Praise day 19 - Happy Thanksgiving!

I'd like to wish all of you a wonderful, peace-filled, blessed Thanksgiving holiday!

Praise the Lord for all of His many blessings!

Proverbs 29:2 Again? A nugget worth uncovering

² When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice;
    when the wicked rule, the people groan.

Come on, Solomon, are you going to go over this same plowed field again? Nooooo, there is a nugget here that we need to unearth!

Check out the first part of the verse:

            "when the righteous thrive, the people rejoice.."

Now, how long has it been since you saw a righteous person thriving? And when you did, did you take a moment to rejoice?

There are two prongs to my question -- one is, did you take the time to thank our Father for blessing that righteous person? Whether it was you, yourself who was thriving, or someone else, did the overwhelming feeling of gratitude possess you, and cause you to thank Him for His mercy and grace?

 Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (I Thess. 5:18)

The second prong is this --- if it WAS someone else, did you take the time to rejoice WITH that righteous person? Sometimes it is such a blessing to have another Christian take the time to notice, and to let you know that they noticed!   

It's a wonderful thing to praise God together. It's a wonderful thing to be able to tell your story to an understanding soul, and allow yourself the opportunity to "testify" as the old folks said. It's an opportunity to encourage your hearer to hang on, to keep following a righteous path, and to claim His promises of blessing and His presence. 

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)

So many good things in a small nugget!

Happy Thanksgiving

I'd like to wish all of you a blessed Thanksgiving Day and a happy day of celebration with family and friends. Spend some time thinking about (and maybe adding to) your list of Gratitudes from yesterday's post, and pause to pray. 
Praise the Father for all of His blessings.

We'll be resting today and tomorrow . . . we'll be back on next Monday to resume our studies in Proverbs!

Gratitudes

I'd like to challenge all of you to join me in a "Gratitudes" activity. I'm sure that at some point in your life, whether as a child or an adult, you have been encouraged to make a list of the things for which you are thankful.

Not a going-through-the-motions kind of thing, but a real, stop in your tracks, grab a piece of paper one. Do you have paper and pen handy? Good!

We have so much to be thankful for. We are so blessed. Try to go beyond the things that first come to your mind, and think about your life. What makes you truly grateful when you think about it?

First on my personal list would be my salvation:

Psalm 118:21
I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation.

Colossians 2:6-8
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

Of course, I'm grateful for my health, and for the love of my family. I'm also grateful for all of you:

2 Thessalonians 1:3
We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing.

I've been blessed by the opportunity to post here and be challenged and encouraged by your responses. God has used this in ways that I never would have dreamed, and hope that I have been able to help some of you.
2 Corinthians 4:15
All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

I'm grateful for the small things, too, like when I can go to bed in a warm house, hearing the hum of the clothes dryer and the dishwasher going, while I lie down to rest.

I hope that you will take a few moments to make a "Gratitudes" list, and to lift up a prayer of thankfulness to our Father, the source of all of our blessings.
If you have time, leave a comment with a couple of your "gratitudes" for others to share.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We will be taking a break from posting, in order to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday with our families. We sincerely hope that you will enjoy a peaceful and blessed holiday, and we invite you to join us as we count the many blessings that God has showered on us, and with grateful hearts acknowledge His care and compassion.  We hope that all of our readers have safe travels and happy hearts, and we'll see you here on the Monday following Thanksgiving!

Come, ye thankful people, come, raise the song of harvest home;
All is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin.
God our Maker doth provide for our wants to be supplied;
Come to God’s own temple, come, raise the song of harvest home.