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Recently I was reading the area of scripture in Matthew 21:15-17 where Jesus said to Peter, Peter, do you love me?  He asked him this question three times.  Each time Peter told the Lord that he did love Him.  I thought that Jesus just wanted to hear Peter say, “Lord, I love you.”  Then I learned the Lord never just wants this or that one thing.  There is always more.

Each time he was asked this, Peter said Lord you know that I love you.  So, this made me wonder if I had ever heard the Lord say to me, “Allen, I love you.”  Then it came to me that I know that the Lord loves me.  So why then would I need to hear Him say it when I know Him to be it?

Here is what I learned.  The Lord was asking Peter for more than to hear Him say I love you.  And likewise, He was telling me there are better ways to know He loves me.  Yes, hearing Him speak those words to us would be great, but being Lord to us is a greater demonstration of the fact that He loves us.

In Jeremiah 31:3 the Lord is speaking to Jeremiah about His love for the people of God at that time.  He is telling him that He will not leave them alone.  He wanted the people to know that He loved them.  But they had been in captivity for a long time and probably wondered if they were loved by anyone.

Jeremiah 31:3 says, “The Lord of old has appeared to me saying:  Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, with kindness I have drawn you.”  If you need to hear the Lord, say He loves you, hear what He is saying here.

He is not speaking to Jeremiah, just about Jeremiah.  He is asking Jeremiah to speak to the people what God says to the people.    God loves us with an everlasting love.  That means His love for us will never cease.  In this He says to you He loves you.  You should hear that before you see that.

It is in His kindness towards us that He says to us I love you.  His kindness says I love you and His I love you speaks through His kindness.  You should hear that.

It is in His grace towards us that He says to us I love you.  His grace says I love you and His I love you speaks through His grace towards you.  You should hear that.

It is in Him forgiveness towards us that He says to us I love you.  His forgiveness says I love you and His I love you speaks through His forgiveness towards you.  You should hear that.

It is in His gift of salvation for us that He says I love you.  His salvation says I love you and His I love you speaks through His salvation for us.  You should hear that.  For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son.

The gift of the Lord speaks of His love for you and His love for us is captured in His gift of His Son.

He loves you.  Can you hear those words in your life today?  Look around at all your life.  The “I love you” words are everywhere because He is an everlasting God who loves us with everlasting Love who is Everlasting Love towards us all.

If you have ever experienced anything of God, you have heard Him say I love you.  He loves you.  Now hear that always.

Live a Delivered Life.  Love you.

Many of us struggle with a lack of patience.  I’ve shared on this topic before.  But at the beginning of a New Year, I believe it is good to do it again.  In Luke, 21:19 scripture tells us, “By your patience possess your souls.”  We are also encouraged in our patience in Philippians 4:6 which says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”

Still with this assurance, some of us continue to struggle with both patience and faith.  Patience is simply our ability to wait till the right things happen before we try to make the right thing happen.  Faith is the strength of our belief that God is involved in the things we hope for even if our hopes are not realized just yet.

Patience then and faith work together to strengthen us in our walk among others.  In this way, it is through our patience we are able to control ourselves and keep ourselves from getting out ahead of the work of our faith.

In Luke 21, Jesus teaches us that we will not have answers to questions that have not been asked.  We will not have responses to things that have not happened yet.  We will not have control of what is not yet out of control.  But we can have the Patience of Faith if we want.

Still there are times that our minds may tell us to watch out for the possibility that bad things will happen, but Patience of Faith tell us to be calm because there is also the possibility that those same things you fear may simply be fear that will never be realized.

Some of us are so fearful that we will run from our own shadows thinking it is out to harm us.  Jesus is telling you that your shadow will always be just beside you, but it will never be able to harm you.  Patience of Faith tells us to settle it now that our shadow is just a cloudy day away from disappearing.  

Some of us fear what others have said or are saying or will say about us, so we worry, and we try to keep control of what is known of us by others.  Patience of Faith tells us to settle it now in our hearts that there will always be talk about us.  We must control ourselves now so that when the time comes, we have a word ready and right for the moment.

