THANKSGIVING – Your Heart Condition
• Philippians 4:4-9 (NIV)
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! [5] Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. [6] Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. [7] And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
[8] Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things. [9] Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me--put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
Thanksgiving is much more than a holiday celebration; it is more heart condition! It is more than a celebration of food; it is the celebration of faith!
Satan does not want our heart to be free to thank God for His blessings; he wants us to have a heart attack! Satan doesn’t want you to have a celebration of faith but collated arteries of fear and worry.
Our lives are filled with WORRY. The English word for “WORRY” comes from an old Anglo-Saxon word which means “to strangle.” This is an apt description of the emotional pain we feel when we worry. What is strangled is our peace of mind. There is a way however to recapture peace of mind (and heart and soul!) even in the midst of trials and tribulations, it involves a process of correct thinking which will lead to correct living.
We need to learn to think differently if we are to act differently! We can do this by learning to take every thought into captivity. We can think differently as we develop an awareness of God’s presence in our lives and depend fully upon God and His strength to empower us to defend our hearts from worry fear and anything else Satan may want to use to turn our thoughts sour.
Here’s how one guy changed the focus of his prayer for Thanksgiving…
ILLUSTRATION: This Thanksgiving I’m thankful ... That there aren’t twice as many Congressman and half as many doctors. That grass doesn’t grow through snow, necessitating winter mowing as well as shoveling. That there are only twenty-four hours available each day for TV programming. That civil servants aren’t less civil. That teenagers ultimately will have children who will become teenagers. That I’m not a turkey. That houses still cost more than cars. That the space available for messages on T-shirts and bumpers is limited. That liberated women whose husbands take them for granted don’t all scream at the same time. That snow covers the unraked leaves. That hugs and kisses don’t add weight or cause cancer. That record players and radios and TV sets and washers and mixers and lights can be turned off. That no one can turn off the moon and stars. -- Christianity Today (Nov. 17, 1978), cited in the Pastor’s Story File, November 1991.
As believers thanksgiving should not be reserved for one day a year; for that matter we also shouldn’t withhold our thanksgiving for “Sundays only.” We should live a lifestyle of thanksgiving.
• Philippians 4:4 (NIV)
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
This is not Paul suggestion for the day! He wants us to live a joy filled life; a life so full of the joy of the Lord that is splashes out and touches those around us.
Often Paul’s comments here are misunderstood in the same way people have misunderstand James; how are we supposed to “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds?” (James 1:2)
Is it possible for anyone to count it “pure joy in trials” or “rejoice always?” Surely this is an impossible request in light of all the bad things in life!
However it is NOT pure joy FOR the trials but for the fruit that comes from them as we submit to the work God is doing in our lives. Likewise, it is NOT “rejoice IN EVERYTHING,” but “REJOICE IN THE LORD … always!”
We don’t rejoice IN the positive things or even rejoice IN SPITE of the negative things, it is that we “REJOICE IN THE LORD ALWAYS.” Since the Lord is the constant in a changing universe our rejoicing can also be constant because He never changes.
We lose our focus way too much and think about the wrong things! As Christians we should not give into worry and fear because the Lord is with us. If that’s not a good enough reason for you then the fact remains that most of the things we worry about anyway rarely come to pass!
ILLUSTRATION: Threatened layoffs at work. Drugs and weapons in the schools. We have every right to be fearful, right? In his book Scared to Life (Victor), Douglas Rumford cites a study that explains why we shouldn’t allow fear to rule our lives:
-- 60% of our fears are totally unfounded;
-- 20% are already behind us;
-- 10% are so petty they don’t make any difference;
-- 4-5% of the remaining 10% are real, but we can’t do anything about them.
That means only 5% are real fears that we can do something about. -- Marriage Partnership, Vol. 12, no. 2.
It’s time we stop waisting so much energy on worry and begin to rejoice in the Lord!
• Philippians 4:4 (NIV)
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
Paul say that we are to “REJOICE ALWAYS.” Paul is so adamant that he repeats the phrase twice to insure that we don’t miss the importance of what he is telling us. We are to be joyful people!
This is much more than just an encouragement, it is an emphasis for life. As a believer if you go through a day without rejoicing then you haven’t really lived. Jesus said the thief comes to rob steal kill and destroy, but He has come to give you life—life abundantly (See John 10:10). How many days are you going to let Satan rob you of really living? REJOICE!
Satan wants you to focus on your circumstances and miss out on really living. Paul says focus on the Lord and rejoice; then you are really living!
ILLUSTRATION: Coach Jimmy Johnson was asked what he told his players before leading the Dallas Cowboys onto the field for the 1993 Super Bowl. He said, "I told them that if I laid a two-by-four across the floor, everybody there would walk across it and not fall, because our focus would be on walking the length of that board. But if I put that same board 10 stories high between two buildings, only a few would make it, because the focus would be on falling."
