The Thanksgiving Joy of Harvest

The term "HARVEST" appears frequently in Scripture, as the people of the Bible lived in an agricultural society. At Thanksgiving, the imagery of harvest frames our own nation's history, inspiring us with things reflective of Early America.

Yet Thanksgiving is about more than that.

It is a call for us to celebrate not only God's provision and restoration, but also His promise and presence--even amid delays, restricting circumstances, or tears.

Thanksgiving also calls us to constancy, for the journey to harvest will usually be harder than we think, longer than we expect, and more rewarding than we can ever imagine.

Scripture says, "Though weeping may endure for a night, joy comes in the morning" (Ps. 30:5).

For many of us, it's been a demanding year.

But as you and I come to Thanksgiving, the joy of celebration makes everything else incidental. When we finally see the harvest, it no longer matters how tough things were, how much time they took, or how heavy the pressures were. What's important is that we have answered the call to faith.

There is joy in that call. The Bible likens this joy after travail to a woman who has delivered a child. After the difficult months of pregnancy and the pain of labor, the baby is born, and what it took for that to happen doesn't matter anymore. There is only the songs of rejoicing.

These songs are a celebration of God's purpose through and beyond trial. It reminds us that triumph ultimately outlasts trial. And the triumph is en route, folks.

Even if we can't see what God is doing, there's evidence in our hearts that He will be faithful. This song is an invitation to constancy of focus--to go forth with sacks of seed, not just one.

So today, ask yourself: What are you sowing?

Even with the wind in my face, the sand in my eyes, the weeping from circumstance or adversity, we must keep sowing the promise of God. Not as one who is mindless or superstitious, but as one who knows that the God who makes a promise to His people never forgets it.

God has done more things of love and goodness in our lives than any of us can imagine. When you face the thing that hasn't happened yet, keep sowing.

With a heart of Thanksgiving, find joy in the harvest to come.

----Dr. Jack Hayford

For He is Good

Often at this time of year, we put a lot of emphasis on Christmas. As merchants compete for our attention, we start becoming preoccupied with putting up the lights, trimming the tree, buying presents, and so on. In the process of it all, we can very easily forget the beautiful holiday called Thanksgiving. Proclaimed as a national Thanksgiving Day in 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln, it initially was a religious holiday and, more to the point, a Christian holiday.

At this particular time of year we can sometimes forget about how thankful we ought to be. We need to never forget that God has blessed us to live, in my opinion, in the greatest country on the face of the earth, the United States of America. We have so many privileges here. We have a lot to give thanks for.

Certainly the Bible urges us to give thanks to the Lord. We are told in Psalm 106:1, "Praise the Lord! Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever" (NKJV). Colossians 3:17 says, "And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him" (NKJV). Then in Hebrews 13:15, we read, "Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name" (NKJV, emphasis mine).

Sometimes worship and thanksgiving can indeed be a sacrifice. Why? Because we don't feel like it. It may be because we are down or depressed or things aren't going all that well for us. Maybe we are experiencing hardship or a tragedy has struck, and we don't want to thank God. But Psalm 106:1 doesn't say, "Give thanks to the Lord because you feel good." It says, "Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good."

We are quick to ask for help, but we are slow in returning thanks. Yet we should be just as definite in giving thanks to God as we are in requesting help from Him. As a result, there are at least three things about giving thanks that we Christians need to know.

First, to give thanks, we must recognize that God is in control of all circumstances surrounding our lives, both good and bad. Romans 8:28 says, "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose" (NKJV). God is paying attention to what is going on in our lives. And He knows what you are going through right now.

Second, we must realize that God loves us and is always looking out for our eternal benefit, even if what we are presently going through is difficult. As 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 says, "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal" (NKJV).

Third, we must realize that God is wiser than we are. He is always dealing with us for our best eternal good, where in contrast, we are always interested in what is for our temporary good. But sometimes what is good for us eternally is not easy for us temporarily. God will make that determination and work in our lives accordingly.

When is the last time you said...

Lord, thank You that you have allowed me to live in the United States of America...
Thank You for my church and allowing me to be a part of it...
Thank You for sending Your Son to die on the cross for my sins...
Thank You that He rose again...
Thank You that my life, which was once filled with guilt, is now filled with Your purpose and peace...
Thank You that no matter what happens, You are coming back again for me...?

