Giving Thanks in the Season of Thanksgiving



What are you thankful for?

Too often we allow the rush of the holiday season to take our minds off of what is truly important. We're thinking about the turkey and the stuffing, the desserts and the table setting, but is that what Thanksgiving is? Rushing around the kitchen, getting angry about nobody helping to prepare a meal that takes five hours to complete and ten minutes to eat?

All year long we have things that we have to do. Between work, taking care of kids, helping with homework, cleaning the house, washing that pile of laundry that seems like when it's almost gone, it magically reappears, and on and on and on. But how often do you stop and look around you? How often do you thank God for that job you get up every morning to go to, for those little pattering feet you hear running around the house, the ability to help with homework, for the home that you live in, and yes, even for those clothes it seems you're always washing? These are things that are taken for granted sometimes, and yet when a day comes that is set aside to remember these things, we let it pass us because we allow the worry that dinner needs to be perfect override the chance for us to enjoy what we've been blessed with.

Recently, I heard from a friend of mine and her dad just passed away. He wasn't an old man, but middle aged, in his prime. He was about my own dad's age. And it made me think. Life is a journey, but in the whole scheme of time, a person's years are not very long. So often we live day after day as we did the day before. We do the same things, go about with the same attitudes, see the same people. But are we making the most of it? Are we showing those around us how much they mean to us? Are we showing those special people in our lives how much we love them even when they do that little thing that always irritates us, like leaving their socks on the floor? We let little things get on our nerves, but these are the things we would miss the most if one day we woke up and they were all gone.

Thanksgiving is not about the perfect dinner, or even making the perfect day. It's about being around the ones you love the most, and having a full day to enjoy them, to show them, "I'm thankful for you".

This is my nineteenth thanksgiving, and I love spending the day with my parents. My dad doesn't have to get up at 4 in the morning to spend all day at work. We get to spend time with him and enjoy having him around for the day. I get to learn my mom's secrets for making a great meal and it's just a gloriously peaceful day. But, you know something? I can hardly wait until I have a family of my own and I get to hear my dad, father-in-law, and husband rooting on their favorite team, our kids running through the house and playing, and cooking a Thanksgiving dinner with my mom, mother-in-law, and my own little girl. I want to have a huge family dinner, so we can all sit around the dining room table, have great conversation, and learn all over again why we're thankful for each other.

This Thanksgiving season, I challenge you to slow down and take in your blessings. Enjoy your kids, show your spouse how much they mean to you and how thankful you are to have them in your lives, tell your parents you love them and you appreciate all they've done for you over the years. And most of all, thank God. Thank Him for life, for love, for everything.

God bless, everyone, and have a great Thanksgiving. 

The Blessing and The Blood (Part One)

Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot; 1 Peter 1:18-19

It's a sorrowful thing to dismiss the power in the blood of Jesus because of ignorance. As a Believer, you can't. The blood is one of the most important things to know about in our relationship with Jesus, because without it, none of the promises in God's Word would be ours. That's why in this post I want to give you some information to bring you into the light on this subject.

From the above verse, we know the blood of Jesus is precious. It's something to be treasured. Why? Because there is never going to be anything else like it. Jesus' blood will not be shed again, and it will not be reproduced in this earth. It was shed once, and that one time was enough to cover all the sins we'd ever commit and bring into the Believer's possession all the promises of God. We need to prize the blood of Jesus and what it's accomplished for us.

The blood of Jesus has redeemed us, or freed us, from sin. (Ephesians 1:7) In the Old Covenant, a high priest would enter in to the Holy of Holies to offer the atoning sacrifice for his own sins as well as for the Israelites once ever year. The atoning blood of these sacrifices only covered the people's sins, which was why the ritual had to be repeated annually. There was always a reminder of their iniquities hanging over their heads. The annual sacrifice. But Jesus, a Lamb without blemish and without spot, being our High Priest, offered up Himself as our sacrifice into the Holy of Holies of heaven, once on the cross to redeem us eternally. Let me explain it this way. Whereas the Israelites had a reminder of their sins, the blood of Jesus has completely washed away our sin. It's no longer there. As far as the east is from the west so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