Johnson told his players not to focus on the crowd, the media, or the possibility of falling, but to focus on each play of the game as if it were a good practice session. The Cowboys won the game 52-7. -- Steve Chandler in 100 Ways to Motivate Yourself. Fresh Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching (Baker), from the editors of Leadership.
Winning the game still requires making blocks and executing plays; there was still opposition to overcome—although the final score may not seem to indicate much difficulty. But through it all the Cowboys remained focused.
We can’t let ourselves be trapped by fear and worry. Develop a lifestyle of thanksgiving! REJOICE IN THE LORD.
One might ask, “How are we to rejoice and live a lifestyle of thanksgiving?”
• Philippians 4:5-6 (NIV)
[5] Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. [6] Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
The first key is to guard your emotions. The first place our emotions are seen by the world is in our actions. Our emotions are on display for the world to see through the things we say and do. “Let your gentleness be evident to all.” Now if Paul stopped there, then we could all say there is no use; we could just give up and go home, but he doesn’t. Notice what he said next, “The Lord is near.” YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO THIS ALONE!
• Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV)
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
God is with you! He will empower you to live with joy even through the most difficult circumstances.
ILLUSTRATION: If Christians praised God more, the world would doubt Him less. -- Croft M. Pentz, The Complete Book of Zingers (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1990).
NOT ONLY DO WE GUARD OUR EMOTIONS THROUGH THE THINGS WE DO, WE ALSO MUST BE CAREFUL HOW WE THINK! Paul said, “do not be anxious about anything.” It’s obvious Paul didn’t live in the 21st century; we’ve got lots more to worry about right? Oh wait Paul wrote this from a Roman prison cell, a real hell hole where many people died because they lost all hope. While Paul was eventually allowed to live in a home, he never regained his freedom; he was constantly under Roman guard – right up until the day he was taken out and executed. I guess Paul might have had some things to worry about after all; make my worries look mighty small.
How are we to guard our emotions and keep free from worry? Paul says, “In everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Give your worries to God.
Notice our prayer is to include thanksgiving! This is not simply thanking God for what he has done, but it is to give thanks for what God is going to do. By faith see how God is going to work through your circumstances to accomplish His purposes; see God’s preferred future and give Him thanks.
Paul shows us a second key to living with a lifestyle of thanksgiving: RENEW YOUR MIND.
• Philippians 4:8 (NIV)
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.
You have a choice about what you are going to let consume your thoughts. Paul shows us the right things to think about. Are the things in your mind true? Are your thoughts noble and right? Is what you are thinking pure and lovely? Do your thoughts lead to praise? If these are not the kind of things you are thinking then you are thinking the wrong things! RENEW YOUR MIND.
ILLUSTRATION: Out of the history of Napoleonic France, Leonard Griffith has given us a moving story of a political prisoner by the name of Charnet. Charnet was thrown into prison simply because he had accidentally, by a remark, offended the emperor Napoleon. Cast into a dungeon cell, presumably left to die, as the days and weeks and months passed by, Charnet became embittered at his fate. Slowly but surely he began to lose his faith in God. And one day, in a moment of rebellious anger, he scratched on the wall of his cell, "All things come by chance," which reflected the injustice that had come his way by chance. He sat in the darkness of that cell growing more bitter by the day.
There was one spot in the cell where a single ray of sunlight came every day and remained for a little while. And one morning, to his absolute amazement, he noticed that in the hard, earthen floor of that cell a tiny, green blade was breaking through. It was something living, struggling up toward that shaft of sunlight. It was his only living companion, and his heart went out in joy toward it. He nurtured it with his tiny ration of water, cultivated it, and encouraged its growth. That green blade became his friend. It became his teacher in a sense, and finally it burst through until one day there bloomed from the little plant a beautiful, purple and white flower. Once again Charnet found himself thinking thoughts about God. He scratched off the thing he had scribbled on the wall of his dungeon and in its place wrote, "He who made all things is God."
Somehow through the guards and their wives and the gossip of the community, this little story reached the ears of Josephine, Napoleon’s wife. She was so moved by it and so convinced that a man who loved a flower that way could not possibly be a dangerous criminal that she persuaded Napoleon to release him. So Charnet was set free. You can be sure that he dug out his precious little prison flower and took it with him and cultivated that plant in the years to come. He also pondered in his heart a verse that he put on the little flower pot holding the plant. What would that verse be? "If God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?” -- David A. Seamands, "Instruction for Thanksgiving," Preaching Today, Tape No. 62.
God is in control. The Bible tells us that He will cause all things to work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. God has not overlooked you; trust Him. Renew your mind and think on the right things! In so doing you will find that you can rejoice for God is at work in and through the circumstances of your life.
Rejoice in the Lord! Guard your emotions as you respond to life with gentleness. Rejoice in the Lord as you refuse to give a place in your heart for fear and worry; instead pray about everything. Rejoice in the Lord as you renew your mind; think the right thoughts. When you learn to rejoice in the Lord, thanksgiving will overflow with the peace of God.
• Philippians 4:4-9 (NIV)
[7] And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus . . . [9] Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me--put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