Some of us fear what our adversaries can do to us, so we worry about keeping watch over those who are our enemies and prepare to react to the things they will do to us.  Patience of Faith tells us that no matter what our adversaries can do, they will not be able to do anything that will contradict or resist what we come to say and to do when the time is right.

So, settle it now in your life that you will live in the strong patience of your faith.  Then you will be able to overcome all the things that you believe might have a chance to overcome you.

Even if you are betrayed by your closest friend, your Patience of Faith will enable you to snatch a victory from that.

Even if you are hated by someone you love, your Patience of Faith will enable you to find love from that.

And even if you are ridiculed and talked about by those you know and love, your Patience of Faith will enable you to become the talk of how you responded in God and of how God responded through you.

Settle it now to let your Patience of Faith walk ahead of you and clear your way of all the things that could happen to you.

Live a Delivered Life.  Love you.

Now it is fitting as we look at the start of the new year 2024, to take a moment to understand what keeps us from having what is ahead for us.

In Luke 9:62, Jesus says, “No one, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”  He was speaking to a man who wanted to bury his father before he set out to follow Jesus.  Jesus’ response seems harsh, but is it?

Back then, an ox or some other animal was used to pull a plow through a field.  The ox only responded to what man trained it to do.  It walked where it was trained to walk.  The ox walked at the pace it was driven to walk and turned when it was trained to turn.  Everything the ox did was done because someone behind it held the plow and looked ahead.

As we close out 2023 and we look forward to a prosperous 2024, let’s start by understanding that we need to look ahead more than we look back.  Some of us live sloppy lives because we believe we need to look back at what went wrong so we learn what not to do again.

By sloppy I mean the rows we plough are not straight.  The depths we walk are not consistent.  The places we go are not the best.  The things we produce are not high quality.  All because we spend most of our time walking forward but looking backward.

Now, don’t be alarmed at what I said.  For sure, we need to learn from our mistakes.  We don’t want to live a life of repeating the same mistakes over and again.  If you fail an exam because you did not study, you learn that it is a mistake not to study.

Tomorrow, 2023 will be in our past.  It can do nothing for us but exist as a memory of some of the things we experienced yesterday.  What is ahead of us is 2024.  God wants us to focus on what is ahead more than to dwell on what has passed.

Still, someone is saying, “Yes Allen, but scripture tells us to fix things we did wrong before we move to things ahead.”  For sure we must apologize and reconcile ourselves with others where that is right.  But you cannot fix a wrong done yesterday.  We do not have the ability to undo what has been done.  It is only by looking ahead that we can learn to do what will keep us from doing the wrong we did yesterday.

So, for 2024, let’s start the year by learning to walk forward looking ahead.  The great plans God has for you are ahead of you not behind you.  He is with you.  He has hold of the plow of your life.  He knows where you need to walk and where you need to go.

We are not oxen.  We are not just wondering about in the fields of our lives ploughing where we are living today.  God gives us the ability to look ahead, not just to see where are going.  We look ahead because we can decide on what we want our tomorrow to be.

If yesterday you were wronged, look ahead and let it go.  You will have a better tomorrow.

If yesterday you did wrong to anyone or with anything, look ahead and do what is right.  You will have a better tomorrow and so will others.

If yesterday you didn’t have all you needed, look ahead and let it go.  You will see where you can walk to have more tomorrow.

If you learn to live by looking back at what has happened to you, you will find it difficult to have all that can be yours tomorrow.  When we look back, we find it difficult to let go of what we cannot take into our tomorrows.

We don’t have to forget yesterday, but let’s not try to relive yesterday.  2024 is the tomorrow of 2023.  Let’s learn to look forward to each of our tomorrows and live in a way that we can have more of what is ahead.

I pray that 2024 is full of the blessings of God for you and your life.  Look ahead to that with the great assurance of God’s faithfulness to want the best for us.

Live a Delivered Life.  Love you.

