Truly Thankful

Thanksgiving is a truly great American holiday.  No not because there is pumpkin pie, and I really love pumpkin pie.  Thanksgiving is special because it is a time for followers of Christ to be truly grateful to God for the grace that He extends to us.  The first Thanksgiving Day in the fall of 1621 was a celebration of God’s answer to the prayers of His children.   The previous summer the pilgrims faced a severe drought and so they called for a time of fasting and prayer.   God answered with an abundant harvest and so they celebrated.

Psalm 105:1 says, “Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples!” (ESV)  As followers of Christ we have more to be thankful for than we could ever possibly list.  Because of Jesus we should be people marked by thanksgiving.  The next few weeks as we celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas should be time where we are filled with reminders of Christ’s great love for us.  Often, however, these weeks become dreadful as we fill them with too many activities to mention.

Let me encourage you to follow your time of Thanksgiving this year with what follows in Psalm 105:3, 4; “Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!  Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!”  (ESV)  Don’t get so wrapped up in the festivities that you miss the Savior.   During this time more than ever we should rejoice in Christ and pursue His presence.   Have a super Thanksgiving!

Time to pray

I am preparing this week for a series on prayer.   I am totally excited about this series.  I believe there is nothing more important for us to do in the Church than to seek the heart of God by engaging in fervent personal and corporate prayer.  

For me this series could not be any timelier.  I see the world trying to figure out what to do.  The requests for bailouts due to a sagging economy are on the rise.  People never cease to be looking for solutions to their problems. 

We even do this in the church.  We look for worldly solutions to our problems.  Even in the last election many Christians were visibly stressed over the results coming out contrary to what they believed would be best.  Like God really needed the vote to turn out a particular direction for His plans to work out.

In his book With Christ in the School of Prayer, Andrew Murray writes: “In true worship the Father must be first, must be all.  The sooner I learn to forget myself in the desire that He may be glorified, the richer will blessing be that prayer will bring to myself.  No one ever loses by what he sacrifices for the Father. …Christ has opened the school of prayer especially to train intercessors for the great work of bringing down, by their faith and prayer, the blessings of His work and love on the world.  There can be no deep growth in prayer unless this be our aim.”

As followers of Jesus I think we must look hard at how and what we are praying for.   Do we simply want life to be easier for us or are we looking to join in the work of prayer for God’s kingdom?   It is time for us to join Christ in seeing the name of Jesus glorified on the earth.   That is why we are going to usher in the next year with prayer.  Not praying for any particular program or for God to meet a particular need.  No, just praying that God would use us for His glory, that His name would be honored here on this earth.