1John 1:9 says, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The Israelites had to have an annual sacrifice to receive forgiveness and cleansing. Jesus only had to shed his blood once and we have an everlasting flow of cleansing blood washing us free of all iniquity. Now don't mistake me and think that gives you a free right to sin. No! It doesn't! We are to desire to be pleasing to our Father in heaven who has loved us so much that He's provided a way for us to be forgiven and freed from sin and cleansed of all unrighteousness so we could come before Him boldly without any sense of guilt, shame, or inferiority. Because of the blood of Jesus we can stand in Almighty God's presence and ask for whatever we may need and know that he has heard us and is willing to give to us what we've requested because we're clean in His sight. That is nothing to think lightly of. Jesus' blood differs completely from that of goats and bulls, for His blood that was shed was not atoning blood but remitting blood, and purges our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. (Hebrews 9:12 AMP) It's not giving us a right to sin, but is giving us a right to live on this earth in the presence of God the Father. This is only one thing the blood accomplished. There's so much more!

-We've been purchased by the blood of Jesus. (Acts 20:28) In Genesis, when Adam committed high treason against God by bowing his knee to Satan and giving the devil the authority over the earth that God had given him, man's nature, which was that of God's very own,  was changed to the nature of Satan. But when Jesus shed His blood, he purchased us back to God. When we are born again, our nature is changed and we are born of God.

-We've been cleansed by the blood, as I've stated already, and are no longer stained by sin. (Revelation 1:5)

-We've been emboldened by the blood to come before God's throne of grace ( Hebrews 10:19)

-We've been reconciled unto God by the blood of Jesus. (Ephesians 2:13) We have fellowship with Him.

-We overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. (Revelation 12:11) Satan has been defeated by the blood of Jesus. And when he attacks us with trials and our minds with doubt, we can throw his defeat in his face by testifying what the blood of Jesus has accomplished on our behalf. Our sure and already gotten victory.

-We've been justified by the blood of Jesus. (Romans 5:9 AMP) Which means we've been brought into right relationship with God. And lastly, but certainly not least,

-We have peace by the blood of Jesus. (Colossians 1:20)

These are just a few major points about what the blood of Jesus has accomplished for us. I encourage you to go through the Word of God and study these scriptures and find out even more. I'd love to hear what the Lord shares with you. Check back often, because next time I'm going to post on one of my favorite topics about what the blood has given to Believers. The Blessing.

David: A Champion of God (A Man of Victory-Part 3)

And he took his staff in hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd's bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine. 1 Samuel 17:40

A while back, I began a short series about David. He was just a boy going to take his brothers some substance from home while they were on the battlefield and he ended up participating in the battle. Goliath, a giant and an enemy of Israel, came out by day and night, taunting the Israelites, trying to persuade one of them to duel with him, and David was the only one courageous enough and with enough faith in God to take Goliath up on his offer. The outcome of their duel would determine the fate of the Israelites.

Now from the above passage, we see that David didn't go to Goliath with the usual tools of warfare. He went with some rocks, a staff, and a sling. Then he went up to that Philistine as if he were the most confident man in the world; in a way, he was. The Bible says in verse 42 of the 17th chapter of Samuel, that when Goliath saw David, he disdained him. And in verse 43 it states that Goliath cursed David by his gods.

Verse 44-"And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field."

Now imagine yourself standing in front of a man heads taller than you, older than you, more experienced than you with that sword in his hand, bedecked in armor, angry and cursing you by his gods, and finally stating, very convincingly I might add, that when you go over by him, he's going to give your flesh to the birds and the animals to eat. Would you be shaking in your boots? Most men would probably hear what Goliath had to say, look down at that little sling in their hand, drop it, and run for their lives. But Goliath didn't scare David one bit. If anything, he made him mad. Remember, David knew he had a covenant with the God of Israel and he had faith that God was with him.

David says, verses 45-47-"Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands."

I want you to see what David's doing here. He's talking right back at his enemy, and he's confessing the outcome of their duel. David is confessing his victory. As Believers, we have an enemy, his name is Satan, and like David, we have every right to talk right back at that devil and confess the outcome of whatever situation we may be facing. Instead of allowing him to put those thoughts of doubt and unbelief and fear in our minds, we can say, The Word of God says in 2 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 14 that God always causes me to triumph. Now it may look bad, but I win. I confess my victory. The Lord will deliver me! Because He's said so.

