Thanksgiving Multiplication!

THANKSGIVING MULTIPLICATION!

John 11:41-43:  “So they took away the stone.  Then Jesus looked up and said, ‘Father, I thank you that you have heard Me.  I knew that you always hear Me, but I said this for the benefit for the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent Me.’”

            “When He had said this, Jesus called out in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’” 

            Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead after a difficult night in prayer.  Check out the lesson linked below for Jesus’ circumstance.  The Father always hears Jesus’ thanks. 

            God’s Spirit loves prayers of thanks!

            Now that celebrating Thanksgiving is passed, let us NEVER forget to thank our Father.  May Believers-in-Christ always express an attitude of gratitude!  We don’t have to be grateful for our troubles, but we can choose to be thankful that troubles are temporary.  We always have help eagerly awaiting to hear a desperate whisper or prayer. 

            No Believer need to face trouble alone.

            Isn’t it better to grow from our troubles?

            Jesus spent the day healing the sick who arrived from nearby towns.  What would you guess the outcome would have been if Jesus allowed His disciples to continue complaining in Matthew 14:14-21?  “This place is so out-of-the-way and it’s already getting dark!” the disciples whined.  They suggested to Jesus, “Send the crowds away!  They could go to the village and buy food.”

            We might envision Jesus raising His eyebrows while considering what to do.  He decided the solution was thanks—always the correct choice.  He said, “No way!  Why don’t you give them food?”

            We expect that His disciples were troubled by Jesus’ decision.  “What?” could have been their response to Jesus’ outrageous demand.  Their search among the people yielded just one boy’s lunch.  “We only have these five small loaves of bread and two fish.”

            “Bring them to Me,” Jesus said.  “Why don’t you tell the people to sit down on the grass?”

            As the disciples followed Jesus’ orders, Jesus simply lifted up the five loaves and two fish high into the sky.  Looking into heaven, Jesus prayed, “Thank You for this food, Father!”  Then He broke the loaves and gave them and the fish to the disciples.  

           

The disciples distributed food to everyone.”

Take Home Nugget

            The thing about divine math is that it doesn’t make sense to humans.  Matthew 14:21 says that over five thousand men, women, and children were fed with five loaves of bread and two fish!  

            Whatever dire situation we find ourselves in the middle, the solution is always, “Thank You, Lord.”

            Then watch what you have multiply!

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” Ephesians 1:3

            Adapted from “Thanksgiving Can Raise the Dead!” by Joseph Prince.  November 23, 2017.   www.josephprince.org.

J.D. Griffith

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Helmet of Salvation

   

HELMET OF SALVATION

Ephesians 6:17: “Take the helmet of Salvation and the Sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

            The Friday after Thanksgiving in the USA is called Black Friday.  Many Christians mistakenly think that this term stands for mourning—that “Black Friday” refers to “Good Friday”—or when Jesus was crucified. 

            The truth defines Black Friday as worldly, not holy.

            Black Friday stands for corporate profit.  Retailers hope to rake in enough by the Friday after Thanksgiving so that the company lands in the black financially.  Bank statements in the black indicate a positive balance.  When projected sales fall short, corporate bank statements reflect a negative balance with numbers in the red.  Profitable businesses make more money on sales than what the goods cost to market. 

            Friday after Thanksgiving is the cutoff for the companies to declare a yearly profit (including Christmas sales). 

            That’s why retailers heavily advertise Black Friday sale prices—which buyers flock to claim goods at significant savings.

            I truly hope that you enjoyed your Thanksgiving Day of rest with family and friends.  Now let’s move on and secure the helmet of salvation on top of your head.  The helmet of salvation preserves wholeness, wellness, and strength.  The helmet of salvation also protects the brain from evil thought invasion.

            May Believers-in-Christ thrive in the advent season wearing the helmet of salvation!  Navigating through worldly greed is an exercise to keep hearts focused on the coming Christ child.  Eyes dart from a baby lying in a manger to signs posting tempting prices for coveted items.

            Regardless of circumstances, Believers are confident, expecting good things to come our way.  Biblically speaking, the helmet of salvation is not merely a “hope for salvation.”  Believers are confident in salvation because we believe Biblical promises.

            We believe Romans 10:9: “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” 

             Believers know that salvation is ours—not hope that.  Believers-in-Christ don’t live our whole lives with our fingers crossed, dreading judgment.  Check out the lesson linked below.  Death is the line everyone crosses when our eternal outcome is revealed.

 Take Home Nugget

            Believers are different from people of the world because we’re confident to be a child of the living God.  We have a Savior watching over us—as well as more angels who’re charged with our safe-keeping than demons poised to harm us.

 

            No one knows the future.  But wearing the helmet of salvation provides confidence that whatever trial we’re growing through now won’t last.  Good things are coming.

Thank You, Father, that every problem is temporary.  I choose to believe in Jesus’ name that my life will end in salvation!  Amen.

