Thank You, LORD!!!

  "Enter into His gates with Thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless His name. For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting; and HIS truth endureth to all generations." Psalms 100:3 & 4.

These verses came to mind when I was thinking of this week of Thanksgiving. Usually the first things that we think of, that we are thankful for, are material things. No doubt, we are all thankful for our homes, food, clothes, etc. But what about the spritirual blessings from the Lord? Ephesians 1:3 says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." The fifth verse of Psalm 100 listed above gives us a list of some of those spiritual blessings.

First, we can give thanks to the Lord that He is GOOD! "For the LORD is good;" Ps. 100:5.  Psalms 107:8 says, "Oh that men would praise the Lord for HIS GOODNESS...". He is good, where we are NOT! "...THERE IS NONE THAT DOETH GOOD, no not one!" Psalm 14:3. "For I know that in me (that is my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing;" Romans 7:18. It is this goodness of God that led us to repentence unto salvation!! "....the GOODNESS OF GOD leadeth thee to repentance?" Romans 2:4. His goodness sought us out with a call of the Spirit to be saved! Because of His Goodness, He has made us His people as only He could! "Know ye that the LORD He is God:it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture." Psalm 100:3. Praise the Lord for HIS GOODNESS and His call to Salvation!

Secondly, we can thank the Lord for His EVERLASTING MERCY! " His mercy is EVERLASTING.." Psalm 100:5. The Lord in His Goodness gave the call to repentance for Salavtion, but on top of that, He made it EVERLASTING! "Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin,.." Exodus 34:7. "Who remembered us in our low estate: FOR HIS MERCY ENDURETH FOREVER!" Psalm 136:23. When His Mercy forgave our transgression and sins, it was FOREVER, and He will remain beside us for eternity! "Let your conversation (life) be without covetousness/ and be content with such things as ye have: for He hath said, I will NEVER LEAVE THEE, NOR FORSAKE THEE!" Hebrews 13:5. Thank the Lord that His Mercy endures forever and that He will never leave us on this pilgrim way!  

Lastly, we can thank the Lord that His Truth endures to ALL GENERATIONS! "..and His truth endureth to all generations." Ps. 100:5. "Forever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven." Psalm 119:89. " Thou shalt keep them , O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever." Psalm 12:7. The Lord's truth, or Word, is just as good 100 years from now as it is today! We can teach them to our children, as instructed in God's Word, to keep them in the way which they should go. If we have nothing else to give them on the day that we leave this earth to go to our heavenly home, may we leave HIS WORD as our heritage to them! "Thy testimonies have I taken as an HERITAGE FOREVER: for they are the rejoicing my heart. I have inclined mine heart to perform they statutes alway, even unto the end." Psalm 119:111 & 112. "For His merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the LORD endureth forever. Praise Ye the LORD." Psalm 117:2.

This Thanksgiving, let's remember to thank the Lord for all of the spiritual blessings He has bestowed upon us! Praise Him for His Goodness, Everlasting Mercy, and Enduring Truth! "Oh that men would praise the Lord for His Goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men. Let the redeemed of the Lord SAY SO, whom He hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy." Psalm 107: 1&2 May the Lord richly bless you and your family this Thanksgiving!

Losing Your Life!

Most of us have a lot of our daily information and activities that revolve largely around a computer or smartphone of some kind. Personal information, picutres, business info, etc. are connected to the use and function of these devices sometimes more than we realize or like to admit. But what happens when they crash, or are even hacked? Well, I found out this last week! My computer was attacked by a suspect Kryptolocke, or either FBI Virus. We were told by the warning on our screen that all of our files, pics, etc had been encrypted. Basically, they had taken all of our info, turned it into code form, and were holding it ransom. We had three days to pay $300 or we would lose our info forever. Talk about invasion of privacy-right into our living room!  We had lost all of our "life", or daily way of operations, for day-to-day communication, all personal info, some of my husband's preaching messages, and my ONLY WAY TO TYPE MY BLOG! The only way we could get our computer running again, is for SOMEONE that knows HOW to REDEEM OUR PROGRAMS,, AND RE-FORMATING THEM! This got me thinking....

We have to LOSE OUR LIFE, in order to gain SALVATION! Jesus said in Matthew 10:39, " He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that LOSETH HIS LIFE FOR MY SAKE shall FIND IT." We have to see ourselves and lives as LOST before the LORD BEFORE we can be saved. We have to be LOST before we can be FOUND. Just as my computer was held captive by the hackers, WE have to realize that we are lost in our sin and need to be recovered from the enemy that has held us captive, under sin's curse! If we don't, we will not see the NEED  for SALVATION! We HAVE to LOSE our sinful lost state, and we FOUND by the Saviour. Just as we have to have our devices REDEEMED by the one who knows the answer for the "CLEANING OUT" of the viruses infecting them, we have to give all of our LIFE to the Saviour! He ALONE CAN CLEANSE US! "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, PURGE YOUR CONSCIENCE FROM DEAD WORKS to serve the living GOD?" Hebrews 9:14. 

We have to lose our life to find something NEW! We will have to have some things replaced that we had used before on our computer that were old, due to them being broken, and being translated, or encrypted, into a form we cannot use.  Is this not what happens when we are saved? Jesus takes our broken pieces, translates them into something NEW, and put them back together for HIS GLORY, so we can operate according to HIS WILL. " Who hath delivered us from the power of darness, and hath TRANSLATED us into the kingdom of his dear Son;" Colossians 1:13. "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a NEW creature, OLD things are passed away;behold, all things are become NEW." II Corinth. 5:17. 

Lastly, we have to lose our life to find something BETTER! I was upset that I lost a lot of good pictures I had taken, mostly of the children. My husband said, "You may end of with some even BETTER ones of them!, " trying to help encourage me. That got me thinking too! Sometimes we think or look back at what we have given up or lost as far as material things we had, ambitions, etc. But, if it is for Christ's sake, we WILL gain or receive something BETTER! "For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a BETTER hope did; by the which we draw nigh to God." Hebrews 7:19. ".. by how much also he is the mediator of a BETTER COVENANT, which was established upon BETTER PROMISES." Hebrews 8:6.  " ....There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, FOR MY SAKE, and the gospel's But he shall recieve an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life." Mark 10:29 & 30."I am crucified with Christ;nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20. If we lose, or die to our own desires and make His OUR OWN,  we will find a better way for our lives-HIS WAY! "He must increase, but I must DECREASE." John 3:30.  "If any man will come after me, let him DENY himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." Matthew 16:25.

WE have to lose OUR life to find Salvation, Something New, and Something Better. Jesus is the ONLY ONE that can cleanse, redeem, and restore us to new life for Him. In order to FIND TRUE LIFE, we have to LOSE OURS and make it HIS! "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life FOR MY SAKE SHALL FIND IT." Matthew 16:26.