Jesus said in Mark 11:23 that we can have what we say.  (Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea: and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.) There's more to it though, than just speaking what you hope will come to pass. See, you have to believe it in your heart that it's already so. That's what faith is. Faith is now, not hoping sometime in the future it will be. Faith says when you're feeling sick, By Jesus' stripes I was healed, and if I was healed, I am healed right now even if it doesn't look like it. Faith doesn't go by what your physical eyes see, but by the eye of faith. We have to learn to see with our eyes of faith. When David was looking at Goliath, he was looking through his eye of faith. He knew that he knew that he knew that God was going to deliver him. But how do we get that way? How do we see through our eye of faith instead of by what our physical eyes are showing us? It's as simple as this. We allow the Word of God to put an image in our hearts.

 Don't stop reading now and think I'm crazy, because I'm not. This is one of the things that makes your faith work.



"Well, if I confess it enough, it's supposed to work," one might say. But that's not necessarily true. If you're not believing what your confessing, you're not going to be speaking those words in faith. There will be doubt in your heart, and Jesus said that when we believe we have what we say we'll have it. Not if we just think we might have it, it will come to pass. Do you see the difference?

The moment you felt a pain in your body, doubt would come up in your heart and any faith you had would be gone. Your victory won't come with doubt.

The proper way of putting your faith to work would be to get that scripture your standing on, in this case it will be 2 Peter 2:24, sitting down with it, reading it over and over, thinking about it in your mind, By His stripes I was healed, and allowing that word to paint an image in your inner self of you being healed from whatever sickness you have. Then once that image is there, you speak it out and speak it out and speak it out until it's manifested. And it will be. God doesn't lie. His Word is truth. Jesus healed you when He took those stripes on His back and shed His blood. We just have to take it because that enemy of ours doesn't want us to have it. We have to take it by faith.

So getting back to David, he saw himself as a covenant man. When he stood before Goliath, he saw himself defeating that lion and bear all because of God and that image in his heart built his faith. He was fully persuaded that God was going to deliver Goliath into his hand. And when you're operating this working, living faith, fear won't be able to keep you back. The Bible says that after David spoke Goliath went to meet David in their duel and David hasted and ran toward that army of the Philistines to meet Goliath and he hadn't even gotten out his stone yet! David ran, pulled out a rock from his pack, put it in his sling, shot the stone, and it hit the giant right in the head! Like a bullet that rock was, sinking into Goliath's forehead, and Goliath fell face down. David had won.

In closing I want to say this. Know your covenant with God. Walk by faith in His Word. Allow that Word to put an image inside you. Confess your victory. And act on your faith. You will be a champion of God.

David: A Champion of God (A Man of Faith- Part Two)

And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine. 1 Samuel 17:32

On my last post, I began the account of David and his legendary fight with the Philistine Goliath. We know that the armies of the Philistines and of Israel are head to head and Goliath is going out morning and night calling for a man brave enough to fight him. The victor of the duel will be the victor of the war. But the men of Israel were scared and none answered Goliath's call. Yet one day, a young man named David entered the battlefield to bring his brothers substance and this young man decided to stand against him. Why? Because he knew of the covenant he had with God.

I want to continue the tale in this post.

Because of the knowledge of his covenant with God, David had his mind made up that he was going to go fight that giant and he asked around for the prize should he be victorious. The answer was, ". . .the king will enrich him [the man who kills Goliath] with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father's house free in Israel." Well, David's brother, Eliab, heard David speaking to these men and the Bible says "Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why camest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle." David answered, "What have I now done? Is there not a cause?"

I want to point something out here. We already know that David went there by his father's order, not to be a spy. This is just an example to what people will say when we make a statement of faith. David's faith was mistaken for arrogance. Do you see that? David was confident in God, and in what God would do for him, he wasn't arrogant. But Eliab didn't understand David's relationship with God and so he mistook David's faith for arrogance. That still happens today. When someone says that a certain thing is going to happen to them, for example, they're healed of a sickness that's been plaguing them because God loves them, He wants them to be healed, and Jesus bought and paid for it with the shedding of His blood, some will think that's arrogance because they don't understand it. But it's not. It's confidence in God and living by faith.

David's words and inquisition got to the king's ears eventually, and King Saul called David to speak with him. The young man told the king that he would fight Goliath. Now you must remember that David is young, like still a teenager, and a shepherd boy at that. He didn't have any traditional arm's training. Goliath was a man of war, and he was BIG. Saul said to David, "Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth."

