Thanksgiving – Anticipate Joy
Psalm 100:4 “Enter his gates with thanksgiving, go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and bless his name.”
This morning when we came into the Light and Life Church did we practice this verse. Do we come to worship with hearts filled with thanksgiving and praise? Or do we come so loaded down with the cares and worries of life that we are more crotchety than celebrative of God’s blessings?
When you woke up this morning what song came to your mind:
1. “Make the World Go Away.”
2. “Raindrops keep falling on my heard.”
3. “I did it my way.” Or
4. “Oh, what a beautiful morning.”
Evangelist John Haggai tells of seeing people come to worship dragging their lip on the floor. They sit down on a pew and throw their lip over the pew in front of them and say, “Feed me!” They look like they have been weaned on vinegar and just finished eating ice cream out of a tube.
The Psalmist admonishes us to come into God house with Thanksgiving and Praise.
Why is it we don’t have more of the joy of the Lord in our life? Because we fail to focus our life on giving thanks and praise to the Lord!
The Apostle Paul encourages us to live our life focused on joy. He sings out in Philippians 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord and again I say rejoice.” Paul seems to be saying, “Be joyful, it beats being happy. Happiness depends on right happenings, but even when things go wrong, you can have joy.”
If you try to find happiness in good circumstances, nice people, or things, you will live a miserable life. Circumstances, people, and things will rob you of joy.
Paul suffered all kinds of hardships, yet he declared: “In everything give thanks.” (I Thessalonians 5:18) New Living Translation “No matter what happens always be thankful.” Paul tells us to – “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
Is it God’s will for you to be a negative, moaning, complaining and critical person? NO! “Be joyful always,” - how? 1. Pray continually. 2. Give thanks in all things. 3. For this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
We have the promise in Romans 8:28, “All things work together for the good of those who love God, and are called according to his purpose for them.” NLT From our human perspective the verse doesn’t always work out, but from God’s perspective it does.
When I was serving as pastor of the Aldersgate FMC in Kansas City, Kansas I was invited to lead evangelistic services in Salina, KS. I made reservations to fly to Salina, but the day of departure fog set in and I was stranded. I wondered, why?
I checked the bus schedule and was able to make reservations and take the bus to Salina in time for the meeting that night. We stopped in Lawrence, Kansas and a student at the University of Kansas got on the bus and sat beside me. He was a student form Iraq. In our discussion I asked him if he had ever read the Bible, He said he had not. I offered to give him a New Testament and I shared with him the simple plan of salvation. I invited him to visit our church in Kansas City and we worked out a Sunday for him top drive over and visit the church and have dinner with us after the service.
In that instance, all things did work out for the good. My disappointment in not being able to fly, worked out for God’s appointment for me to give witness to a university student.
I’m sure you have had similar experiences where plan A did not work, but plan B worked out even better.
Charles Spurgeon, an influential British preacher in the 19th century told about a young man who had suffered a broken hip in an accident. The hip did not heal properly and if left him crippled for life. The people in the church prayed earnestly that God would restore the man to health and strength. Not long after the people started praying for the young man he fell and broke his hip again. What a tragedy? Why had God failed them? They did not give up, but continued to pray for the young man that God’s will be done. Now the hip was set properly. The young man walked with no limp whatever. The second break turned out to be a blessing.
We can praise God “in” all things, not necessarily “for” all things. When you hit your thumb with a hammer you don’t feel like praising the Lord. You run cold water and put ice on your thumb to ease the pain. You give thanks later that you still have a thumb.
Job didn’t smile and “praise the Lord” at the news he had lost all his children. He was personally crushed, overwhelmed, beaten down, and cursing the day he was born. But in the midst of his loss and pain he worshiped the Lord and sang out: “Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
We can sing out with the Psalmist, “Regardless of what happens to me, I will praise the Lord.” When we make that commitment to give thanks and praise in all things, we can anticipate Joy – the Joy of the Lord.
A young mother attended a seminar that taught the scripture, “In everything give thanks.” On her way home she was involved in a fender-bender. She wondered how she would tell her husband. She decided to put the car in the garage and fix a delicious supper and then tell her husband.
She put the car in the garage and walked into the house and was greatly surprised to find her husband sitting in the living room. She told her husband she was surprised to see him home so early from work. He asked her how the seminar went. She said she learned a Christian truth that they should start practicing – “In everything give thanks.” She told him that on the way home she was involved in a car accident and the fender on their car was smashed.” “Let’s start practicing, ‘in everything give thanks.” He said, that sounds like a good idea to me, you see today I lost my job.”