Today is December 25^th, the day in 2023 that we will acknowledge the birth of Jesus Christ our savior.  We typically refer to this time as Christmas Day.  It should indeed be a happy and joyous time for all who believe in Christ.

Scripture gives us several accounts of the birth of Christ.  In Luke 2:7 scripture says, “And she brought forth her first-born Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”

Joseph and Mary had travelled from Galilee to Bethlehem where Jesus was born.  Scripture tells us there was no room for them at the inn in town. Joseph and Mary may not have found a place to lodge at the inn, but I have a question for you.  Will you Make Room in your life for your Savior?  

Joseph and Mary did not have reservations at the inn and there were no vacancies. But don’t be alarmed.  It is probable that the owners of the inn didn’t know who these two were.  They didn’t see a need to make special provisions for common people.

So, Joseph and Mary had to make room for the birth of Jesus the best they could.  They found some cover and after Jesus was born, they wrapped Him in swaddling cloths and laid Him in a manger.  Jesus was not a poor baby born to poor parents.  Swaddling cloths were customarily used to wrap newborns babies at their births.

Swaddling cloths were a way to say this baby is wanted not unwanted.  Jesus may not have been born in a special place, but Mary and Joseph made room for Him to be brought forth and treated like a special baby born to be a special person to bring eternal life to a special people.

So, there are several ways we can make room in our lives to acknowledge the birth and life of Jesus. Will you make room in your life and a place for some swaddling cloths and a manger?  Jesus may show up at the inn of your life at any time, and He may do so without reservations.

Joseph and Mary left the comfort of their home in Galilee to go to Bethlehem at a time when she was due to deliver Jesus any day.  They did that because Bethlehem is where they needed to be.  Jesus gave up His life, went to a cross and was raised from death so He could deliver us from ourselves.  He came to where He needed to be.

If you are going to make room in your life for His life, you may be asked to leave where you are to go to where you should be.  Jesus is with you always, but He is waiting for you to go to where you should go so you can celebrate the His birth into your life here on earth.  Will you do it?

The innkeeper in Bethlehem did not make room for an unexpected guest.  They probably missed an unexpected blessing.  Will you make room in the inn of your life for the life of our Savior?  He needs a place to stay with you so He can give you a better place to live your life.  Will you do it?

Joseph and Mary had to use a manger as Jesus’ first bed because normal accommodations were not available.  They made a manger to work for Him as His first bed.  Your life will work for Him if you are willing to allow that.  Will you make room for Jesus to lay His head down in the manger of your life?

So, let’s make Christmas 2023 about making room for Him all the time.  Let’s use this day to start living like every day is a day that He needs the accommodations of a manger in our lives.  Let’s make sure we keep some swaddling cloths around so that He can use them to wrap around our lives.

You see, He is a special person born in a special way to a special God for a special people.  He wraps us in the swaddling cloths of His love so that all the world will know we are not unwanted but deeply desired by our Heavenly Father.  He makes room for us so that we will make room for Him.

Make Him Room today.

Merry Christmas.Live a Delivered Life.  Love you.

In Luke 2:10-11, scripture says an angel spoke to some shepherds who were watching their flocks on the day Christ was born.  It says as the angel stood before them, they were afraid.  So, the angel said, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.  For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

This all happened on the day before the birth of Christ.  It’s what we call Christmas Eve.  It was good news indeed.  News they loved hearing!

However, the first real Christmas Eve probably happened without much to do.  To everyone but a few it was probably just a normal day.  The word eve means the period of time just before something important is about to happen.  When the angels talked to the shepherds, the most important thing that could be had already just happened.  Christ was born.

The shepherds and all people at that time had to look back and find joy at what had just happened.  For us, Christmas Eve means we get to look ahead with anticipation to experience the joy of knowing already of the birth that changed the world for everybody.

I wonder if we are as joyful and as happy at the birth of Christ as the shepherds were?  They were there to experience it; we get to celebrate it.  The shepherds decided to go to Bethlehem to see what had just happened.  They went to see the baby savior that God had promised.  In their excitement, they were moved to go and find the joy that had come to the whole world.