Listen to how David replies. Beginning at verse 34.

"Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock: And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him. Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God. David said moreover, The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philisitine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the Lord be with thee."

We can get a few things from these passages.

First, the time David spent as a shepherd keeping his father's sheep was his training period. In this time, he grew close to God and learned how to trust Him. Though David didn't have any traditional combat training, God taught him how to defend himself against that bear and lion. If you don't remember, a few chapters back, David was anointed by the prophet Samuel to be the next king of Israel. And if he was going to be king, he had to be trained. His shepherding was his training. I believe that we all have our own times of training. It may seem like not a whole lot is going on, but if we use these times in our lives to seek God and allow Him to mold us into what He wants, we'll be prepared for whatever it is He wants us to do and become.

Second, in David's training period, he learned that God was faithful to His covenant, which allowed him to be faith-full, or full of faith.

Lastly, David gave God the glory of victory before he even stepped on the battlefield to face Goliath. He said, The Lord delivered me out of the paw of the lion and the bear, and he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philsitine.

David wasn't arrogant or conceited. He was completely and utterly confident in his God's ability. He was full of faith! He understood that it wouldn't be by his own might or power that Goliath would be slain. He knew that he could only come out the victor by the hand of God. Search your own heart today. Have you been thinking it's by your own ability that you're successful? Allow me to say that it's only by the power and anointing of God that we amount to anything. Give the glory to God and allow others to see that you're living a blessed and victorious life because of Him and Jesus.  

David: A Champion of God (A Covenant Man- Part One)

And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth. 1 Samuel 17:33

Picture it. Two of the greatest armies standing face to face with only a valley separating them. The Philistine army against Israel. The Philistine's champion, Goliath, came out every morning and evening for forty days to challenge the men of Israel. His words in verses eight and nine of this same chapter are- " . . .Choose you a man for you, and let him come to me. If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then we will be your servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us." The Philistines' strategy for battle was this: the victor of the war would be decided with one duel. Two men, one from each side, fight to the death and whoever wins, triumphs. Good plan, right? Especially when your champion is categorized as a giant and a great man of war. Needless to say, Saul, Israel's king, and the men of his army were scared. And for forty days the challenge went on.

David, a young man barely out of adolescence and a shepherd, was told by his father to go to the camp of Israel's army and bring his brothers, who were fighting in the war, some food. David, as the obedient son, did as he was told, and while he came to the army, Goliath issued the challenge again, as he did every day, twice a day. The men of Israel fled from the man and wouldn't fight him for fear. David saw this and said to the men beside him-"What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?"

Let me give you some background before we go further. In Genesis chapters 15-17, we read the account of God cutting a blood covenant with a man called Abraham. And the sign of this covenant between the two was the circumcising of every man child in Abraham's house. Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac was the father of Jacob, and Jacob, who was later renamed Israel by God, was the father of twelve men, who we now know as the twelve tribes of Israel, the very ones who were at war with the Philistines in this seventeenth chapter of First Samuel. Now a blood covenant is the strongest agreement that you can have and this covenant with Abraham that God enforced includes, according to Deuteronomy 28, victory over your enemies.

So you see, David was the only one in that entire camp who was thinking straight and wasn't allowing his fear to cloud his senses. With these words, he was saying to those listening, This man is uncircumcised. He doesn't have a covenant with God. It's not already promised to him that he would triumph over us. No! We have a covenant with God! It's been promised to us to triumph over him! Who does that Philistine think he is standing up and challenging an army of covenant men? (It's almost like David is insinuating, What a stupid man!) David knew and believed that part of his covenant with God was his enemies fleeing from before him seven ways. Apparently, since all the other Israelites were so afraid, David was the only one who really understood the covenant that nation had with God. Why? Most surely because of all his time spent shepherding his father's sheep and talking to the One Who made the covenant.

That's an important key. Unless we spend time with God, in prayer and in His Word, we won't understand what is available to us through the blood that Jesus shed on the cross. Like David, we also have a covenant with Almighty God. Galatians 3 states that the Blessing of Abraham has come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ. If you don't know what this blessing consists of, I urge you to take out your Bible and read Deuteronomy 28:1-14; these are the promises of the blessing. But we have an even greater covenant than David. Our covenant is established on great promises, and because of this covenant, everything God has belongs to the believer. It's our right, it's our inheritance as a born again child of God to live in victory. The next time something big comes up in your life, trying to take you down, be like David and remember the covenant you have with God. Go to the promises and stand strong on that covenant.   

