Devotions - Prayer

“Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good. For His lovingkindness is everlasting.” 1 Chronicles 16:34

****HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Thanksgiving is essential to the Christian life because it’s an expression, whether in thought, word, or deed, of our satisfaction IN Who God IS and what God has done for us in Jesus (Colossians 2:9–10; Ephesians 5:1–2).
*Thanksgiving is essential because it flows from the understanding that the Lord’s steadfast love endures forever and that his faithfulness is to all generations (Psalm 100:5).

*****Lord help us Point to Jesus this Thanksgiving and Give Thanks!!!!

The world, Satan, and our own sinful hearts are oriented away from thanksgiving.
* The best way to help someone is to point them to Jesus.
* Remind them who Jesus is and what HE has done.
*Remind Them that Jesus has taken care of their greatest problem, which is our own sin, and that HE is sovereign over everything else we could ever face.

And may God give us grace, that our speech, prayers, and life would overflow to God in thanksgiving for his goodness and countless mercies in Christ.

Miracle of Thanksgiving
by Ron Walters

November always brings out the historian in me—undoubtedly a result of those Thanksgiving theatricals at my elementary school. The class would dress as Pilgrims; my broad brimmed hat stabilized by a pair of crumpled ears. The routines were more funny than factual but they plowed a furrow of America’s history deep into my mind.  And with each November I find myself retracing America’s past and always arriving at the same conclusion:     ****America is a miracle, an answer to countless prayers and thankful hearts.

There’s no other way to explain it.
Don’t get me wrong; I don’t credit this nation’s greatness solely to the Pilgrim’s—a name given them by William Bradford, quoting from Hebrews 11.13—even though their prayers, which will always be identified with that original
Thanksgiving, certainly played a part.

What makes that first Thanksgiving so memorable is as much about the when as it was the what.
Whereas it’s true they had enjoyed a bountiful harvest that year, the Pilgrims purposely planned their Thanksgiving of 1621 during an exceedingly disastrous year. It was then that they gave thanks to God.

Pull up a chair and grab your almanac. And once you’ve found that famous Thanksgiving day, see if you notice the change of fortunes for our nation, and the beginning of the miracle:
* 1609—Approximately 300 colonists arrived in Jamestown. That winter, because their food supplies were exhausted, 80% of the people died from starvation and disease.
* 1620—102 Pilgrims boarded the Mayflower and three months later landed at Plymouth. Within the first year, half of them perished.
* 1621—The Pilgrims dedicated three days for a Thanksgiving Feast to give God glory.
* 1689—During the next 74 years, four North American wars raged between England and France. The final conflict—the French and Indian War—caused Britain to tighten its grip on the colonies, a major miscalculation that eventually led to the American Revolution.
* 1776—America declared independence from England. It was David revisiting Goliath. And, without historical precedent, America won its independence, the world’s first colony to break away from a parent country.

It had to be a miracle. Even George Washington thought so: “It will not be believed that such a force as Great Britain, after eight years of military employment, could be so baffled in their plans…by men oftentimes half-starved, almost always sick, without pay, and experiencing every distress which the human nature is capable of enduring.”Yet, soon after the war, 400 armed war veterans circled the make-shift congressional building demanding their unpaid back wages. Held hostage, Congress was forced to approve a payment plan—but had no funds to make the plan work.
To make matters worse, the thirteen states turned on each other. States they were, but united they weren’t.
New Jersey instituted its own customs services.
New York negotiated its own foreign treaties.
Nine of the thirteen states maintained their own private navies.
Seven states printed their own currency—good only within their borders.
Many passed tariff laws against the other states.
And yet somehow these colonies, this people, this collection of war-worn Americans became one nation. A nation ruled by the laws of democracy to safeguard the rights of its citizens; the right to worship as we please, the right to speak boldly about the things of God…It was a miracle. It is a grand land. And, there’s much to be thankful for.

HAPPY THANKS-LIVING!!!
Philippians 4:6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
Verse  12 I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. 13 For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.
Amen