------Greg Laurie

Holy and Whole

Ireaneus, second century church leader, said, "The glory of God is a human being who is fully alive." Jesus said, "I have come that they might have life and have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). There is a big misunderstanding about the Christian life. Many think only of it in terms of eternal life in heaven.

But eternal life starts the moment we know Christ as Lord. "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins...God made us alive with Christ" (Eph 2:1, 4-5).

Paul prays that we will experience the fullness of God's blessings in every area of life: May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it (1 Thess 5:23-24).

Three words are important here: Peace, which means wholeness, completeness, harmony, soundness. Sanctify, meaning to make holy; to set apart for God's sacred purpose. Wholeness, which means connected to through and through.

God's work of grace in us is the word of wholeness. The Holy Spirit works in us to bring all of life under Christ's Lordship and blessing. The word salvation (sozo, Greek, Rom 1:16) means more than having ours sins forgiven and being promised heaven, as wonderful as those promises are.

It also means to set free and to make whole. Salvation is more than forgiveness for sins, escape from judgment and the promise of heaven. Jesus did not simply come into the world to save us from hell; He came to make us whole and to save us for an abundant life -- spirit, mind and body.

Christ came to restore humanity to the image of God.

Answering the Call to Holiness

Many Christians do not take holiness seriously. They do not realize that to be holy is a commandment from God. Since God has called us to holiness, we have to will ourselves to live the holy life. In 1 Peter 1:13 -16, we see God's call to holiness: "Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, 'Be holy, for I am holy.'"

We also find in II Timothy 1:8-9, "...share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began."

Everything that refers to God is holy. Holiness is the very essence of who He is. Our lives should always exemplify what Jesus' life was like when He lived on earth, because He exemplified what God's life is-a life of holiness. This was evident when Satan tempted Him in the wilderness. No matter what Satan tempted Jesus with, or how often Satan tempted Him, Jesus never yielded to him.

Holiness is the quality of life. It should not be confused with two similar terms such as sanctification, which means to be set apart, and righteousness, which means right standing with God. When you were born again, you were made the righteousness of God through Jesus Christ.

Paul tells us this in II Corinthians 5:21, "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." He also writes in 1 Corinthians 1:2, "... to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints..."

Sponsor AdGod makes us righteous and sanctifies us through Jesus Christ; those are things that He does. But it is up to us to be obedient to His call to holiness. We do not have to do anything to be sanctified, other than to live a sanctified life. Living the sanctified life is called holiness. This is how our character gets established. So Christians can't do anything to be righteous or sanctified, but everything to be holy.

It may seem difficult, but you can be holy, just as God the Father and Jesus are holy. It will take effort because it does not come overnight. You have to train yourself and remove yourself from unholy people, places, things and actions. You have to will yourself to do it. You have to go in the opposite direction of where your flesh or your mind may want to take you. You must remember that God cannot be involved in any kind of sin or immorality. When you get into sin or immorality, you park His power at the door and enter at your own risk.

Christians should desire to be pleasing to God instead of compromising their standards to please others. They must tell themselves, "I can abstain from fornication; I will not commit adultery; I will not worry; I will not overeat; I will not be jealous; I will not be envious; I will not be full of strife; I will not lie; I will not do anything that Jesus wouldn't do because I am holy."

To be victorious in living a life of holiness, you need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. You need the Holy Spirit, the power of God, to help you because Satan will oppose you when you commit to obeying the Word of God. You need the supernatural power of God because Satan is a supernatural enemy. It is a supernatural life that God has called you to. It is a life of joy, peace and fulfillment.

The act of holiness is not an impossible task. God would never tell us to do something or be something that is impossible to accomplish. You can be holy; you can count yourself as dead to sin; you can overcome those temptations just as Jesus did because God has already made a way of escape.

Paul tells us this in 1 Corinthians 10:13, "No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it."

So, whatever challenge you're faced with, don't give up. It's a fight all your life. It doesn't matter how many times you fall; get up because one of these times, you're going to get the victory over that temptation so you can be right for God and live the life of holiness as you were called to do.