The Marvelous Message

Thanksgiving Day is over, but this does not mean that our devotion to thank God everyday should be. In Psalms 34:1, David declared,  “I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.”  How often do words like "blessed", "thankful," or "undeserving" pass our lips from day to day? I find that in my own conversations I am an expert at utilizing the statements "I want this," "I gotta have that," and/or "I just need a little more." Oh how quick we are to set our hearts on the possessions of this life that we lose sight of the promises of the life that is to come! Black Friday has become our new holiday. On Thanksgiving, we manage to quickly tip our hats to God, while taking a meager glance at the blessings we have already received. Yet, once we feel we have paid enough lip service, we immediately cast our eyes on  bigger and better  things. For David, he not only made a commitment to praise God co...

1 Thessalonians 5:18 states,  “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”  Again, Paul writes in Ephesians 5:20 , “ Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  It is undoubtedly much easier to offer up a word of praise to God, when the sun is shining and you are on the mountain top, but what about the times of pain? The times when it seems that instead of being  on top of the world , the world is crushing you. It appears rather pointless to thank God in everything  when everything seems to be all wrong. We must realize that thankfulness, in the midst of suffering, is vital for every Christian. Why? Because, it shifts our focus back to the Sovereign ruler and it settles our hearts in His love. You see, it is recorded in the gospel of Mark that the disciples were on a ship crossing the Sea of Galilee. A storm would come up and begin to beat down the ship unti...