Thanksgiving Prayer

Happy Thanksgiving! What a great time to take a few minutes and thank the lord for all the blessings He has given us.

Heavenly father I thank you for this day.
Lord I praise You for all the blessings You have given me.
Lord I want to thank You for the family You have given me.
Lord thank You for the three wonderful kids You have placed in my care.
Father I pray I may raise them in a way that brings glory to You.
Lord I thank You for my wife, who is always there for me to provide love and encouragement.
Lord I pray that I may be everything to her that she is to me and Father I pray that we may have a marriage that shows worship to You.
Lord I thank You for providing for all my needs. Lord You bless me with a roof over my head, food on my table and clothes to wear.
Father I thank You for the blessings You provide me in allowing me to serve You. Lord I pray You will increase those blessings and that I may be found faithful in Your service.
Lord I thank You for providing me with a job in these tough economic times that are going on.
Lord I pray for those who are less fortunate. Father I pray that You will bless them and take care of them during this time.
Lord I thank You for the movement of Your spirit that I can see in my life.
Lord I thank You for the things I have seen You do in the lives of those I have prayed for this year.
Lord I thank You for the trials I have had to face and how when I did not thank I could carry on You always would provide something in Your Word to give me strength and encouragement.
Lord I thank You for Your Word which speaks to me and gives me comfort and guidance.
Father I thank You for your Son Who came down from heaven in the form of man to take my sins upon Him and die in my place.
Lord I thank You for Your grace and mercy that is so undeserved.
Father I pray for those who don’t know You. Lord those who don’t see the blessings You have given them.
Lord I pray that You will use me to help spread Your name.
Father I thank You for my church and church family. Lord I pray You continue to bless us
Lord I pray You give strength and encouragement to all the church leaders who Sheppard your flock.
Father thank you for this life I have been given and all the blessings that I may take for granted.
Lord I pray that my life may bring glory to Your Name.
It is in Jesus’ precious name that I pray. Amen
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View From Above

I love this time of the year. This is a time I truly get to enjoy God' s creation. As I sit in the dark in my deer stand and wait for God's creation to wake up I feel so alive in Christ.
Before dawn I get to watch the creatures of the night interact with each other. I can see how God provides for even the smallest of his creatures (). As God starts the day with his sunrise, I can enjoy the spectrum of colors he blessed his creation with.
Normally the squirrels are the first daytime creatures to stir. It's such a pleasure to watch how they scamper through the woods finding and hiding nuts. Then a chase will start as two squirrels playful chase each other through the woods.
As I patiently wait, often while reading my bible I will hear the leaves as a deer carefully walks through the woods. What a marvel of God's creation? A few steps and they attentively look around. Even if you don't hunt to there is no better way to enjoy God's creation than to watch it wake up from it's nightly slumber.
Lord I thank you for the blessing you allow me in the chance to see your creation in all it's splendor. Lord thank You for the view from above. Amen

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Psalm 8:3-9

When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,

what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?

You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.

You made him ruler over the works of your hands;
you put everything under his feet:

all flocks and herds,
and the beasts of the field,

the birds of the air,
and the fish of the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.

O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Walking Together With Christ

Can two walk together, except they be agreed? Amos 3:3 KJV

Amos said this while prophesying against Israel. What a verse for us to think about today! As I was studying this verse I read a commentary by Vernon McGee. He said he was watching a young couple walk together, when suddenly the girl turned and went the other way. They were walking together until they were no longer in agreement then they could no longer go in the same direction.

Now picture your walk with Christ. He is never going to change direction. So if we are in agreement we are walking together, but sometimes we decide “Hey God I can handle this on my own”, and we head off in a separate direction. Once we realize we can’t we turn back to God and we again are in agreement and walking together.

Do you remember doing potato bag races as a kid? You and a partner would each place one leg in a bag and one outside. Then you would race other teams to the finish line.

To succeed you and your partner had to be in agreement on when to move the leg that was in the bag. If either one of you moved at the wrong time you would stumble and fall!

As we walk with Christ we are in that potato bag with Jesus, if we walk in step with Him we do fine. It’s when we try to get out of step with Jesus we stumble and fall short of God’s Glory.

So as you go through the day ask your self “Am I walking in agreement with God?”

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Light for my path

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. (Psalm 119:05)

The Bible is such a joy to me. It is a way to listen to what God says to me. Often I will pray and then open up my bible saying LORD talk to me. It never ceases to amaze me, no matter how many times I may read the same thing over. God will have something new to show me each time. A lamp to my feet. During power outages I often use an old oil lamp to find my way and to light up a room. If I need to walk through my house I can hold the lamp up and see the choices of directions I can go in. Being able to see what is in each direction allows me to decide which way I should go. The bible shows us the way we are to go. It shows us the choices we have. A light for my path. Once I decide which way to go, I can see what lies in my path. The light will allow me to see what is ahead of me. The light will give me security in the darkness. Isn't it amazing how the bible can give us that same security as we walk through a dark world. It shows us how to find the light in this world.

The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not overcome it (John 1:5)

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The Bronze Snake

In John 3:1-21 Jesus is talking to Nicodemus. In John 3:14-15 Jesus says “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”

This had to be confusing to an already confused Nicodemus. First he is saying I have to be born again, now He is talking about Moses and snakes. Just imagine the understanding he received after seeing Jesus on the cross and hearing of the resurrection.

