Thanksgiving Thursday

OK, so today is not THE thanksgiving Thursday (although it is coming soon - along with my fourth little girl - 11/26 - c-section - appreciate your prayers).

Of course we know that every day is a day in which we should offer thanks to God for all of His mercies, gifts, blessings and graces on our lives.
Yesterday I wrote of revival, something I believe that we all need - quite frankly we all need revival every day - 2 Cor. 4 tells us that that we must not faint because although the outer man perishes - yet the inward man is RENEWED DAY BY DAY

The lone comment from yesterdays post was from Missionary Kevin Pestke who said this: "How do you wake up people when they are spiritually sleeping? Is the solution prayer/fasting? If so, most people that are sleeping will have little desire for such spiritual activities. In part, 1 Cor 15 that you refer to speaks mostly of the resurrection of our Lord - I don't think the statement "awake to righteousness" just happened to find itself in that context by accident. In my simple opinion, we need to get back to realizing that our GOD is not among the dead, but HE has RISEN from the grave! Paul ends that chapter with an encouragement to continue to labour... why?, because Christ has risen!"
Couldn't have said it better myself, hence the reason I quoted Kevin! Were it not for the resurrection of Christ it says in that chapter...
1Co 15:19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.

Our hope, encouragement and ability for renewal and revival is because of our RISEN SAVIOUR - our purpose, our motivation, our inspiration, our dedication, our anything that means anything is due solely to our Risen Saviour Jesus Christ This goes back to thanksgiving of course. When we as Christians spend more time contemplating challenges ahead, pitfalls, obstacles, temptations etc then we do reflecting on the God that Rose from the grave (giving us eternal victory, access to His throne, the Holy Spirit to guide, the deliverance from this present evil world and more), we quickly become like the children of Israel in the wilderness - worriers, complainers, wanderers and discouragers.

I received a blessing and reminder this morning as my daily reading is about the wilderness wanderings in Numbers and my daily Psalms happened to be 77-78 which refer to the very accounts I read in Numbers 7-13.
The key lesson was this: The children of Israel were too focused on the day to day issues of their flesh and as a result spent their time groaning and complaining... "we should have stayed in Egypt, I should be the leader - not Moses, why did Moses marry an Egyptian anyway, why do I have to eat the same food every day, I could really use some cucumbers..." you get the point THEY COMPLAINED, THEY SINNED, THEY BROUGHT WRATH UPON THEMSELVES BECAUSE THEY FORGOT ALL THAT GOD HAD DONE FOR THEM - they stopped reflecting, they stopped thanking, they stopped bragging on all his wonderful works.

Psalm 77 taught me how easy we can get ourselves down and wondering where God is in our trials and day to day goings on - then it gives the resolution - REMEMBER, MEDITATE, TALK.. of our wondrous God - you know - LOOK UNTO JESUS!
Psa 77:7 Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more?
Psa 77:8 Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore?
Psa 77:9 Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah. Psa 77:10 And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High.
Psa 77:11 I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old. Psa
77:12 I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings.
Psa 77:13 Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God?

Psalm 78 again
Psa 78:40 How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert!
Psa 78:41 Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.
Psa 78:42 They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy.

Christ Rose from the dead giving us victory and expectation of eternal glory! When we do not remember, reflect, thank and speak of this our hope - we open ourselves up to allowing current situations to control our attitudes, emotions and spiritual walk - thereby quenching the Spirit and Limiting what the Holy One of Israel wants to do in and through us for His glory.
Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. 2 Corinthians 9:15 -

More to come on thanksgiving...study it for yourself - more importantly - lets practice it - brag on God today. Not sure how? See the video below for Praising God 101!