As we look forward to tomorrow, the day we will acknowledge and celebrate the birth of Christ, let’s do that with joy and great anticipation.  Where will we go?  What will we do?  We are blessed that many people have written songs about the birth of Christ to help us celebrate what tomorrow means to the world.  One of my favorite songs is O Holy Night.

The words to O Holy Night say this:

O Holy night! The stars are brightly shining,

It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth.

Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
‘Til He appeared, and the soul felt its worth.

A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn’.

Fall on your knees! O hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born;

O night divine, O night, O night divine.

The words go on to say,

Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother;
And in His name, all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
With all within us praise His holy name.

Christ is the Lord! O praise His Name forever,

His power and glory evermore proclaim.

His power and glory evermore proclaim.

Christmas Eve then is the evening before an amazing event for us.  Look around for your brightly shining star.  It will lead you to where you should be.  Recognize we were a world lost to sin until He appeared and gave each of us a sense of worth, value, and hope.  Today we may be weary from living in a world dominated by sin but tomorrow we can rejoice because He will break the bonds of sin for us all.

Let’s fall on our knees today and thank God for Him.  Listen to what the angel is trying to say to you.  Keep the day and all about you holy and divine because in His name all oppression shall cease for us.  Sing to Him sweet words of joy with a heart of gratefulness.  Praise His Holy Name with all that you are.

He is Lord on this Christmas Eve, and tomorrow for many, He can be Lord and Savior.

So, as we look to celebrate His birthday, let’s look at this eve before the day and thank Him for what He has already done for us.  Indeed, it is the greatest news of the greatest thing that could ever be.  It is news we can really love to hear over and again.

Let’s spend this Christmas Eve with a song in our hearts as we acknowledge what tomorrow means.  O Holy Night indeed.  Christ our Savior is born.

Live a Delivered Life.  Love You

I have a feeling I want to share with you.  It may be a sin—I don’t know.  I hope that it is not.  But here it is.  I don’t want anyone who does not care about me to care for me.  I don’t know if that is pride or foolishness.  But I’m telling you that is how I feel.  If you don’t care about me, I will find it difficult to accept that you will want to care for me.

Caring about suggests that your feelings are involved in your care of others.  Caring for suggests you are willing to do things for others even though you may not care about them.  Caring about is focused on making life greater for others.  Caring for is focused on you doing what is expected of you.

Why is all this important?  Well, it’s Jesus.  He taught us about caring in John 13.  Scripture says that after the Lord’s last supper with the disciples, He washed their feet.  As He did this, Peter challenged Him by saying, “No Lord.  You cannot wash my feet.”  In verse 8, Peter and Jesus had this conversation.  “Peter said to Him, you shall never wash my feet!”  Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.”

I believe I would have acted like Peter.  How could I allow the Lord, the Son of God, the King of Kings, to wash my feet?  He is too holy, and I am too unholy.  But, washing us is one of the key reasons Jesus came to us.  And He didn’t just come to do a job, He came because He cares about each of us, and because He cares about us, He cares for each of us.

Jesus teaches us to both care about others and to care for others.  He wants to make certain that as we go about serving the needs of others we do it with right spirit, the right heart, and the right emotion.  He wants more than caring for; He wants us to care about.

By washing the feet of His disciples, He teaches us to be humble and to be servants.  Peter did not want Jesus to wash his feet because the task was too menial.  Jesus’ response was that you cannot truly be identified with Me unless I wash you.  Most of us get the message loud and clear.  We should practice humility and serve others as Christ did.  We must first care about others as the basis of our care for others.  But there is another message that goes to who we are.

You and I can have no part with Jesus today unless we too are washed by Him. Yes, the truth then is still truth today.  Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.  You and I, if we are to be identified with Him, we must be washed by Him today.

Today, He lives in us through His Word and by His Spirit.  The Word of God is the Son of God and by His Love and His care about us, He saves us all.  By washing and regenerating and renewing us, He transforms us into His very likeness.

