GIVE THANKS IN EVERYTHING

GIVE THANKS IN EVERYTHING!

     I am a wonderfully blessed man!  God has been so good to me, and there are so many things for which I need to thank God.  I have great parents that are both still alive and healthy, and I get to be their pastor.   The Lord has blessed me with eleven wonderful children.  I have the best wife in the whole world.  She helps me, takes care of me, and most of all, loves me enough to put up with me.  I have a wonderful secretary, a great staff, and the best group of church members that any pastor could hope to have.  I have some real men that love God, some sweet godly ladies in our church, and a great bunch of teenagers that are real in their service for God.  

     You are probably wondering why I would put this in an article.  There are two main reasons.  The first is to let the people know how much I love and appreciate them and the other is to help me be more thankful.  Everyone has negatives in their life that they can think about if they choose, but God doesn't want us to live that way.  God says in I Thess. 5:18, "In every thing give thanks..." When we take time to think about the things for which we can be thankful, and thank God and others for that, then we feel more thankful ourselves.  I am more thankful now then when I first started this article. 

     If you are in a time in your life when you can hardly see anything for which to be thankful, then go ahead and thank God anyway, because God will have some good come out of the situation if you love God. (Rom. 8:28)  In II Cor. 12:10 the Bible says, "Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong."  Paul realized that even when things are bad, God will bring some good out of it.  Go ahead and give God thanks.  He deserves it!