Learn to say “Thank You, Lord” – Post 2

From The Power of Being Thankful

Living at Peace

Just when I thought that it was getting to be quite easy to say, “Thanks a lot, Jesus” for everything I come across in life, they announced the annual awards in our office. And I did not win. Being a girl, frankly, it is quite a struggle to get recognition – yet I do give my best – especially since where I work is poles apart from what I studied. Being quite the over-confident nut that I am, I thought that I had this award in my bag (like last year when I won). And I struggled to say, “Thank You, Jesus” instead of saying, “What the heck!”.

I honestly struggle daily whenever I am beaten by someone at something – the green monster of jealousy colours my eyes green. And the unfairness of it all hurts me. Normally, I would’ve sulked over this for days, but I remembered what I am learning now – to be thankful for every single thing.

To take my mind off this, I started to sing to the Lord – “In His Time”, “I Love You Lord”, “In Christ Alone”, and “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us” – and I finally found it very simple to say, “Thank You Jesus that I didn’t get the award.”

Constant worry or eternal peace?

Our life has become such that we are constantly worried about one thing or the other:

• Worry for looks
• Worry for food
• Worry for what we wear
• Worry for our jobs
• Worry for our homes
• Worry for family and friends
• Worry for worrying, and so on…

Matthew 6 : 25 (NIV)

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?

Keep Matthew 6 : 25 – 34 in mind whenever worry strikes your mind. Whenever we feel worry striking our hearts, we must pray to the Lord for peace, and thank Him for all that He has done for us. He will surely turn our worries to a feeling of content, and give peace to our minds. The Lord Jesus came to earth so that we may have righteousness, joy and peace.

So, do you want to be the kids on the left or the kids on the right?

Verse to Remember

John 14 : 27

New International Version

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

New Revised Standard Version

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

King James Version

 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Learn to say “Thank You, Lord” – Post 1

From The Power of Being Thankful

Dear Lord,

I am currently so depressed. Plain ol’ Jane got that promotion and that dumb John got a trip overseas. But they’ve been here for a shorter number of years, and they work below me! Yet I am still stuck here. Please do make a change in my life. Amen.

Seems familiar?

That’s just how most of our prayers usually go. We tend to focus our prayers on asking the Lord for what we want, but we forget to tell Him “Thank You”. When it comes to finding favours with other mortals, we tend to overwhelm them with our gratitude before asking for the favour, but when it comes to God, we take Him for granted and just start complaining.

Everything for good – in the words of Tenali Raman

This is not a Bible story, but we can see how it is relevant to the topic. Once, when King Krishna Deva Raya was going on a hunt, he cut his hand and lost a finger. Everyone panicked, but Tenali Raman said, “All for good”. So the king got furious, and cast him into the prison. Then while hunting, the king lost the other members of his group and was caught by a cannibalistic tribe. They were going to sacrifice and eat him, but when they saw his cut hand, they let him go, as they didn’t sacrifice those beings which lacked a body part. Thus when the King came back, he called back Tenali Raman, and apologized. But Tenali Raman said that it was a good thing that the King cast him into prison, else he might have been killed.

Sometimes, we may lose a finger or be cast into prison – not literally these things, but they can be synonyms for any problems we face daily. Once we learn to say, ” Lord, thank You for this”, we can see the bigger picture God has in mind for us.

Today, I took up the challenge to not murmur or complain about anything, and just thank the Lord for everything – I did fail once when my computer stubbornly fended off my attempts to start the server to do my work. But I persisted and said “Thank You, Jesus”, and then I realized that I had a good opportunity to prepare for some Sunday School activities while I was waiting to do my work.

Truly, we can grumble and mumble all we want, but what we need to know is that, once we learn to thank the Lord for all our troubles, we will realize that they were never troubles in the first place.

Verse to Remember

1 Chronicles 23 : 30

New International Version

They were also to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord. They were to do the same in the evening.

New Revised Standard Version

And they shall stand every morning, thanking and praising the Lord, and likewise at evening,

King James Version

 And to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord, and likewise at even: