Week #92 It Is Good to Give Thanks to God

This week's post is coming from InTouch Magazine's Daily Devotionals (Nov. 24, 2009) by Dr. Charles Stanley.
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Psalm 92
Praise for the LORD'S Goodness.
A Psalm, a Song for the Sabbath day.
1It is good to give thanks to the LORD
And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High;
2To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning
And Your faithfulness by night,
3With the ten-stringed lute and with the harp,
With resounding music upon the lyre.
4For You, O LORD, have made me glad by what You have done,
I will sing for joy at the works of Your hands.
5How great are Your works, O LORD!
Your thoughts are very deep.
6A senseless man has no knowledge,
Nor does a stupid man understand this:
7That when the wicked sprouted up like grass
And all who did iniquity flourished,
It was only that they might be destroyed forevermore.
8But You, O LORD, are on high forever.
9For, behold, Your enemies, O LORD,
For, behold, Your enemies will perish;
All who do iniquity will be scattered.
10But You have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox;
I have been anointed with fresh oil.
11And my eye has looked exultantly upon my foes,
My ears hear of the evildoers who rise up against me.
12The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree,
He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13Planted in the house of the LORD,
They will flourish in the courts of our God.
14They will still yield fruit in old age;
They shall be full of sap and very green,
15To declare that the LORD is upright;
He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.

Throughout the Psalms, we are reminded and even commanded to give thanks to the Lord. Thanksgiving Day should never become a substitute for the daily expression of gratitude to God for all that He has done.

Because our culture is largely characterized by ingratitude, we need to work at developing a grateful heart. Even in prayer, we can become self-centered and drift from one petition to another without a word of praise to God. Giving thanks refocuses our attention onto the Lord as we remember His love and faithfulness and praise Him for who He is and what He has done.

Thanksgiving refreshes our souls as we spend time with God, concentrating on His goodness and grace. Anxiety is replaced with peace, and despondency with joy. If you wake up each morning and thank the Lord for deliverance from the power of sin, provision for all your needs, and guidance for the day ahead, what is left to cause worry or discouragement?

Gratitude to God for His faithfulness in the past increases faith and strengthens trust in Him for the future. Remember how He carried you in times of pain, helped you in periods of weakness, and supplied all your needs. You can trust Him with whatever lies ahead.

To establish a habit of thanksgiving, recall God’s lovingkindness in the morning, and recount His faithfulness at night. Thank Him for blessings—and also for the deep work He is doing in you through difficulties. As you start to see situations from His perspective, your gratitude and trust will grow.

Week #91 Relying Upon the Holy Spirit

This week's post is coming from InTouch Magazine's Daily Devotionals (Nov. 17, 2009) by Dr. Charles Stanley.
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Imagine how Peter must have felt when Jesus announced He was going away. The impulsive disciple had a tough time following when the Lord was standing ten feet away; how much more difficult would obedience and loyalty be if Christ wasn’t around to offer encouragement? We can certainly understand the disciples’ fear and frustration. No one can follow Jesus in his or her own strength. But thankfully, we’re not left to figure life out by ourselves. We have a Helper.

For many years I had the idea that, though my salvation was by faith, God’s approval had to be earned. So I did my best but never felt it was good enough. I struggled, failed, tried again, and failed once more. I am grateful the Lord directed me to His better way.

Because God wants His children to experience victory, He equipped them with the Holy Spirit. When we yield to Him, He empowers us, guides us, and expresses the ways of Jesus Christ through our character, conversation, and conduct. On paper, this looks like a passive sort of existence, but in fact, we are constantly confronted with the responsibility to make a choice: we can either follow the Spirit’s promptings or act in our own strength. The latter frequently ends in despair, disaster, or both.

Think about those days when you are “too busy to pray”—or the times you think, Why bother God when there isn’t much going on? The truth is, you’re then relying on yourself. But even when life is routine and boring, the Father wants us depending upon His Spirit to guide us on paths of righteousness.

Week #90 The Trinity Breakdown

Matthew 28:19

Our God consists of 3 persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Each is characterized by the same attributes. They are all:

• Eternal - always existing, no beginning or end
• Omniscient - unlimited knowledge
• Omnipotent - infinite power/authority
• Omnipresent - present everywhere at the same time
• Immutable - unchangeable

However...they each have a unique function. Here's a simplified breakdown mostly focusing on the "3rd person" the Holy Spirit.

#1 The Father - Our Creator

• The Father controls the universe and every aspect of our life.

• The Father oversees circumstances and events so that each situation can be used for our good. (Romans 8:28) *This doesn't mean that only good/pleasurable things will come to Christians...but if we read on in Romans 8, we see that even the difficult experiences (v. 35-39) can be used in God's overall plan for Good...and nothing can separate us from the Love of God.

#2 The Son - Our Savior

• Jesus Christ took on flesh and blood and became fully man-while simultaneously remaining fully God-and lived among men. (John 14:9)

• He came to earth with the express purpose of dying on the cross, where He paid the debt for our sins with a perfect sacrifice acceptable to a Holy Father.

• Today, the Son sits at the Father's right hand and intercedes on for us.

#3 The Holy Spirit - Our Helper

• The Holy Spirit resides within every believer, starting at the moment of salvation.

• From the spirit, we receive our spiritual gifts (prophecy, great faith, knowledge, wisdom, etc.) and the power to do the work the Father calls us to do (witnessing, teaching, sharing/giving our time, money, knowledge, etc...).

The "Person" of the Holy Spirit - John 16:5-15

• The Holy Spirit is a person. We know this because Scripture tells us He has four imporant qualities of a person - knowledge, will, emotion, and activity. The Spirit KNOWS God's thoughts and reveals them to Christians (1 Corinthians 2:10-11). He exercises His WILL in the distribution of spiritual gifts to believers (1 Corinthians 12:7-11). He is also FULL OF LOVE (Romans 15:30), and ACTS as our comforter, helper, teacher, and guide.

• The Holy Spirit is co-equal with God the Father and God the Son. After Jesus returned to Heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit to Live within Believers.

• By having the Holy Spirit in us, we are identified as God's own! It separates us from the unbelieving world and serves as a divine guarantee that we belong to God forever.

• The Spirit's work is to conform us to Christ's image (Galatians 5:16) and to live Jesus' life through us.

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It basically comes down to us as Believers having Faith that God's Word is true. We are told that upon receiving Salvation, we are given the Holy Spirit and that He resides in us forever. God started it all...Jesus came to earth in the flesh and died for our sins so that we could be forgiven and have access to Heaven/God...and when Jesus ascended into Heaven He left believers with the gift of the Holy Spirit so that we could have Him with us at all times.

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Some material gathered from InTouch.org by searching "Trinity"