How Can I Thank You?

So I really like my wife, you know, and she likes me too. I mean, well, I love her, and so sometimes, you know, I want to thank her for, well, tolerating me. But how can I say thank you, you know, besides just saying it. There are many ways we can thank others. Psalms 30:4 says "Sing to the Lord all of you followers, give thanks to His holy name." Am I a follower of God? Uh, yeah, I'm trying... Ah, so here it is, a song of thanksgiving. So maybe one way I can be thankful is to sing. Now I don't know that my wife would want to hear me singing a song to her, but you know who does.. God. And a great place for this... church. Every week at church some songs are being sung to thank God. And in this scripture it isn't a question, but it really is a command. Now maybe not all of us are great singers. (meee meee mee mmee) But no matter how bad we might sound, my heart has a glorious song for the Lord, one that says "Thanks for loving me, thanks for the breath, thanks for Your son, thanks for rice crispie treats, and of course, thanks be to your holy name. Oh, and thanks for the milk and the honey too. Praise God... Amen"

Thank You

Well, I get my kids some ice cream, and you know, when it's all gone my youngest starts crying.... "I want more." So I understand why he's crying, cuz, you know, I wanted more too, but then a part of me is thinking, "Hey, just be thankful for what you got." Sounds like something my dad would've said. So God has moments of ice cream in your life, but you know, not all moments are a bowl of ice-cream. Being thankful to God isn't always because everything is golden today, being thankful is recognizing that He loves you, that He desires for you to have joy, and He wants to give you some.. well, ice cream in life. I think He refers to it as a Promised Land filled with milk and honey. And it's not like the ice cream that’s all sugary and fattening, God's promises are wonderful for you. In I Chronicles 23:30 the Priests were required to "Stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord. They were to do the same in the evening." So this wasn't an optional thank you, and it didn't matter whether they were grumpy that day, (or had run out of ice cream). I think we can learn from this, we are called a royal priesthood. Let's get thankful every morning and every night! And ummm.   Thanks for listening.

The Blessing is Collecting

Proverbs 10:22 Solomon speaks by the Holy Spirit saying "The blessing of the Lord brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it." The blessing brings wealth, but without trouble. Okay, so has God given you the blessing? Well, yes, Galatians says that Christ redeemed us so that the blessing of Abraham would be given to us. Now this blessing brings wealth, but then the balance is, that God adds not trouble to it." Why the balance? Can wealth bring trouble? Uh, ya, it can. But Jesus warned us that chasing money or making money our master would mess us up. And as the famous song points out "You can't buy me love.." :) In the scripture, notice it is the blessing bringing the wealth. You see it isn't you bringing it, it's God. You aren't your source, God is your source. So why is the blessing bringing you wealth? In II Corinthians 9:11 Paul writes "You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion." You see, when all your bills are paid and you have some joy, some peace, some love, and some extra dough in your pocket, then you can be generous to the needs of this world.  That’s right, I told you to give it.

Recognize the Answer

So in the bible there is this couple, Zechariah and Elizabeth who wanted to have a kid. And so they prayed and asked God. Well, In Luke 1:13, an angel shows up to talk to Zechariah, which is pretty cool all by itself, but then the angel says "You're prayer has been heard. Your wife will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John." So this is John the Baptist coming, wow. But you know what... even though Zechariah prayed for this, and even though the angel is telling him it’s going to happen, Zechariah doesn't believe it. As a result the angel makes it so Zechariah can't talk until the baby is born. This is because our words have power. You know, sometimes we pray for something, and then when the answer finally comes, and that answer from God is staring us right in the face, we miss it. We don't believe. It happened to Zechariah, it may happen to you. God answered Zechariah's prayer and it was in God's timing. It had to be at the exact right time. God has heard you as well. You are a child of the king. The answer may be staring you in the face right now. Just believe.

Come Say What Happens

When God speaks, wow stuff happens. If He says "Let their be.." Ah, get ready. Scientists call it a big bang. Yeah, I'll bet it was a really big bang. As Jesus walked the earth we saw the same power in His words. He came to this earth as a man, and yet he would tell storms to quiet down, he would tell Satan to go away, he would tell cripple people to get up and walk, his words were powerful. Now we are brothers of Christ, adopted sons of God. We were made in the likeness and image of God, and Jesus said we would do greater stuff then we saw Him do. He gives us His Spirit, the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead. So with all that in mind, what kind of things are we saying. Does God just want us describing how things are? In that case God wouldn't have said "Let there be light." He would have said "Man, it's pretty dark around here." And Jesus might have said to the storm, “Hope this boat don’t sink”  Instead they spoke what they wanted to happen, not what was happening. God wants us to be godly. So let's try adding this to our lives. Now say I'm winning - now get out their and win.

Believing Matters

I heard a song in main stream radio has a line you where the singer says "Just praying to a God that I don't believe in". It's a weird statement. Why pray if you don't believe. Well lets send that dude a letter and tell him about Jesus.  You know, many who don't believe in God have no where to turn when they need a miracle. And when you need a prayer answered, then what you believe matters. Here's what I mean, Jesus said in Mark 11:24 "Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." There are many important keys to effective prayer, and here is one, you need to believe. When Peter tried walking on the water and fell in, Jesus said it was his lack of faith. And many times as Jesus healed He would tell them that it was their faith that had healed them. Faith is what you believe. Do you think that Jesus knew something about praying? Yeah, me too. Well in this scripture the key was to believe. What are you praying for? Now believe that you have received it. If Jesus taught us how to pray more effectively, it means he wants you to be successful in your praying.