We can be joyful in spite of circumstances:
1. Because God is with us. Isaiah 42:2, “When you pass through deep waters I will be with you; your troubles will not overwhelm you. When you pass through fire, you will not be burned; the hard trials that come will not hurt you. For I am the Lord your God.”
2. Because God has a plan for your life. John 10:10, Jesus said, “I am come that you might have life and have it abundantly.” Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
3. Because God will help us. Psalm 43:5, “Why be so gloomy and discouraged? Trust in God? Then I shall praise Him for His wondrous help; He will make me smile again.”
Acts 13:52 says, “And the disciples were filled with Joy and the Holy Spirit.” Joy is not something static. Joy is dynamic. Joy is a by-product of being filled with the Holy Spirit. A joyless Spirit-filled Christian is a contradiction terms. When filled with the Holy Spirit you have love, JOY, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Galatians 5:22-23
When you focus your life on thanksgiving and praise you wear colored glasses that filter out negative views. You live your like to make other people successful by giving encouraging words that build up and not tear down.
I find that people you talk with who reject your views of the scripture and the Christian life, thank you and appreciate you when you say to them, “ I pray that God blesses you and your family.” A “blessing” goes much farther, than words of condemnation and judgment.
When you are filled with the Holy Spirit you have no room for bitterness, hatred, anger, rage or a revengeful attitude. Ephesians 6:18 gives the command: “Do not be drunk with wine which leads to debauchery/moral corruption, but be filled with the Holy Spirit.” The tense of “be filled” is to keep on being filled.
What happens if you quench the Spirit or put out the Spirit’s fire? Stagnation sets in and you become spiritually dry. In John 7 Jesus talks about being full of the Holy Spirit and springs of water – fresh springs pour out love, joy, thanksgiving and praise.
Someone has written:
Today upon a bus, I saw a lovely maid with golden hair; I envied her—she seemed so happy, and how, I wished I were so fair.
When suddenly she rose to leave, I saw her hobble down the aisle;
She had one foot and used a crutch, but as she passed, a smile.
Oh God, forgive me when I whine, I have two feet – the world is mind.
And when I stopped to buy some candy, the boy who served me had such charm;
He seemed to radiate good cheer; his manner was so kind and warm;
I said, “it’s nice to deal with you, such courtesy I seldom find;” He turned and said, “Oh, thank you sire.” And then I saw that he was blind.
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine, I have two eyes, the world is mine.
Then, when walking down the street, I saw a child with eyes of blue;
He stood and watched the others play, it seemed he knew not what to do;
I stopped a moment, then I said, “Why don’t you join the others, dear?
He looked ahead without a word, and then I knew he could not hear.
Oh God, forgive me when I whine, I have two ears, the world is mine. With feet to take me where I’d go; with eyes to see the sunsets glow. With ears to hear what I would know, I am blessed indeed.
Joy comes to the person who is engaged in thankful living. A joyful person enjoys life at its best.
In his book, Living Life on Purpose, Greg Anderson tells the story of one man’s journey to joy:
…His wife had left him and he was completely depressed. He had lost faith in himself, in other people, and in God. He found no joy in living.
One rainy morning he went to a small neighborhood restaurant for breakfast. There were several people in the diner, but no one was speaking to anyone else. The man tried to bury his misery by hunching over the counter and drinking a cup of coffee.
In one of the small booths along the window was a young mother with a little girl. They had just been served their food when the little girl broke the silence in the café by shouting, “Momma, why don’t we say our prayers here?”
The waitress who had just served their breakfast turned around and said, “Sure, honey, we pray here. Will you say the prayer for us?” And she turned and looked at the rest of the people in the restaurant and said, “Bow your heads.”
Surprisingly, one by one, the heads went down. The little girl bowed her head, folded her hands, and prayed: “God is great, God is good, and we thank Him for our food. Amen.”
The prayer changed the entire atmosphere. People began to talk with one another. The waitress said,
“We should start every morning with prayer.”
All of a sudden the depressed man who came for breakfast said his whole frame of mind started to improve. From that little girl’s example, he started to thank God for all that he did have and decided to stop majoring on all he did not have. He said, “I started to choose joy and happiness.”
Today you can choose joy.
“Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good. His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.”
