Tag: Gratitude

Behold Our Providing God!

On By BrianIn PASSION Reflections

When we think of God’s provision, we often think of food and clothing – basic necessities, but God’s provision is far greater.  So join me, as we consider 12 ways that God provides for us, which then become 12 reasons to give thanks to God.

God Provides His Creation (Genesis 1) – God created everything around us – the snow that decorated trees in my neighborhood last week, the colorful leaves we enjoyed this Fall, the flowers that popped up last Spring, the beautiful scenery experienced on vacation.  Lakes, beaches, streams, birds, deer, squirrels, pets – so much variety all provided by God for us to enjoy.  What are some things from God’s creation that you especially enjoy for which you can give thanks to God?

God Provides Life Itself (Genesis 1-2) – God created us.  He gave us life. Our very existence is provided by God.  Without Him, we wouldn’t be.  And He provided us with another year of life in 2024, another year to live and love and work and rest and think and trust and obey and walk with Him.  What are some things about your life this past year for which you can give thanks to God?

God Provides Companionship (Genesis 1-2) – God created us in His image, which means in part that He created us to be relational beings.  We see there in garden that Adam and Eve enjoyed a relationship with God, companionship with their Creator, and so can we.  We can talk to Him, and listen to Him, spend time with Him, love Him and enjoy His love for us.  And God created marriage, providing the companionship of husband and wife.  And within marriage, He gave us the ability to create more people, so that we might enjoy the companionship of more family.  And we can enjoy the companionship of friends.  We have the gift of companionship with people that we can talk to and listen to and spend time with, love and enjoy their love.  What kinds of companionship has God provided for you this year for which you can give thanks to God?

God Provides His Promises (Genesis 12) – God called Abraham and promised that his descendants would become a great nation within the Promised Land.  They would be a blessing, and one specific descendant named Jesus would bless whole world.  And those promises extend to us in ways greater than Abraham could have imagined.  In Jesus we have become a greater nation, part of kingdom of God, and one day will dwell in a greater land, the New Earth, with no sin or curse or death.  And we have received blessing upon blessing in Jesus, with the promise of many greater blessings yet to come.  What promises of God have you received, or do you look forward to receiving, for which you can give thanks to God?

God Provides His Present Help (Genesis 37-41) – As Joseph was sold into slavery, we read that God was with Joseph to help him in his trial.  As Joseph is falsely accused and thrown into prison, we again read that God was with Joseph to help him in his trial.  What trials have you faced this year?  How has God been a present help for which you can give thanks to God?

God Provides His Wise Purpose (Genesis 37-50, Job) – Why did Joseph have to be sold into slavery and thrown into prison?  Later Jospeh understood God’s wise purpose, that God was bringing Joseph to a place where he could save his family and many other from a famine.  God had a wise purpose for Joseph.  Or consider the story of Job.  Job never knows the purpose for his suffering, nor do we know the purpose in his suffering.  But God reminds Job and us of His greater wisdom that governs the entire universe with all of it complexity.  And if He has wisdom to do that, certainly He has the wisdom to govern our lives for our good and the good of others.  Maybe in your trials this year, you can look back and see God’s wise purpose like Joseph could.  If so, you can give thanks to God.  But maybe, like Job, you don’t understand at all.  Still God has a wise purpose in your trials; your suffering is not meaningless.  And God’s wise purpose not yet understood is something for which you can give thanks to God.

God Provides His Salvation (Exodus 1-15) – God delivered the people of Israel from their slavery in Egypt with10 plagues and a miraculous parting of Red Sea.  And on that Passover Night, God delivered His people from God’s coming judgment through a slain lamb.  Even so, Jesus came as a lamb to be slain, that we might escape God’s coming judgment for our sin and rebellion and be delivered from our slavery to sin.  And that great deliverance, which is ours through Jesus, is something for which we can give thanks to God.

God Provides His Word (Exodus 19-20, I Kings 19) – Following God’s deliverance for Israel, He gave them His Ten Commandments to govern their lives for their own good, that they might live out their new freedom.  And God has given us His Word to show us how to live as those who have been freed from slavery to sin, to show us how to live as God created us to live for our own good, and good of those around us.  What commands has God impressed upon you this year for which you can give thanks to God?   Or consider Elijah in his depression, as God quietly speaks to him with words of purpose/encouragement.  And how often as we read His Word, do we find that quiet instruction that we need in our own suffering?  How often do we find words of purpose and encouragement to spur us on to press on through the trials and struggles of life?  What verse or verses has God used this year to encourage you, verses for which you can give thanks to God?

God Provides Answered Prayers (I Kings 18, II Chronicles 20) – Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to a contest.  Each would pray, and the God who answered was the true God.  Baal’s prophets prayed and prayed, but Baal didn’t hear.  Baal didn’t answer.  Then Elijah prayed to one true God, and fire fell from heaven.  God heard, and God answered.  Or consider again Jehoshaphat as a gigantic army is approaching.  Jehoshaphat prayed to God, and God heard his prayer and answered his prayer and defeated the army. So then, what answered prayers has God provided in your life this year?  Maybe you prayed for healing, and it came.  Or you prayed for safety, and it was provided.  Or you prayed for help, and it was given.  Now not every prayer is answered how we want or when we want, and often we must wait upon the Lord.  But what are some answered prayers that God has provided for you for which you can give thanks to God?