  

Adapted from “Expect Good Things to Happen to You” by Rev. Joseph Prince.  November 7, 2017.  www.josephprince.org. 

J.D. Griffith

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Perseverance

PERSEVERANCE

Philippians 4:12-14: “Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do:  forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

            Perseverance [per-se-VER-ans] means stubborn determination.  Perseverance requires persistent (tireless) dedication.  George Washington, USA’s first president, first proclaimed a day of Thanksgiving in October, 1621. 

            The dictionary could post a picture of Sarah Josepha Hale beside the word “perseverance.”  It was only because Sarah wrote letters for 40 years to newspapers and magazines that USA sets aside one day of thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving has since become a cherished National holiday in the USA.

            But that didn’t happen until 56 years later in 1677!   

  

            Thanks to Sarah’s dogged perseverance, all 13 unruly colonies—that grew to 50 states—observe one day each year for Thanksgiving. 

            Thanks to Jesus who also perseveres.

            The word lost describes someone who has not yet accepted Jesus Christ as Savior.  As long as they persevere as “lost,” they remain separated from God.  Just like the 13 colonies, “lost” individuals refuse to come to Christ.  But Jesus perseveres.  Jesus went to Jericho one day, determined to “reach forward to what lay ahead”, as apostle Paul wrote in the opening Scripture.

            Jesus was searching for Zacchaeus, who was lost. 

 

            Zacchaeus was a hated tax collector.  But his occupation didn’t make him “lost”.  The story in Luke became a children’s song that I hum as I write.  “Zacchaeus was a wee little man, a wee little man was he.”  (Check out the lesson linked below for details about Zacchaeus).

   

            Why Did God Run? was the last devotion.  That dad represents our heavenly Father.  He demonstrates perseverance to kids who’re “dead” and then became “alive” once again.  In other words, all people are “lost” until they return home into our Father’s embrace.  Dad is overjoyed when the “lost” become “found.”  All heaven celebrates when kids come home!  “He climbed into a sycamore tree for he wanted the Lord to see.”

            Everyone is born with a nature bent away from God (Romans 5:12).  Paul wrote in Ephesians in 2:1, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins.”  “Lost” refers to people’s moral and spiritual condition separating them from the abundant life that Jesus brings.

 

            “And as the Savior passed that way, He looked up in the tree.”  

                                                       

Take Home Nugget

            “He said, ‘Zacchaeus come down from there!  I’m going to your house today. I’m going to your house today!’”

            Whoever is lost today is who Jesus is pursuing to save.  Jesus’ followers are also persistent in reaching “lost” souls and inviting them to Jesus’ house! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Adapted from “The First Thanksgiving: A Story of Persistence” by Kelly McFadden.

And

“Who Are the Lost?” by Charles F. Stanley.  November’s devotional booklet published by In Touch Ministry.  November 7, 2017.  Georgia. 

J.D. Griffith

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Why Did God Run?

WHY DID GOD RUN?

    

Part three of three in Qualification for Blessings series

Luke 15:22:  “But the Father said to his servants, ’Quick! Bring me the best robe and put it on him.  Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.’”

            “Waah!  I don’t deserve to be your daughter!” I cried myself to sleep.  Whatever punishment my dad decided would be okay with me.

            The Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11-32 pictures a father who is most understanding.   Any child would like being raised by him!  His two sons were as different as siblings can be.  The older son was responsible and obedient.  The younger son was…well … us. 

            Or, me (!)

            Jesus was telling parables that He hoped would teach eternal truths.

            The younger son wanted to leave home.  So, dad split his wealth and gave the younger his portion of the inheritance.  The older son watched baby brother pack up his stuff and load a camel with all he owned.  “Don’t take what’s mine!” the older brother scolded.

            “All this stuff is MINE!” little brother insisted.  All packed up, baby son was ready to go.  “Bye!” he yelled to them who were left behind.

            “Don’t blow your half of our inheritance!” the older brother warned.  “When it’s gone, that’s all!”

            “Be careful, son.”  Dad wished his son well, “You’re always welcome at home!”

            The boy partied in a faraway land.  When the money was gone, he began working on a pig farm.  He was so jealous of the pigs chomping corn cobs that he decided to go home.  Dad would at least give me good food to eat, he figured.

 

            Check out the lesson linked below for how dad and the older brother reacted to baby brother’s return home.

Take Home Nugget

            Maybe you too, have messed up big time.  Jesus showed us while on earth that God is NEVER in a hurry.  So when He runs, that’s a BIG DEAL!  Papa only runs to welcome His kids home.  He runs to signal that He’s not angry.  He won’t condemn you.  He won’t whip you.  Papa tolerated Jesus’ whipping.  Enough! 

            Jesus was whipped for your and my sins.  Jesus’ blood bought us Dad’s forgiveness when Jesus died on the cross.  Now, we who believe that are welcomed as children of the Most High God—the exact position we lost when Adam sinned.

            Dad runs to bring backsliders a robe to wear—the robe of righteousness.  He also puts His ring on our finger (authority to ask Him whatever we need); Why?  So that our asking can bring His will from heaven to earth.

Thank You Abba, for loving us enough that the sandals assure us to whom we belong as Your precious children! Ephesians 1:18

 Adapted from “When God Ran” by Joseph Prince.  www.JosephPrince.org.  November 2, 2017.

J.D. Griffith

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Our Qualification

OUR QUALIFICATION   

Part two of three in Qualification for Blessings series

Matthew 5:17:  “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”

Romans 6:14: “For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.”

2 Corinthians 1:19-20a:  “For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by me [Paul] and Silas and Timothy, was not a ‘Yes’ and ’No’ but in Him it has always been ‘Yes.’  For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ.”

            No one qualifies for God’s blessings because no one—except Jesus—is sinless.  Yet, faith in Jesus is our qualification for blessings.  In fact, Papa promises Believers-in-Christ that “blessings shall come upon you and accompany you” (Deuteronomy 28:2a)!

            See the lesson linked below for a list of these blessings.

            Deuteronomy 28:2b requires that these blessings come “IF you obey the LORD your God.”  No person can do that on mere human strength.  But we CAN in Christ who is our qualification for blessings.  Let’s check out various passages taken from Romans chapter 5:

             5:12-13a says, “Just as sin entered the world through one man [Adam], and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all have sinned—for before the law was given, sin was in the world.”

            5:15, 16b says, “But the gift is not like the trespass.  For if many died by the trespass of one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came from the grace of one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! … but the gift followed may trespasses and brought justification.”  (Jus-tif-a-KA-shon means defense, validation, or excuse). 

            5:17-18 says, “For if, by the trespass of one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision and grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through one man, Jesus Christ. … Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.”

Take Home Nugget 

            The single common thread woven through these passages is Jesus’ righteousness.  2 Corinthians 5:17 and 21 say, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! … God made Him who had no sin be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”

“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowmen has fulfilled the law.” Romans 13:8

 Adapted from “Jesus is Your Qualification for God’s Blessings” by Joseph Prince.  www.JosephPrince.org.  October 11, 2017.

J.D. Griffith

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Good Guilt--Regret

   

GOOD GUILT—REGRET 

  

Part one of three in Qualification for Blessings series

James 2:10:  “For whoever keeps the whole law yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.”

            No one qualifies for God’s blessings because no one—except Jesus—is sinless.   Just because we’re descendants from the first couple who decided to break God’s one rule, we inherited the sin gene (Genesis 3:6-7).  Sin is the worst gene that God’s kids could’ve inherited.  

            For sure, eating the forbidden fruit did awaken the knowledge of good and evil.  As soon as Adam bit into the fruit, both their eyes were opened.  Their first knowledge was nakedness!  (Genesis 3:7).  Being naked is neither good nor evil.  However, evil handling of nakedness IS a sin.

            Our Father punished Adam and Eve because they disobeyed.  He tossed them out of Eden.  This prevented their eating the fruit from the tree of life which preserves life indefinitely.  How sad watching Adam and Eve’s banishment from Eden!  Angels flashing flaming swords ban anyone entering the garden (Genesis 3:22-24). 

            We understand the first couple’s regret.  They must have longed for that perfect place Papa made for them to play and rule.  Ruling was always Abba’s purpose to make people in His image (Genesis 1:27).  Check out the lesson linked below for exciting Scripture that predicts people’s reign under Jesus’ Lordship.

            The couple’s guilt of disobedience went beyond regret—it was sealed as permanent.  Adam knew better!  Adam was held accountable to God because Papa laid out the rules directly (Genesis 2:16-17), before Eve was created (Genesis 2:18, 21-22). 

            Adam overheard Genesis 3:4-5, “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman.  “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good from evil.”

            Adam should have butted in with, “NO!”  Backing the Father, “Dad said that we may NOT eat from this tree!”

            Truthfully, both the man and woman WANTED to bite into the fruit because they wanted to be like God.  If they could be like God, they wouldn’t NEED God.  They both wanted that independence and human knowledge.

            They both got what they deserved.

Take Home Nugget 

            Papa understands that we can’t help but pass on sin.  So, people are given an infinite number of do-overs while on earth.  Thank God for our consciences that blare our guilt of sin so that we may correct mistakes before we regret them!

Holy Papa, Forgive me when I get so full of my own intellect that I “forget” to pray my thanks to you!  I do need you, my God, my Creator who blesses me with a new day and the gifts of breathing and living!  Amen. 

 Adapted from “Jesus is Your Qualification for God’s Blessings” by Joseph Prince.  www.JosephPrince.org.  October 11, 2017.

J.D. Griffith

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