Voice of Thanksgiving

“That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works. Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth.”  ~ Psalms 26:7-8

As we come to the celebration of Thanksgiving, and it is a celebration, let us be Thankful.  Often we say we are Thankful, but perhaps we don’t know the power of being Thankful.  As we look at the Scriptures we note there are various ‘happenings’ when we have a Thankful Song of Praise in our heart. Phil.4:6-7 tells us when ‘everything’ is done with Prayer and Supplication [serious Prayer] and Thanksgiving we can make our requests known to God.  When we come with requests to our heavenly Father it must be with Thanksgiving.  Sometimes it is difficult to give Thanks when we are in a desperate circumstance.  Consider Jonah, lost at sea, in the belly of a huge fish: and when he offered up to God a ‘sacrifice’ – which was with a Voice of Thanksgiving, the fish vomited him out! [Jonah 2:9-10] Not a pretty sight nor a nice thought, but the Voice of Thanksgiving, which was a Sacrifice caused his circumstance to change!  One might ask how shall I come into the presence of God. A question long asked!  Ps. 95: 1-3 has the answer.  Come singing, some with a joyful noise to the Rock of our Salvation and come before His presence with Thanksgiving! O the Voice of Thanksgiving, it can bring great change to our life! When we give Thanks, we ultimately Worship and Praise our God and in doing so we begin to: think on things of good report, things that are just, pure, lovely, things of good report – all these things are attached to a Thankful Spirit and a Voice of Thanksgiving. David sang, O let me publish with a Voice of Thanksgiving, and tell of all Thy wondrous works!  We need to be reminded that sweet and sour can not come out of the same cistern.  So let the Church have a Voice of Thanksgiving, let us enter into His gates with Thanksgiving and into His courts with Praise.  The Book of Revelation tells us: All the Angels, thousands upon thousands, the Elders, fell upon their faces and worshipped God saying, Blessing, and Glory, and Wisdom, and Thanksgiving, Honor, Power and Might be unto our God for ever and ever Amen! Loving you, Pastor

O Give Thanks

“O give Thanks unto the Lord; call upon His name: make known His deeds among the people. Sing unto Him, Sing Psalms unto Him: talk ye of all His Wondrous Works. Glory ye in His Holy name:” Ps.105:1-8

   

Yes, Yes! O Give Thanks unto the Lord!  We have looked at Worshiping in the Beauty of Holiness, and how blessed we are to have the freedom to Worship our God!  In this Thanksgiving Season let us raise our voice in Joyous Worship, even as the Psalmist hath declared “Make known His deeds among the people! Let us Sing His Praises and talk of all His wondrous Love to us!  Yes, even as Paul was moved by the Holy Spirit in Eph. 5:18-20 “…Be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs, Singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord!”Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; O Church, let us rise up in Praise, and Adoration and Worship the Lord Most High! The enemy seeks to devour the Joy that God has placed in our heart, but our Joy is not defined by the circumstances, it is defined by the Love of our God and the Salvation of our Saviour! And we are more than conquerors in Him!  Over and over the Psalmist cries out O Give Thanks!  Remember David in the horrific circumstances of his life, yet out of his inner most being came the voice of Praise and Thanksgiving!  Let us prepare our hearts as come together with our families for the Thanksgiving dinner, prepare to share the Joy of Jesus the greatness of His Powerful Word that sustains us in the time of trouble … David, caught by the Philistines, his enemy;  in Ps. 56:2-3, he writes:  “Mine enemies would daily swallow me up: for they be many that fight against me, O Thou Most High. What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee!  O Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His Holiness!  This question is posed in Ps. 106:1-2 “Praise ye the Lord. O give Thanks unto the Lord; for He is Good: for His Mercy endureth for ever. Who can utter the Mighty Acts of the Lord? Who can shew forth all His Praise!” and Ps 107:2 answer: Let the Redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He hath Redeemed from the hand of the enemy. I am Thankful for Jesus and for You, Loving you, Pastor

Be Renewed

“Be Renewed in the spirit of your mind; Put on the new man, which after God is created in Righteousness & True Holiness.”  ─ Eph. 4:23-24 We continue to pursue ‘Holiness’ in the Scripture. Isaiah 35 talks about a wilderness and solitary place, perhaps you have experienced such a place in your life. But the Spirit of God goes on to say, “the desert shall rejoice;” that is the dry place in our life will rejoice and blossom as the Rose.  If Christ is in our life, then the Rose of Sharon abides in us and if we allow Him to, He will come forth from within and cause as to blossom in Him.  This is our thrust in these Messages that as we grow in Christ, that we pursue His Holiness, that we might be in ‘right standing’ in Christ.  The Holy Ghost is the One who convicts us, the One who continues to alert us to the areas that need change in our life. That being said, we must engage in Prayer more than we ever have … and seek the Power of the Holy Ghost to “Renew” our mind, our thoughts and our emotions, our desires. Holy Ghost is the most powerful weapon that God has sent through His Only Begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. One more time we need the Breath of God to Breath upon us, until the Holy Ghost has saturated our life afresh and we are “Renewed!”  John 14:26 The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My/Jesus name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. The Holy Ghost has been commissioned by God to move though Jesus who lives in us to bring to remembrance His Word! When this happens, the Breath of God will fall upon the Body of Christ and we will come out of the wilderness, the dry spell, the weary cares of this life; we will rejoice, blossom in Spiritual matters and He will Renew our mind and our Spirit bringing our soul/our flesh under His control! And we will yield our members unto Righteousness and Holiness! Let us pursue His Holiness and be Renewed in Him together!  Loving you, Pastor

The Highway to Holiness

We continue to pursue ‘Holiness’ in Scripture today. Isaiah 35 talks about a wilderness and solitary place, perhaps you have experienced such a place in your life. But the Spirit of God goes on to say, “the desert shall rejoice;” that is the dry place in our life will rejoice and blossom as the Rose.  If Christ is in our life, then the Rose of Sharon abides in us and if we allow Him to, He will come forth from within and cause as to blossom in Him.  This is our thrust in these Messages that as we grow in Christ, we will pursue His Holiness, we will pursue ‘right standing’ in Him.  The Holy Ghost is our convictor, the One who continues to alert us to the areas that need change in our lives. There is a Highway of Holiness, it is narrow according to Matt 7:13-14. The Lord admonishes us:  “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, [And note this final thought in this Passage of Scripture] and few there be that find it.”  The Prophets of old continue to reach out to us as we read in Isaiah 40. It speaks of John the Baptist as a voice crying in the wilderness, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make a straight in the desert a Highway for our God.” Again in Isaiah 62 “go through the gates, prepare ye the way of the people… gather out the stones, Lift up a standard for the people…” The desire in the heart of God as Isaiah prophecies is: “That the Glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken!”  His Glory shall be revealed C as we prepare in our life the Highway of Holiness and note our life effects others, for the Lord desires all His people to recognize His Glory.  Thus our lives are the teaching element that He has placed in this world. Let us go through the Gates of Holiness, let us cast out the stones, let us lift up a standard for God in this moment and time! For we are His witnesses, we are the Body of Christ. Hear the Word of the Proverb 16:17  “The Highway of the upright is to depart from evil: he that keepeth his way preserveth his soul. Isaiah reminds us: “A Highway shall be there, a way, and it shall be called the Highway of Holiness.” ~ Isaiah 35:8    Let us pursue the narrow way together …     Loving you, Pastor