Count Your Blessings
I Kings 17-19
The story is told of a Family gathering at Thanksgiving. Mother and Dad went to one of the daughter’s for the traditional feast. Knowing how gullible the daughter was, mom decided to play a trick. She told her that she needed something from the store.
When the daughter left, mom took the turkey out of the oven. She removed the stuffing, stuffed a Cornish hen, inserted it into the turkey, and re-stuffed the turkey. She then placed the birds back in the oven.
When it was time for dinner, the daughter pulled the turkey out of the oven and proceeded to remove the stuffing. When her serving spoon hit something, she reached in and pulled out the little bird.
With a look of total shock on her face, mother exclaimed, ’Patricia, you’ve cooked a pregnant bird!’ At the reality of this horrifying news, the daughter started to cry. It took the family two hours to convince her that turkeys lay eggs!
Have you ever tried to
COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS?
Ephesians 1:3
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us in the heavenly realms
with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
(NIV)
John 1:16
16 From the fullness of his grace we have all received
one blessing after another.
(NIV)
It is easier to BEEF about our burdens
than to BRAG about God’s blessings!
Perhaps Daniel Defoe gave us some good advice through his fictitious character Robinson Crusoe. The first thing that Crusoe did when he found himself on a deserted island was to make out a list. On one side of the list he wrote down all his problems. On the other side of the list he wrote down all of his blessings. On one side he wrote: I do not have any clothes. On the other side he wrote: But it’s warm and I don’t really need any. On one side he wrote: All of the provisions were lost. On the other side he wrote: But there’s plenty of fresh fruit and water on the island. And on down the list he went. In this fashion he discovered that for every negative aspect about his situation, there was a positive aspect, something to be thankful for. It is easy to find ourselves on an island of despair. Perhaps it is time that we sit down and take an inventory of our blessings. I well imagine that there are some of us here this morning that are long, long overdue in expressing our thanks to God.
One man said: I dreamt that I went to Heaven and an angel was showing me around. We walked side-by-side into a large workroom filled with angels. My angel guide stopped in front of the first section and said, "This is the Receiving Section. Here all petitions are received that are sent to God in prayer."
I looked around in this area, and it was terribly busy with so many angels sorting out petitions written on voluminous paper sheets and scraps from people all over the world.
Then we moved on down a long corridor to the second section.
There angel said to me, "This is the Packaging and Delivery Section. Here the graces and blessings the people asked for are processed and delivered to the living persons who asked for them."
I noticed again how busy it was there. Since so many blessings had been requested and were being packaged for delivery to Earth, there were many angels working hard at that station.
Finally, at the farthest end of the long corridor, we stopped at the door of a very small station. To my great surprise, only one angel was seated there, not doing anything at all. "This is the Acknowledgment Section," my angel friend quietly whispered to me. He seemed embarrassed
"How is it that there is no work going on here?" I asked.
"It’s so sad," the angel sighed. "After people receive the blessings that they asked for, very few send back acknowledgments ."
"How does one acknowledge God’s blessings?" I asked.
"Simple," the angel answered. Just say, "Thank you, Lord."
"What blessings should they acknowledge?" I asked.
"If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep you are richer than 75% of this world. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish, you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy. If you get this on your own computer, you are part of the 1% in the world who have that opportunity.
"And if you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the many who will not even survive this day. If you’ve never experienced fear in battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you are more blessed than 700 million other people in the world.
"If you can attend a church without the fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death you are envied by, and more blessed than, three billion people in the world .
"If your parents are still alive and still married , you are very rare . If you can hold your head up and smile, you are not the norm’ you’re unique to all those in doubt and despair."
Why is it that we take for granted the uncounted blessings of life until they are removed from us?
It is important that we develop the habit of
COUNTING OUR BLESSINGS.
Psalm 103:1-5
1 Praise the LORD, O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2 Praise the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—
3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
(NIV)
Today we are going look at a man for whom God did wonderful miracles and heaped blessing upon blessing on him, yet he did not acknowledge the blessings nor expressed gratitude.
James 5:17-18
17 Elijah was a man just like us.
He prayed earnestly that it would not rain,
and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.
18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain,
and the earth produced its crops.
(NIV)
Miracles God performed for Elijah:
1) REFRESHMENT
(I Kings 17:1-6)
2) REPLENISHMENT
(I Kings 17:7-16)
3) RESURRECTION
(I Kings 17:17-24)
4) REVIVAL
(I Kings 18:18-40)
5) RETURN OF RAIN
(I Kings 18:41-46)
I Kings 19:1-2
1 Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.
2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say,
"May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely,
if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life
like that of one of them."
(NIV)
What you do under pressure
displays WHAT YOU ARE COUNTING!
Benefits of Counting Blessings:
1) Fixes your
ATTENTION
I Kings 19:3
3 Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. (NIV)
As a minister was addressing a group of men, he took a large piece of paper and made a black dot in the center of it with a marking pen. Then he held the paper up before the group and asked them what they saw. One person quickly replied, “I see a black mark.” “Right,” the preacher replied. “What else do you see?” Complete silence prevailed. “Don’t you see anything other than the dot?” he asked. A chorus of noes came from the audience. “I’m really surprised,” the speaker commented. “You have completely overlooked the most important thing of all—the sheet of paper.” Then he made the application. He said that in life we are often distracted by small, dot-like disappointments or painful experiences, and we are prone to forget the innumerable blessings we receive from the hand of the Lord. But like the sheet of paper, the good things are far more important than the adversities that monopolize our attention. This reminds me of a bit of verse which, though I admit is somewhat trite, does express good practical advice. Someone has written: “As you travel down life’s pathway, may this ever be your goal: Keep your eye upon the doughnut, and not upon the hole!”
2) Faith becomes
ACTIVATED
"A wise bird knows that a scarecrow is simply an advertisement. It announces that some very juicy and delicious fruit is to be had for the picking. There are scarecrows in all the best gardens...If I am wise, I too shall treat the scarecrow as though it were an invitation. Every giant in the way which makes me feel like a grasshopper is only a scarecrow beckoning me to God’s richest blessings. Faith is a bird which loves to perch on scarecrows. All our fears are groundless."
I Kings 19:4-5
4 …He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. "I have had enough, LORD," he said. "Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors."
5 Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep. (NIV)
Praise recognizes God’s
ATTRIBUTES
Giving Thanks recognizes God’s
ACTIVITY
3) Focuses your
ATTITUDE
I Kings 19:9-10 & 13-14
…And the word of the LORD came to him: "What are you doing here, Elijah?"
He replied, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too."
(NIV)