Words that Inspire

I heard this on a CD from Jerry Savelle and it really stuck with me. Hopefully I quote it right.

The depth of our praise will determine the magnitude of our breakthrough.

~Jerry Savelle

Don't Let Go of Your Dreams!

Do you remember when you were a kid and you'd have like a hundred different things you wanted to be when you grew up? I bet most of them were pretty out there, right? Like a famous singer, or a pro baseball player, maybe even an astronaut. I know one of the things I wanted to be was a singer, even though I couldn't keep a note. But despite that, when my friends and I were together we would form a little group and sing on my front porch, pretending we were putting on a concert in front of a million people. That dream of mine was short-lived though because I lost interest in the entire thing and grew to liking nothing more than being lost in a good book. This is what my ultimate dream was born out of, to be a writer, until I realized it was my calling.

My imagination would run wild, and I had a little journal that I'd write these short stories in. I was certain that one day I would write a book and see it in a bookstore. That my name would be known. But as I grew older, this dream in me began to wane as I listened to the negativity of everyday life, people saying its ok to dream but make sure you have something else for when that doesn't happen. This can really burst a person's bubble. My family supported and encouraged me, always saying to reach big, but somewhere along the line, my dream got farther out of reach for me.

When I was thirteen, I started my first novel, mostly to give me something to do. It was going to be this ultra medieval fantasy thing. I started it, stopped it, restarted it again, then stopped it again. I could never get myself to write more than 100 pages. Then something major happened a year later in my life, a personal matter that I'd rather not share except to say that it scared me. I needed something more than myself to get me through, and this is when I completely gave my heart to God. When I did that, my writing became more than just something to do for myself, and to be entertaining. It became something in which I could move people with, and that I could minister the love of God with. It became all about Him, and finally my novel was actually completed. Now, nearly five years later, my dream is becoming a reality, all because I yielded to God and to the dream that He instilled into my heart when I was a little girl.

I say all of this for a reason. When we're young, it's as if nothing can hold us back. We dream big! But as the years pass by, something changes that in us, and I'm here to tell you that it doesn't have to be that way. God wants us to dream big, and He wants us to see those dreams become a reality in our lives. Habakkuk 2:2-3 states in the Amplified Bible, 'And the Lord answered me and said, Write the vision and engrave it so plainly upon tablets that everyone who passes may [be able to] read [it easily and quickly] as he hastens by. For the vision is yet for an appointed time and it hastens to the end [fulfillment]; it will not deceive or disappoint. Though it tarry, wait [earnestly] for it, because it will surely come; it will not be behindhand on its appointed day.'

God has something for you to do, He has a vision He wants to write on your heart, and all you have to do to is ask Him. Maybe He's already given you a vision, but people are telling you its impossible, you're not qualified, or even that it's ridiculous. Don't listen to people. Listen to God.

It reminds me of the story of Blind Bartimeus in Mark 10:46-52. Jesus went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people followed them. Blind Bartimeus was sitting by the highwayside, and he was begging. He was poor. When he heard that Jesus was walking past him, he cried out to Him and said Jesus! Thou son of David! Have mercy on me! But many people charged and reproved him, telling him to hold his peace. Really, telling him to stop trying to bother Jesus. But the Bible says that Bartimeus cried the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me! Bartimeus wasn't going to listen to these people telling him to shut up. He was blind, and he was poor, and he knew that the man that could change all of it was walking by him. He was determined to get Jesus' attention, no matter who told him to stop.

This is how we need to be. When God has put something on our hearts, we need to go after it. We need to have faith that what God promises, he's able to perform and not give ear to any negativity that people may be saying to us.

Today I encourage you to step out. I encourage you to think big and dream big, then go after it. You might have a dream in your heart that's been there since you were a kid and never went away. If you believe God has called you to do this, then try it. If it's God then He will give you the ability to do it. He did for me. English was my worst subject in school, and now look. I write novels. God is Almighty and nothing, absolutely nothing, is impossible to Him, and if you serve Him, nothing is impossible to you either.

Mark 9:23- . . .If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.