When Jesus washes us, He doesn’t just remove our dirt.  He deposits His virtue and His care about others into our hearts so that we can care about others and care for others as He did.  Jesus knew Peter needed more than just the example of humility and servanthood.  You and I need more than that too.

So, He says, “Let Me wash you, cleanse you, and regenerate you from what you are into My likeness.”  You cannot love like Him with your old heart.  You cannot think like Him with your old mind.  You cannot do like Him with your old spirit.

He must wash all the old things away so that He can give you new things.  So, rather than being like Peter, and like I was, let’s learn to stay before Him and ask Him daily to wash us.  We cannot have a part with Him unless we accept that He wants to wash us daily.  Wash us Lord daily and continually.

Live A Delivered Life.  Love you.

Sometimes, in our immaturity, we may ask ourselves where is God?  When things are tough for us day after day, when bad stuff happens more and more often, we may wonder where is God?  Why does it feel like sometimes we are alone in a world that is bent on doing evil all the time.

I say we are immature because in asking where God is we are also saying that perhaps God must be present before He can do anything for us.  We may think that God must be with us physically to see what we are going through.  But this is not so.

Psalm 42:1 says something similar this way.  My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. Where can I go and meet with God? My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”  God’s answer to this is simple.  You are never alone.

The believer must never forget that their belief and their faith is what makes it possible for them to know they are never alone from God.  Sometimes our struggles will make us forget that God is everywhere.   He is omnipresent.  That means He is where you are, where you were, and where you will be all the time.

When Adam and Eve hid themselves from the Presence of God in the garden after their sin of disobedience, they thought they could be someplace God could not find.  They were wrong.  God was the very Garden in which they tried to hide themselves.  They were never alone.

God never plays the game of hide and seek with us.  We are never alone, and God is never absent from the place we are at the present.  If we seek Him, we will find Him.  It’s not hide and seek with Him but seek and find.  We find Him because we are never alone from Him.

There will be times our very persons will thirst for the Living God because life can be tough.  We may feel like we are all alone because all we see is the stuff that wants to make our lives miserable.  But we are never alone.

We ask ourselves where is the place we must go so we can meet up with the Lord? Our struggles we think, keep us from getting to Him.  What is keeping our prayers from reaching Him we ask?  “Nothing,” is His response.  We are never alone.

And people, yes people, like the friends of Job, will even mock us, asking, “Where is your God now?  Where is He in all this stuff?”  They will make us feel we are alone, telling us we are wrong.  They say, “Just accept it, and do what practical people do to fix things.”  They are wrong; we are never alone.

When the winds of struggle are all around you and about to sink you, remember that God is there, and He is not asleep in your boat.  You are never alone.

In your struggles, He is the one place you can find peace.  You are not alone.

When you do what surprises even yourself, you are not alone.  He never leaves you alone simply with your thoughts.

You are never alone.  The world wants you to be so preoccupied with your struggles that you will forget this.  People want to belittle you so much that you will forget you are bigger in Him.  You are never alone.  You can not go anyplace from the presence of God.

You cannot go anyplace from the power of God.  You cannot go anyplace from the Love of God.  Darkness cannot hide you from Him nor can the depths of despair keep Him from you.

So, remember today, you are never alone.  Remind yourself of this daily, moment by moment.  He created you and He knows you.  No matter what you are facing today, remember you are in His presence, no matter how you may feel.

And if you know you are in His presence, you can know that He knows what you are facing and is ready to show you a way to live more freely in the light of darkness because He isn’t just with you to watch what happens with you.

He is with you so that you can learn to watch what He can do with you.  You are never alone.  Don’t give up on knowing that.

Live a Delivered Life.  Love you.  

I’m sure some of you it said, “Don’t just bring problems to the surface; bring also solutions.”  There are many ways we can look at this statement.  It is fitting for many of us who look only for problems in life or to find those things others are doing wrong.  You know what I mean.  Those of us who have a critical or condemning spirit would love to show us everything about everyone else that is wrong.

