"Combative Praise"

"Combative Praise"

One day a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the firm purpose of showing his son how poor people live. They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family. On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?"

"It was great, Dad."

"Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked.

"Oh yeah," said the son.

"So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father. The son answered: "I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to

protect us, they have friends to protect them."

The boy’s father was speechless. Then his son added, "Thanks, Dad, for showing me how poor we are."

Isn’t perspective a wonderful thing? There is plenty to be thankful for, if you will take the time to look for it, isn't there? Makes you wonder what would happen if we all gave thanks more often for what we have, instead of worrying about what we don’t have.

Moving Illus. This week, I moved. And one thing moving does, it makes you realize just how much stuff you have and how much stuff you don't need! The moving experience is one that everyone dreads, one that no one wants to do, one that separates friends from acquaintances and one that you are truly thankful when it's over and the last box is stuck back in the next closet, it won't see the light of day until the next time you move!

Hebrews 13:15

15. Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.

Everyone knows, that lifting up your hands and thanking God is very easy, when someone has been a blessing to you.

Or when you have been praying for a specific need to be met and the breakthrough comes! Everyone knows the phrase God is good all the time. But it's when you go through something that's not so good, you find out how good God truly is!

If you'll bare with me, even though it may not be theologically correct, I want you to consider something. Even though God never stops doing His job of being God all the time! That doesn't mean there will always be a continual yes' to everything that comes into your mind that you think you want or need. Part of God's being good to all of us, is knowing when to say no! Just like any great loving father would.

It's in those times we need to learn to be thankful and realize that no for now, doesn't always mean no forever...

Psalms 91:9-11 NKJ

9. Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge,

Even the Most High, your dwelling place,

10. No evil shall befall you,

Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;

11. For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways.

Yes its true, even in the times when things don’t always go our way, we need to be thankful for the no’s, that God throws in the mix and I'll tell you why.

Because He knows the future, more importantly He knows our future, He knows your future! He knows what’s around the corner, He knows what’s coming on the horizon and therefore we can and should trust Him to always do what's in our best interest! Amen?

He knows and the hard thing to realize and accept is, that’s all we need to know! The fact that He knows is enough! But still we always feel like we need to know more! We were created to be inquisitive, but I think everybody knows what Curiosity did to the cat?

Hebrews 11:1-6 MSG

11 1-2 The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd.

3 By faith, we see the world called into existence by God’s word, what we see created by what we don’t see.