God Provides His Glorious Goodness (Exodus 33-34) – Moses asks to see God’s glory, and God provides a glimpse of His glorious goodness – His grace and mercy and patience and love and faithfulness and forgiveness.  How has God shown His grace to you this year, giving you things you don’t deserve?  How has God shown His mercy to you this year, not giving you what you do deserve?  In what ways has God been slow to anger toward you?  How has He shown His love to you?  How has He been faithful?  What sins have you confessed, and He has forgiven and washed away in Christ?  What aspects of His goodness have you experienced this year for which you can give thanks to God?

God Provides for Our Basic Needs (Exodus 16-17, I Kings 17) – The people of Israel are in wilderness, and they are hungry with no food.  And God provided manna for them to eat.  What was it?  Good question.  Whatever it was, God used it to daily feed them as they wandered in wilderness.  It was a daily reminder of God’s provision.  Another time, the people are thirsty, and God tells Moses to strike a rock.  Is that how you get water?  No!  But water flowed out of the rock and people drank. God provided them with water they needed.  Or consider Elijah who declares a drought – no rain for three years. God sends Elijah to a brook with water, and God sends ravens to bring Elijah bread and meat each morning and each evening.  When brook dries up, God sends Elijah to a widow with only handful of flour and a little oil.  Not a likely long-term solution, but God daily multiplies it, so that Elijah and widow and her son can eat for many days.  Behold the creative ways God provided for Israel and Elijah!  And how has God provided for your basic needs this year?  Maybe He provided in very ordinary ways as you worked or received your Social Security checks. But maybe He provided in some amazing creative ways, ways that you may have never expected as you came into this year.  Perhaps God provided an unexpected gift, or a raise, or a new job, or a new business, or new opportunities.  However God did it, He provided for your basic needs.  How has God provided for your basic needs this year, ways for which you can give thanks to God?

God Provides the Hope of Resurrection (I Kings 17) – The son of the widow Elijah is staying with dies.  Elijah cries out to God, and her son comes back to life.  This story points to another story in John 11, when Lazarus died, and Jesus came and raised Lazarus from dead.  And Jesus declared that He was the resurrection and the life.  God provides us with many things in this life – His creation, life, companionship, His promises, His present help, His wise purpose, His salvation, His Word, answered prayers, His glorious goodness, and our basic needs.  But one day it will be our time to die, and when we do, God’s provision doesn’t end.  We will dwell in glorious companionship with Him in heaven until Christ returns, and then we will rise again to dwell forever on a new earth with Lord.  This is our glorious and certain hope for which we can give thanks to God.

Behold Our Providing God! 

And give thanks to Him! 

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

Big Thanks for Little Things – Trevin Wax
Grief is good. Lament is appropriate. But gratitude-infused grief and hopeful lament—that’s even better. So, think twice next time you pour that cup of coffee, or slice that delicious pineapple, or open that God-breathed Book on your desk. And give God thanks. He sees you. He loves you. And every good and perfect gift comes from him.

My Gratitude List – Tim Gombis
Each morning I take a very long walk and I begin it by mentally rehearsing my gratitude list. This is important because it reminds me of my identity and the narrative I inhabit. I live in a world of plenty, filled with rich gifts. And I am someone dearly loved by God and I am the recipient of so many good things.

Embracing Fragility – Y. Bonesteele
Have we forgotten that we are not all-powerful? That we are not all-knowing? That we are not in control? Only God is.

Gentleness Amid the Germs – Kristin Pichura
We can and must speak and act with gentleness: with a humble spirit that is strengthened by God’s grace (Heb. 13:9) and motivated by His amazing love that has been poured into our hearts (Romans 5:5).

10 Ways to Thrive in Quarantine – Mark Oden & Stefano Mariotti (TGC)
Here people are finding various ways to survive, but wouldn’t it be good to not only survive, but to redeem it as a gift from a generous heavenly Father?

How to Care for Friends with Anxiety and Depression – Emma Scrivener
“Social distancing” has become the phrase of the day, but what we really need is physical distancing. Socially, we need to be reaching out, more than ever before.

Church, Don’t Let Coronavirus Divide You – Brett McCracken (TGC)
In such a precarious and polarizing environment, how can churches move forward in beautiful unity (Ps. 133) rather than ugly division? It won’t be easy. But by God’s grace and the power of the Holy Spirit working to unify us in ways our flesh resists, the opportunity is there for us to be a countercultural model for the rest of the world. 

Hope you have a good Lord’s Day!

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

The Offensively Ordinary Steps to Godliness – Scott Hubbard (DG)
The pursuit of holiness, then, is both easier and harder than many of us imagine: Easier because our growth in grace often happens gradually, one small step at a time. Harder because sanctification has now invaded all of life. Holiness is hidden in offensively ordinary tasks, and those tasks are all around us.