In a way, Jesus had to deal with this in some of His disciples.  In Matthew 9:13 He tells them, “You give them something to eat.”  He did this after the disciples came to Him telling Him to send the people away before dark so they could find food for themselves.

Jesus responded by saying, “Why don’t you do something?”  They responded by telling Him they only had a few loaves of bread and two fish among them. This was not enough, they thought, to feed five thousand people.  Still, Jesus said to them, “You give them something to eat.”  He did not say give them give them a five-course dinner, but He wanted the people to eat something.

The disciples were looking at the size of the problem and considered a big problem needed an even bigger way to solve it.  In their minds sending the people to the towns around them was the best way to ensure they could get something to eat.  Or was it really?

Sometimes we are like this today.  Sometimes we are too busy to be bothered with the problems of others.  Something we are too privileged to let problems people cause for themselves become our problems.  Sometimes we think, “You caused it; you fix it.”  We find ways to do nothing except point out blame or fault.

When we see our neighbor’s child hungry, do we feed them, or do we criticize the parents for being poor parents?  Do we pray, “Lord, fix those worthless parents”, or do we feed the child?  Do we see the child’s hunger, or do we see our pride?  Do we see the parents’ faults, or do we see our hard hearts?

We should be grateful our Lord is not like we are.  Jesus was saying to the disciples, “If you do something with what you have, then I will do what you cannot do.”  You do something.  When a person is down to their last, Jesus is wondering if we will be willing to give up our last for them?  Are we?

Jesus challenges us with the problems we are blessed to see.  He wants to see us do something for others from what we have and from what we do not have.  He wants to hear us say, “Lord I have done this, and I have done that, but we still have this problem for these people.  Please help us.”

Jesus took the little food the disciples had and fed over five thousand people from it.  Many of us think He fed them with it, but He fed them from it.  With it would mean each person got a tiny crumb of the five loaves and of the two fishes.

But Jesus doesn’t feed us our needs from our lack.  He fulfills our needs by using our lack.  By using five loaves and two fishes, He was able to multiply that into what was sufficient for everyone to be fed to the full.  When you do something, He will what you do and multiply that in ways to completely satisfy the problems you face.

Our role in all this is to do something.  When we see a need, let’s be willing to do something by giving all that we can so that when we go to the Lord, He is able to do something more from what we have done.  Don’t wait for Him to tell you to do something.  Do something.  Then tell Him in your prayers for others what you have done.

When you do something, He will work from what you have done to do what cannot be done.

Live a Delivered Life.  Love you.

Genesis 31 tells of Jacob with his family leaving Laban to return to his home.  The account says Jacob left without informing Laban because he was afraid of how Laban would respond.  In Genesis 31:24, Laban was about to go and overtake Jacob.  Scripture says God did not stop him, but He warned him.

It says, “But God had come to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night and said to him.  Be careful that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad.”  In other words, God was saying to Laban, be careful not to act in anger when you catch up with Jacob.  I won’t like that, and you won’t like that I won’t like it.  I am no idol.

In Genesis 31:30 Laban says, “And now you have surely gone because you greatly long for your father’s house, but why did you steal my gods?”  The gods Laban is talking about were the household idols that belonged to Laban.

Laban was angry because he thought Jacob had taken the things that he worshipped.  We could call them his idols, we could call them his gods, or we could call them the things he worshipped.  However we choose to refer to them, Laban didn’t have the sense to realize that the God who spoke to him in a dream is the only true God.

Listen, the gods we create are not the same as the God who created us.  In fact, I will say that we shouldn’t even refer to the things we create as gods at all.  There is only one God though there may be many things we hold as idols.  But we must be careful never to idolize anything in the way we should hold our God.

Laban was chasing after something to which he gave his intentional praise and adoration.  He was chasing after something he had given a special position in his life.  We must never give to anything the things that we should only give to God.  We must never hold anything in a position in our lives that should only be occupied by God.

