Thankful for all things "A"

Ok. So I am continuing spelling the word "thanks" this week. Today is all things "A." I am thanking God for things as a believer that I have to be grateful for.

Being grateful keeps our focus off of ourselves and onto God. It places our hearts and minds in proper perspective. Being thankful shows we are trusting God and acknowleding Him as the giver of all things. It is looking beyond our circumstances and seeing something good in everything.

It's easy to be ungrateful and complain.
But it takes a deliberate focus to stop and consider things to be thankful for.

Ask

I am so thankful that I have the ability to come before God and present my requests to Him.

The Bible instructs me to ask:

• “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." Matthew 7: 7-8 

• "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him." James 1:5

You and I have the ability to ask and plead our petition before Almighty God.

Can you wrap your brain around that truth? We are never without access to Him.

Answered Prayers

Throughout the Bible, there are answered prayers. More answered than unanswered. How often we forget that God answers prayers.How often we doubt that He hears and will answer. Does He always answer our every request? No. Sometimes He answers in ways we could never imagine. But He still answers!

 

Adoption through Christ

It is through being adopted into God's family that I have a new name, await a new home (Heaven) and have a new Heavenly Father (God) (Romans 8:22-24). I have a new family (the body of Christ- the church). Adoption is part of my salvation. God took me in when I was a sinner. He came looking for me and came accepting me with open arms when I was against Him. He didn't look at me and reject me because of my wretchedness. He loved me. He looked upon me with love-unconditional love. He took my brokeness and restored me. He has healed my wounds and I now live in His JOY!!! Adoption is everything for the believer.

This Thanksgiving- thank God for all He has given you as a believer. They are the true things that will remain.

Manna Monday-Thankful for All Things "T"

This week on Joy Treasure I want to share with you what I am thankful for as a believer. I pray as you read this post you, too, will consider the same things that you have to be thankful for.

Today, I'll share all things "T" that I am thankful for.

Taste

     Taste is something we take for granted everyday. Think of your most favorite food and imagine not being able to taste it ever again. Imagine not being able to taste any food, ever!!! Everyday would be chewing on something that is merely a texture (filled with calories of course!) without any morsel of goodness. This little gift God gave us affects every aspect of our life. When God created us, He gave us the sense of taste so we could enjoy and experience life. And our ability to taste the goodness of food helps us to understand the sweetness of God's Word. Psalm 119 says, "How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! " Through our ability to taste food, we can understand how the goodness of God's Word is sweet to our soul. We can savor every word of God in our heart.

     A few years ago, at Christmas, I had a horrible sinus infection. It began on Christmas Eve and threw me for a loop. I couldn't taste anything on Christmas. All the goodies I had made to enjoy and for others to enjoy was miserable for me (good for them because they could taste!) but not for me. The taste of Christmas was missing. I am so thankful I get to taste things on Christmas when I am not sick.

So today, enjoy a good meal and while you are chewing, thank God for making life sweet!!!

Thirst

I am thankful for the ability to thirst- to thirst for righteousness.

To thirst for the good things of God. For I am filled. I am satisfied in a discontented world when I thirst for the right things of God. For He promises I shall be satisfied. Not only will I be filled, but I will be able to share the living water with others around who don't have eternal life. They thirst and are not filled. They walk around looking for something to satisfy their soul in this world and are never filled. Treasure the promises of being filled and satisfied by God today.

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
   for they will be filled" (Matthew 5:6).

"but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14).

Think

I am so thankful for the ability to think and meditate on God's Word. I am able to fill my mind with life instead of death by reading the truth of God's Word. Each day, I am able to renew my spirit through yielding to God and listening to Him speak through His Word. I am never left alone to my sinful thoughts. They are able to change and become new thoughts that please God, consider His greatness, and change my actions. This is something we take for granted too!

The Bible says, " On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night" (Psalm 63:6). 

 When you lie down to sleep at night, when it's just you and your mind in the dark, God gives you the ability to meditate on good things, to place your thoughts on truth and not the things that make you anxious or bring you fear. I love the fact that when my head hits the pillow, I can rest in God's forgiveness and that when I am alone with the thoughts of my mind, the truth that I read comforts me in the night. The nonbeliever doesn't have the ability to think on the things of God because they don't have God's Spirit living in their heart. When they lie down and sleep at night, they have no one to bring their anxieties or fears to. They don't live in God's forgiveness. I am so thankful for the ability to have a renewed mind. Thank God today for the ability to think about His Word.

Ok. That's some of the "T" things I am thankful for this November.

Tomorrow I will share the "H" things I am thankful for.

You who visit Joy Treasure are a blessing to me. Thank you for your support. Please tell your friends about the Joy Treasure Blog. 

I am praying for you today as I do every Monday. Blessings!