NLT)
Let me ask a silly question, do you struggle with “BEING THANKFUL IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES” as well? I want to be, I try to be, but then discontentment creeps in over situations I cannot change and then my gratitude goes out the door which is crazy! We are in a Spiritual War as Ephesians 6:10-12 tells us, against a real enemy who wants to steal, kill and destroy us (John 10:10). So, what are some areas that we are vulnerable to attack? Think about it before you scroll down…
Here are some of the major areas I see…
- Struggling in School.
- Or questioning what to do with your life?
- Unfulfilled at our jobs.
- In a dead-end job or underutilized or not allowed to work on the project you want.
- Lack of money in the bank.
- Not able to meet your needs — There is more month there is money to pay all the bills.
- Not able to meet all your wants — Can’t keep up with the Joneses.
- Unhappy in your marriage.
- Or you cannot find a spouse.
- Children are far from the Lord or making choices that do not honor the Christian lifestyle they were raised in.
- Or you want kinds but you’re unable.
- What else?
The enemy is ruthless and will hit us every way possible. I think that contentment or should l say discontentment is the biggest obstacle to “being thankful in all circumstances.” However, the world’s culture demands that we have the newest and best gadgets, phones, houses, cars, you name it…SO, GRATITUDE is difficult to muster when we have endless advertisements hitting us showing how much we don’t have INSTEAD of realizing what we do have. One of my favorite passages on this is from Proverbs 30:7-9 (NLT) which says:
“O God, I beg two favors from you; let me have them before I die.
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- First, help me never to tell a lie.
- Second, give me neither poverty nor riches!
Give me just enough to satisfy my needs.
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- For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say, “Who is the LORD?”
- And if I am too poor, I may steal and thus insult God’s holy name.”
How different would our lives be if we embraced this wisdom? I struggled not with “keeping up with the Joneses,” but with having “too much month left” after getting paid. I prayed and prayed for more money so that we did not have to struggle so much but I was not doing my part at the time to remove the consumer debt we had nor save money. The interesting thing is, it was not until my wife, and I got serious about getting out of debt that God answered my prayer for “more margin” in our finances. Once we were doing things God’s way, things snowballed (in a positive way that is) and miracles started happening. With the car paid off and no consumer debt, we started paying down the mortgage and as 
of April 30, 2022, we paid off the mortgage! There is nothing greater than seeing “PAID IN FULL!” Without a mortgage, we started saving money like crazy and paid for our two kids to go to college in cash, (the last payment was made just recently on January 7, 2024) PRAISE GOD! He is so good, so faithful and yet I doubted that this could have happened, ugh! The key is following what the Bible says, and instead of going to God for our greeds, go to Him for our needs. The bridge is a grateful heart. Psalms 100:4-5 (NLT) says,
“Enter His gates with thanksgiving; go into His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and praise his name. For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and His faithfulness continues to each generation.”
Too often we get consumed with what we don’t have instead of being thankful for what we do. I shared this a while ago in the ★ Thought for the Day – Begging God For_____? ★ post but thought it would be good to revisit. I saw a plaque once that said…
“What if you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday?”
If that were true, how much would be gone when the alarm clock broke the silence at 5:30 am? It is really convicting to me. Cultivating a heart of gratitude really is the key, I would like to reverse this and pose this question to you…
“I am thankful for ____________?”
For me I am so grateful for the life God has blessed me with:
- A beautiful wife, who is my best friend and has been a constant motivator to help me reach a healthier lifestyle (In the past year, we have started routinely going to the gym, hikes/walks, and started learning to play pickleball and paddle boarding.)
- Wonderful children who are both married, out on their own, and this May 2024 will both be college graduates.
- A great home which is paid for – no mortgage, praise God!
- And an amazing job which I complain about way tooooo much about, BUT God has used it as the vehicle for providing for me and the family for the last (15) years here in Texas!
Words cannot express my thankfulness! Most of all I am thankful for who I am in God and though I am far from perfect, He has blessed me regardless with an incredible life and a ministry of facilitating Bible Studies Monday through Friday to help men engage with the Bible which has given me a community of friends who have supported me through the turbulent times. A heart of Gratitude is essential because without it, I could overlook all that he has done for me and just focus on the number of zeros in my bank account or the size of my house or the year of my car. 1 Timothy 6:6-10 (NLT) is a quintessential passage to focus on when we feel a spirit of discontentment creeping in.
“Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it. So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content. But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.”
There is so much in these (5) verses that I could write a post on this alone but suffice to say, contentment is what unlocks joys. Being grateful for the provisions from God guards from going down dangerous paths to gain more. And loving God over money and possessions will bring freedom! And at the risk of repeating myself, the antidote of course when we are not following 1 Timothy is to go back and to Philippians 4:6-7 (NIV):
“Do not be anxious about anything [or you could say Persevere through everything,] but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Being joyful, prayerful, and thankful is not my first response when life beats me down. As I shared in the previous post in this series, the last 6 months of my life both personally and professionally has been anything but that, but
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 is a call for us to be different from those around us and a blueprint for how to overcome.
- Our life should reflect Jesus and we should “ALWAYS BE JOYFUL.”
- Each and every day we are to “NEVER STOP PRAYING,” and commune with our Father in Heaven.
- And regardless of what we are going through, we should “BE THANKFUL IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES, FOR THIS IS GOD’S WILL FOR YOU WHO BELONG TO CHRIST JESUS.”
We achieve that through…Perseverance – Petition – Gratitude! Stay warm!
If you want to read all the post in this series including my 2023 retrospection, just click on this…“The Call on Our Life”
★ ★ ★ DIG DEEPER ★ ★ ★
Here is a collection of where we have unpacked the Biblical Worldview of Money (How our Finances and Possessions should be handled from God’s Perspective) called $ Building Your Money Muscle $.
“Always be joyful. 
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” 
God bless me indeed so that I can be a blessing. Enlarge my territory, have Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” 
Last night my wife and I were at Cycle class and the instructor said, “Welcome to 2024, New Year, New You.” Then quickly said “No, it’s still the same old you, but will you choose to push through to make a change.” That put a fire in me, and I left it all on that bike last night. Then this morning I decided to get going on the post I teased you about 3 days ago. We are starting a series today called 
“Always be joyful. 
“No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening — it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way. So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees.” 
Daily Dependence 