I don’t believe it’s wrong by itself to have love for things.  But we should remember this.  Things are things.  We shouldn’t love things like we love God.  Things are things.  If God is not at the top of your life, then nothing else should be there. We should have nothing higher than God.

The gods Laban created came from his thoughts and his mind.  They were not the same as the one true God.  The gods we create are not the same as our God. 

Laban had many gods; our God is one.  He has us, or we are lost.

Laban’s gods could not speak or hear; our God speaks to us, and He listens to us.

Laban’s gods could not keep themselves from being stolen; our God keeps us from being stolen away.

Laban’s gods could exist only in the place he placed them; our God exists in everyplace and in anyplace.

Laban’s gods could not prevent themselves from being moved; our God lives everywhere and moves anywhere as He pleases.

Laban’s gods could not think or act; our God thinks and acts on our behalf always.

Laban’s gods were created by Laban; our God has always existed, and He created us.

Laban’s gods were powerless; our God is all power.

The gods we create are not the same as the God who created us.  Let’s make sure that as we live each day we do not intentionally or unintentionally create the idea of something that might take the position that God should occupy in our lives.

Let’s make sure nothing gets the praise and worship that we should only give God.

When we remember they are not the same, we will learn to live on God’s mantel, in God’s house, in God’s mind, and in His heart.  And when He is ready to move, He will move us along with Him.  We will never have to go looking for God when we remember we live in Him more than He lives in our thoughts.

We may lose our idols, but we can never lose our God because we are found by Him, held by Him, given life in Him, and we have life by Him.  He is not the same as anyone or anything else.

Live a Delivered Life.  Love you.

In Matthew Chapter 11 we have one of Jesus’ most impactful messages on gratefulness and thanksgiving.  Here He teaches us about the power of John the Baptist’s message and how the privileged leaders of the time were ungrateful and unwilling to change.

In Matthew 11:25, Jesus prays this prayer of Thanksgiving.  He says, “I thank You Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes.”  The things He speaks of were the things of the salvation we all need.

The elite people of the time did not appreciate the truth and significance of John’s message.  The status and provisions they had kept them from seeing what they needed most.  But the people who had little were thankful for how much John’s message meant for them.

So, here we are today, Thanksgiving 2023.  Will we find in ourselves the heart of gratefulness and thankfulness Jesus had for Who God is and for what He means to us?  Jesus is the Son of God, yet He had the sense to recognize the need for the work of God in a world where man wants his own work to be dominate.

So, as you get your Thanksgiving Day started for 2023, do so by first thanking the Lord for thanking God for being our God.  Yes, I said thank the Lord for thanking God.

Be thankful today because Jesus was grateful that our God lives to serve all our needs.  He was grateful on our behalf.

Acknowledge someone today who is like a John the Baptist of our time.  Just as Jesus took the time to acknowledge the importance of John and the impact his work had on the people of the times, let’s be thankful for the people who still go forth proclaiming the salvation of the Lord.  We need that!

Jesus enjoys the close relationship He has with each of us, and He loves spending time with us.  So, you ought to enjoy the day and the food and the fellowship you will have with Him and with those close to you.  

And keep the day in perspective.  More than being thankful for what we have, be thankful that God has chosen to make us a part of His plans.

Start the Day with prayer like Jesus:

I thank you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You are:

The God of all people – and God of our life.

That You live for us so that we may live in You.

That You are all our provision so that we need not to worry about what we may lack.

That You love loving each of us and in doing so we will learn to love You and to love others.

That You speak to us like the babes of Your heart, so that we can learn to come to You and learn to live by what You will reveal to us.

Thanksgiving 2023 is indeed a day for us to learn to live humbly before God and others, but to live richly in the provisions of His blessings and in His mercies and in His Love.

As much as we are thankful for the food and the day away from work we have today, let’s be thankful that God is our God.

We cannot count all our blessings, but we can count on being blessed all the time because He is our Father.  Let’s give Him all our Thanksgiving for that.

Live a Delivered Life.  Love you.