Thanksgiving’s Exponential Potentials
 
Thanksgiving’s Exponential Potentials By Pastor Dan Kennedy © November 22, 2015 www.pastorkennedy.com Psalm 92:1–4 1 It is good to praise the Lord and make music to Your Name, O Most High, 2 to proclaim Your Love in the morning and Your Faithfulness at night, 3 to the music of the ten-stringed lyre and the melody of the harp. 4 For you make me glad by Your Deeds, O Lord; I sing for joy at the works of Your Hands. Do we have a missing element in our day-to-day lives, which can calm our soul and give solace to troubled hearts? We may be missing thanksgiving! The Myth of Instant Spirituality There is no such thing as “Instant Spirituality”. We might think that going to a particular seminar, reading a certain book, listening to a specific sermon, making ourselves do “penance”, or applying some super-spiritual, super glue “formula” to our lives, will cause a flurry of super growth in the spiritual realm, causing us to grow overnight into a spiritual giant. It isn’t so. We live in a day and age that promotes the “silver bullet” approach to winning in life and spiritual health. There is the profound transforming work of the Holy Spirit in giving us “New Birth” through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ, but there are no “silver bullets” in reaching instant spirituality and maturity in Christ – Spiritual maturity only comes through a daily “growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”. Many times this maturity and growth continues, in a practical way, as we traverse carefully, slowly and painfully through serious and sometimes very deep valleys in life’s journey. It is true that applying the spiritual basics to our daily life: Reading, meditating and studying the Scriptures; prayer and communion with God; and fellowship with other believers, is a Biblical model for spiritual growth over the period of our lifetime; but, simply trying to grow super-spiritual butterfly wings overnight and skipping the “caterpillar and cocoon stage” is not God’s method of growing His spiritual children from infancy to spiritual maturity. • It takes time. • It takes trial. • It takes endurance. • It is not always fun. • It takes dedication. • It takes the confrontation of sin in our lives. It begins feeding on the “milk” of the Word, then being able to sustain the “meat” of the Word. It takes daily deepening our walk with God. It takes…Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving: A Key but Sometimes Hidden Ingredient for Spiritual Growth Today we are discussing Thanksgiving and how it’s opportunity is an exponential gift from God! In choosing to have a “spirit of Thanksgiving”, we are simply adding another key element into the spiritual tool belt of the believer in Christ. Many people have a tendency to be somewhat skeptical and anxious. The supernatural quality of Thanksgiving to God, overrules our natural tendencies to be dissatisfied, anxious and unbelieving. Proposed Definition of Thanksgiving: Thanksgiving is that supernatural attitude of the believing heart that can supersede all human events, emotions and experiences with a heartfelt spirit of praise and gratitude, to the undisputed Creator of heaven and earth, Lord of our life, and Eternal God and King, Who holds all things in His Holy, Just and Loving Hand. When should we have an attitude of Thanksgiving? Why is it important to have an Attitude of Thanksgiving, even when Life is Confusing, Frustrating and Painful? True Thanksgiving to God re-centers our thoughts on Christ, causing confusion to be rightly adjusted and the peace of God to secure the control of our life while we wait on the Lord. o Thanksgiving brings us security when things are clouded, and answers to critical decisions are unclear and confusing, as we rest on the Lord and our spirit is anchored through a deep and unexplainable trust in God and His love for us. o Thanksgiving gives stability and patience when we anticipate blessing, but we haven’t seen it, and do not know if the outcome will be favorable. o Thanksgiving gives hope when things go wrong, but we are strengthened with the sincere belief that “all things work together for good to them that Love the Lord.” o Thanksgiving is particularly effective in uncertain or distressful circumstances, when we allow God’s Word, through His Holy Spirit to refresh our spirit and give sustenance to our soul. o Thanksgiving is appropriate when people or circumstances are disappointing and look like they may never be right, but because we put our trust and hope in God, we do not have to put our faith in people or circumstances, both of which are uncertain, unreliable and subject to the temporal vulnerabilities facing all of the human race. o Thanksgiving becomes joyful praise to God when events miraculously “come together”, wrongs are made right, and life is sorted out! Why should we offer Thanksgiving during times of Joy and