In Numbers 21:4-9 we read about the bronze snake. As the Israelites were traveling through the desert they started to complain and speak out against God. They complained that while God was supplying for there needs, it wasn’t good enough. How often do we complain to God that we are not satisfied, even though he meets our every need?

God sent venomous snakes amongst them and many died from the bites. They confessed their sins and prayed that the LORD would take the snakes away. (Numbers 21:7)

God answered “The LORD said to Moses, ‘Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived. (Numbers 21:8-9)

“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” John 13:14-15

The Israelites were dying in their sin, just as we were dying in our sin. (Ephesians 2:1) If they looked upon the bronze snake on the pole they gained life. If we look at the sacrifice Jesus Christ made upon the cross, we gain life.

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For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. John 3:16-18

True Understanding

LXII.

I did not learn my divinity at once, but was constrained by my temptations to search deeper and

deeper; for no man, without trials and temptations, can attain a true understanding of the Holy

Scriptures. St Paul had a devil that beat him with fists, and with temptations drove him diligently

to study the Holy Scripture. I had hanging on my neck the pope, the universities, all the deep-learned,

and the devil; these hunted me into the Bible, wherein I sedulously read, and thereby, God be

praised, at length attained a true understanding of it. Without such a devil, we are but only speculators

of divinity, and according to our vain reasoning, dream that so and so it must be, as the monks and

friars in monasteries do. The Holy Scripture of itself is certain and true; God grant me grace to

catch hold of its just use.

From

Table Talk

By

Martin Luther

Abraham Believed God

Romans 4:1-5

Paul said “If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God.” (Romans 4:2) Abraham lived a Godly life. If God spoke it, Abraham did it without question! God told him to pack up and move and off he went. (Genesis 12:1-4) God told him to sacrifice his son and off he went. (Genesis 22:2-3) When Kedorlaomer and the kings that were allied with him attacked Sodom they took Lot captive. Abraham retrieved him. Even though the king of Sodom offered everything recovered to Abraham, he gave a tenth to the priest Melchizedek, then the rest he gave to the King of Sodom. (Genesis 14)

That isn’t what justified Abraham in God’s eyes though! “Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6)

We can brag about the amount of time we spend in prayer or studying the bible. We can boast of what we give to the church, or how much we do. We can seek offices and good standing. We can build ourselves up with man all we want. This is just show. (Matthew 6:1-18) It does not make us righteous.

If we work for something, we feel something is owed us. (Romans 4:4)We feel we have earned it. Then we start to build ourselves up, because we deserve what we have gotten. Salvation is through faith. (Romans 3:24) We can’t earn it and we definitely don’t deserve it. It is freely given and all we have to do is believe.

“Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” (Romans 4:3)

When we believe Jesus Christ came down from heaven as a man, and we believe that He suffered humiliation, beatings and death, just so our sins could be forgiven. Then we have gained righteousness. Then we can be at peace with God (Romans 5:1)

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Repent

Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.
Matthew 3:2 NIV
The word repent is found throughout the old and new testaments. When Jonah prophesied in Nineveh, they repented. (Matthew 12:41) God says in Ezekiel 18:30 KJV “…Repent, and turn [yourselves] from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.” On and on the Word of God tells us to repent, but what exactly does repent mean? I turned to old Mr. Webster and he said it means to turn from your sin. We know what sin is we have the Ten Commandments to show us that (Exodus 20:1-17) Jesus showed us that lust is the same as adultery and Hate is the same as murder, so we know the standard God uses to measure sin. To repent means to turn from sin. Does that make sense? Jeremiah 18:8 says “If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.” God is saying He will repent. God can’t sin. He is Holy.
The Greek word for repent is metanoeō (met-an-o-eh́-o). It means to think differently or reconsider. How are we to think differently? What is the difference in turning from sin and thinking differently about sin? John the Baptist was the voice in the wilderness telling us our savior Jesus Christ was here. (Isaiah 40:3; Mark 1:4) In Acts 19:1-4 when Paul met the disciples at Ephesus he asked if they received the Holy Spirit upon baptism. When they told him it was John’s baptism. He told them that John’s was a baptism of repentance and baptized them in the name of Jesus Christ. John’s baptism was being reborn to a new way of thinking. Before Jesus the Jews went by the Mosaic Law. That was the way to righteousness. We know that no one other than Jesus can live up to God’s expectations of obedience to the law. (Romans 3:10) This new way of thinking was that God’s Son Jesus had come from Heaven as flesh and blood and became the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Today a typical response of a lost person as to why God should allow them into His Heaven is “I’m a pretty nice guy.” Just like the rich man in Matthew 19:20, they are trying to make it to Heaven by the law. They can’t! This new way of thinking is realizing that Jesus is the way the truth and the life (John 14:6) In Acts 5:32 we learn that Jesus grants repentance and forgiveness. When we accept Jesus as our Savior we are forgiven of our sins and given a new way of seeing things. We see that Jesus is the only way to Heaven because we cannot defeat sin on our own. We see that Jesus is a light unto our path. He will lead and protect us if we just believe. In 2 Timothy 2:26 we see that God grants us repentance so that we may know the truth. If you start thinking that you are one of God’s children, if you set your eyes on the goal of pleasing God, by worshiping His Son Jesus Christ, then turning from sin will be automatic.

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