Gratitude Leads to Joy – Gavin Ortlund
What I have been experiencing is that this simple habit of directing our focus on the good things in my life has the most incredible power to create joy.

6 Powerful Keys To Overcoming Anger – Mark Altrogge
Here is the most helpful question to ask ourselves when we are feeling angry: What is it that I want right now that I’m not getting?

3 Reasons Drifting From the Faith Starts With Drifting From the Church – Michael Kelley
We must not abandon the church if we want to persevere in the faith. We must keep going to keep ourselves going. The church is God’s gift to us – each one of us – not so that we have a perfect experience there, but because we are weak, and we really do need the help.

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day with your local church!

Thanksgiving Collection

On By BrianIn Holidays, PASSION Collections

Here are some good posts for Thanksgiving:

10 Things You Should Know about Thanksgiving – Nathan Finn (Crossway)

5 Readings for Your Thanksgiving Gathering (Crossway)

9 Passages to Read on Gratitude (Crossway)

The Greatness of Giving Thanks – Kevin DeYoung

Blessed Even in the Worst: How to Give Thanks in Every Circumstance – Nancy Guthrie (DG)

Struggling Toward Thanksgiving – Trevin Wax

The God Who Gives

On By BrianIn PASSION Quotes

BecomingWorldlySaintsThere are two ways to ruin our relationship with the Giver of all things. The first is to ignore him and focus entirely on his gifts…. The second way is to ignore the gift and focus entirely on the Giver…. If the first temptation ignores the God who gives, the second refuses to let him be the God who gives.

– Michael Wittmer in Becoming Worldly Saints

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here is some good reading for your weekend:

Consider the Glory of God – John Piper (via Desiring God)
A  great summary of the glory of God found in his many attributes.

7 Ways to Kill the Thanksgiving Impulse in Your Life – Jared Wilson
By learning what to overcome, we can grow in gratitude.

And for anyone who is struggling right now, here are two posts to encourage you to press on:
Don’t Give Up – Jon Bloom
Oh, That We Would Cling To Christ! – Becky at …Because He Said So

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day reveling in God’s glory, giving thanks to our Father, and clinging to our Savior!

Beyond Grateful Hearts

On By BrianIn Holidays, Virtue Miscellaneous1 Comment

In Luke 17:11-19, ten lepers come to Jesus to be healed.  Jesus tells them to go and show themesleves to the priests.  As they go, all ten are healed.  One turned back and “fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks.”

Were the other nine glad to be healed?  Undoubtedly they were!  Leprosy was a horrible disease, and made one an outcast of society.  Certainly they were happy to be healed.  You might say they were thankful, that they had grateful hearts.  But they never came back to give thanks.

Many in America this week, will celebrate Thanksgiving.  They will have grateful hearts as they think of the good things in their lives.  But they will never come to the Lord who gave them every good thing, and give thanks to him.

As Christians, we too can fail to give thanks.  God answers a prayer, and we are very happy about it.  But we forget to thank the Lord.

This week and every day, may God help us to not only have grateful hearts like the nine, but to return to the Lord and give thanks to him.

Don’t Just Give Thanks

On By BrianIn Holidays

It is Thanksgiving in a few days – that time of year when we think about all our blessings, and presumably give thanks to God.  Of course giving thanks to the Lord should be a daily habit, but that isn’t the point of this post.  What I want to suggest here is that true gratitude goes further than simply giving thanks.  Gratitude leads us to give our lives.

For eleven chapters, Paul shares with the Romans the greatest blessing God has ever given.  He explores the ins and outs of our great salvation that Christ purchased for us through the cross and enpty tomb.  Then he begins chapter 12: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God….”  In other words, in light of God’s great mercy found in this great salvation, you should….  You should what?  Give thanks?  No, much more – “present your bodies as a living sacrifice….”  In response to the greatest blessing of all, Paul tells us to give our lives.  Sacrifice ourselves for God. 

How do we sacrifice ourselves for God?  By sacrificially giving of ourselves for his kingdom.  By sacrificially giving of ourselves for others made in God’s image.  We sacrifice our time to share the gospel, listen, encourage, help, serve.  We sacrifice our reputation by helping someone undesirable in the world’s eyes or telling others about Christ even if we are labeled as religious nuts.  We sacrifice our finances as we give to someone with a need, give to our local church to advance its ministry for Christ, give to missionaries seeking to take the gospel around the world.

Or in Jesus’ words – we deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow him.  We stop living for ourselves.  We are willing to suffer for his sake.  We are willing to follow him wherever he leads to do whatever he calls us to do.

All of this, not to try to pay God back for his blessings.  Not to try to earn his favor.  But simply because we are blown away by his incredible blessings, and so out of gratitude and love we give of ourselves. 

This Thanksgiving as we reflect on God’s blessings, let us by all means give thanks to God, but let us also give our lives to the one who has blessed us so richly.