Peace? • When we are blessed, giving Thanksgiving to God refocuses the glory of success away from the natural clamor of human nature for its own attention, and rightly identifies the true Source worthy of all praise and gratitude. • As parents we should recount God’s blessings to our children, giving thanks to God, identifying Him as the true Resource of our blessings. In doing so we may actually be fulfilling a continuum of God’s promise of blessing to the third and fourth generation. What can be the hazards of being blessed? • What can be the hazards of blessing? Our own pride can deceive us causing us to falsely believe we caused or deserved our blessing! • In the exuberance of blessing we can forget to give the deserved thanksgiving to God who gave the bountiful harvest. • Lack of thanksgiving over time capitulates intended blessings into potential destructiveness because of misdirected and self-centered adulation. Why should we offer Thanksgiving in a time of Anxiety and Fear? • A thankful spirit reaches beyond the supposed “reality” of a terrible circumstance or event, by holding on to the fact that God knows and cares for us far greater than any hurt can destroy us – from adversity, in any negative situation. Philippians 4:6-7 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. • Thanksgiving rests on the fact that God is able to deliver us, if He chooses to do so! But Thanksgiving does not hold God to the necessity of deliverance! – In the spirit and faith of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, seen in Daniel 3. “O Nebuchadnezzar, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” Daniel 3:16-18 • Thanksgiving reestablishes the emotions of our heart damaged by fear and anxiety and causes our soul to rise once again, above the potential of dire circumstances, through a spirit of praise and gratefulness. o Thankfulness vs. unthankfulness o Thankfulness vs. boastfulness and pride o Thankfulness vs. negative reaction o Thankfulness vs. anxiousness o Thankfulness vs. jealousy o Thankfulness vs. depression o Thankfulness vs. the burden of care o Thankfulness vs. bitterly forgetting God • Thorns in our Path – or in our Side Responses to negative things in our life – to the sorrows and hardships of life are absolutely normal; they are attitudes and emotions that everyone experiences. These are those emotions that cause us to be unthankful, negative, anxious, depressed, or that which causes us to bear the heavy burden of care… o Worldly Cares, the Deceitfulness of Riches, and Covetous Desires are those Thorns, which choke the Good Seed. Mark 4:14-20 14 The sower sows the word. 15 And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. 16 And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. 17 And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. 18 And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, 19 but the cares of the world and Éthe deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 20 But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” If we are experiencing a time of “thorns” in our life, we should seek to develop Thanksgiving into our personal time of worship of God. o Paul experienced periods in his life that he was embattled by painful “thorns” 2 Corinthians 12:7–10 7 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. Thanksgiving in a time of Personal Worship • It is beyond normal, in fact, it is supernatural, when we have a genuine, non-pretentious spirit of thanksgiving! Only God can give such a gracious spirit. • A spirit of Thanksgiving that supersedes these “normal” negative reactions can only be inspired and sustained by the Holy Spirit. • We should dedicate more time to thanksgiving in our personal worship. • The Scripture reveals what can primarily facilitate Thanksgiving in our life: Songs of Joy – in Praise and Worship of God! Thanksgiving in times of Peace, Joy or Adversity In a world that does not know peace we can have both peace and thanksgiving. Peace and Thanksgiving that passes understanding goes to the heart of trusting in the One who we know is in control of our lives. May each of us ask God for the empowerment, by His Spirit, to have a spirit of Thanksgiving! May a song of praise be on our lips. Psalm 92:1–4 1 It is good to praise the Lord and make music to Your Name, O Most High, 2 to proclaim Your Love in the morning and Your Faithfulness at night, 3 to the music of the ten-stringed lyre and the melody of the harp. 4 For you make me glad by Your Deeds, O Lord; I sing for joy at the works of Your Hands. Thanksgiving is that supernatural attitude of the believing heart that can supersede all human events, emotions and experiences with a heartfelt spirit of praise and gratitude, to the undisputed Creator of heaven and earth, Lord of our life, and Eternal God and King, Who holds all things in His Holy, Just and Loving Hand. http://www.pastorkennedy.comshapeimage_2_link_0