November, 2004
Greetings from
As this year, 2004, begins to wind down, let us all give thanks with a grateful heart! The Word of God says, It is good to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises to Your Name, O Most High; to declare Your loving kindness in the morning, and Your faithfulness every night Hallelujah!
The kind of expression that David is speaking of here is one that deeply moves the heart of our Father. So, I have been praying for myself, my family and for all of you, that we might be able to develop and maintain this attitude throughout the rest of this year, and the coming New Year. Its called an Attitude of Gratitude!
We can see this best in Luke 17:11-19. This is the story of the Ten Lepers. These men were not a very pleasant sight when Jesus found them beside the road. They were ten rejected outcasts of society, huddled together, and forgotten. But, as always, Jesus heard the cry of the oppressed, the outcasts, and He reached out in love and compassion to help them.
During this Holiday Season, and throughout the coming New Year, as God gives us the opportunity, we need to reach out to help those who are less fortunate. Whether the aid we give comes in the form of food, clothing, funds, or just a helping hand, when the opportunity presents itself, we all need to be faithful to reach out as an expression of our faithfulness to God our Father.
As the lepers cried out to the Lord for pity, He listened intently, and was moved on their behalf. He told them to go show themselves approved to the priests, and as they did, they were healed. Praise His Holy Name!
That day, all ten of those men received a brand new lease on life. Their healing meant that not only were they whole in their bodies, but they also became whole again, emotionally and spiritually, as they were accepted back in to society. Jesus had set them free! Yet, this story does not end there!
Of the ten men who were miraculously healed, only one of them returned to thank Jesus. The Scriptures tell us that the one who did return, threw himself at Jesus feet, showing great humility, and glorified God with a loud voice. Bless his heart! This one was truly grateful!
Thank You! Two of the most powerful words in the universe, yet, as this story reminds us, it is so easy for each one of us to receive a tremendous blessing, and then go on our way without giving any thought at all to the one who has blessed us.
If you have ever spent any time with toddlers, you know their vocabulary rarely includes words such as, Thank You or I appreciate your thoughtfulness! Instead, their sentences often begin with, I want or Gimme. They believe the world revolves around their needs.
Thank God we mature as we grow older! Or do we? When was the last time you thanked the Lord for your answered prayers? When was the last time you thanked Him for meeting your needs? Sometimes I think we revert to a toddler mentality when it comes to spiritual matters. Our prayer life contains about 98 % requests, and just about 2% thanksgiving.
Remember all ten lepers asked Jesus for healing, and yet only one returned to say thank you. Sadly many of us follow this pattern today. Im speaking of foxhole believers in times of crisis, but practical atheists because they acknowledge the existence of God, but give no indication that God is any part of their day to day living. They live as they please, most of the time, but when a crisis hits, they fall to their knees and cry out, God, help me! Then as soon as He delivers them from the jam they are in, they return once again to their old life style.
It may surprise you, but God wants to bless you more than you want to be blessed! He wants to speak to you more than you wish to be spoken to. He is interested in you! He wants to work in your life! The tragedy is that many of us are in danger of being among the nine lepers. We are so quick to pray for help, yet so slow to say thank you! In a sense, Jesus is still asking the same today, Where are the other nine?
Philippians 4:6 instructs us, Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
Have you ever come to the Lord for help, then forgotten to thank Him for what He has done for you? Do you thank God for the blessings He gives you each and every day?
You may say, But I have nothing to be thankful for! Well, lets consider some of the many blessings we have as believers!
Are you in relatively good health? If you are you can thank God for that! We don't realize how valuable good health is until we begin to loose it. When I visit those in hospitals, I am made very aware of how fragile life really is. I always walk out of a hospital thanking God for the ability to walk out! Good health is a blessing we should never take for granted.
Think about our freedoms here in
Most importantly, we can be thankful that our sins are forgiven, and that we have an inheritance awaiting us in Heaven. That alone is more than enough to be thankful for. We can all be thankful that we have a relationship with God, and have access to Him 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and year after year.
When we come before the Lord to pray and pour out our heart before Him, we really should preface our prayers with praise and thanksgiving. Thanking God does not just strengthen our faith, but it also puts our lives in perspective.
Thanksgiving enhances our worship, too! When we give thanks to God, we are acknowledging that He is in control, and He is worthy of our praise. It doesn't matter how we feel at the moment, or what problems we might be facing, because He has already done so much for every one of us!
You know, sometimes, we can begin to take our walk with Jesus for granted. We forget that the peace we awaken with every morning, and the serenity and hope we possess, is something we did not always have.
Unfortunately, some people do not realize this until they fall away, and begin missing all those gifts. First they loose their joy! That's why David wrote in Psalm 51, after he had sinned with Bathsheba, Restore to me the joy of Your salvation! What a privilege it is to be called a child of God!
Let us not be like the nine lepers who were too pre-occupied with themselves to come back and thank the Lord. Let us be like the one who did come back to worship and glorify God for being so good to him.
Repeatedly, throughout the Word, we see God commending those who are expressing thanks, and rebuking those who are showing ingratitude.
In I Thessalonians
David, speaking under the unction of the Holy Spirit said that thanksgiving means more to God than sacrifice: He who brings thanksgiving as his sacrifice honors Me; to him who orders his way aright, I will show the salvation of God.
The healed leper who returned to give thanks to God is a wonderful model for us. By returning to say thank you, he proved himself to be a man who was truly grateful and considerate. Whether the other nine remembered that it was Jesus who healed them, we do not know. However, the one who returned, leaves no doubt in our minds that he remembered and was truly thankful for what the dear Lord did for him.
This has been a wonderfully exciting
year of ministry to so many needy hearts and lives. God has made it possible for
us to put Bibles in to the hands of so many who have never seen or held a Bible
in their hands before. We've been able to clothe and feed many, many people here
at home as well as in the nations. We've been able to provide transportation for
hundreds of Jews from the nations to
Yes, we've been able to do a lot for a lot of precious people, but without the Lords provision, and your obedience to contribute to Fair Havens Missions, we could not have done any of it. So, on behalf of myself, and the Fair Havens Missions Board of Directors, I want to say thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all that you have done to make it all possible. I also want to say thank you for every prayer that you have prayed for me and for this ministry. We are on the front lines and covet your prayer covering.
Please know that we thank God in the wee hours of each morning for all of you. We are so very grateful for the way that He has connected all of us. Again, To God Be the Glory, for great things He has done in this year of 2004.
Have a wonderfully blessed Thanks giving Day! We love you, and we thank you all! Shalom and Blessings,
Myrna