Gratefulness
The Lord poured blessings on us this January. We were privileged to travel back to Texas where Life Action Ministries held a two week Revival Summit at our home church in New Braunfels. We had a sense of expectation and excitement at what God would do during that time. And He is faithful. He worked another major change in our own hearts.
One of the principles I had been taught before, but that came alive during those days was this:
If there is any situation (or person) in my life, past or present, for which I can not instantly thank God when that situation (or person) comes to my mind, then I am bitter.
God showed me that I was bitter. But how could I be bitter?! We’ve been blessed so much! God has provided our every need, with many blessings on top! But He showed me that I was indeed bitter. Here’s how He did it.
During the first three weeks of our stay in Texas, God provided a wonderful house for us to stay in, 17 miles away from the summit, down the same highway I traveled for ten years while I worked at Motorola. My work commute used to be exactly 17 miles! As we traveled back and forth during those first days of the summit, I remembered the years of terrible stress and anxiety that I had while working there. And I was reminded of difficult people. All together, it was a very painful and stressful time in my life.
During one of those days, the Lord showed me Ephesians 5:20, and reminded me again that if I couldn’t or wouldn’t thank God as He says to do, giving thanks to God always for everything, then I was bitter. I realized I wasn’t thanking God for those hard times, or for those hard people. At first, I thought I couldn’t find anything to thank Him for. But He lovingly showed me it was sin not to give thanks, as He says to do. So I confessed and agreed with God that not thanking Him was sin, and I asked Him to change my heart. I began thanking Him for those hard days and years, and for those difficult people.
At first, I didn’t understand what I had to be thankful for, but I knew I needed to be obedient. And as I begin giving thanks, a wonderful thing happened. God revealed to me that if those days had been easy, if that place had been enjoyable, if those difficult people had been warm and friendly instead, I would have been comfortable and I would not have recognized my desperate need for Him.
In His sovereign way, He put me in the midst of those people and that work environment (like between a rock and a hard place) to shape me and to drive me to Himself. Now I can thank Him with understanding, because His faithfulness never ceases, and His sovereign plan has been working all along.
God also showed me other areas where I had an ungrateful heart. In one of our newsletters, we had expressed disappointment for the amount of support given by our church, and for another church’s decision not to support us. That disappointment was rooted in sin, because we thought we deserved something. In fact, we deserve nothing but hell! And anything that is given is a blessing. We were wrong to be ungrateful. We have publicly confessed that before the church and asked for their forgiveness. We have offended others of you in this, and so we humbly ask, would you forgive us? We have also been asking God to change our hearts so that we would not have a spirit of expectation or ungratefulness.
He has blessed us so much, and I want to always be thankful for everything.
“Dear God, I now see that everything comes from You. My experiences of the past five, ten, or twenty years have all come from You. All of these things were done with only one purpose in mind – that Your life would be expressed through me. I have been foolish. I did not see this. Through self-love I have done many things to save myself, and I have wasted much of Your time. Today I see Your hand, and I willingly consecrate myself to You. I commit myself to Your hand once again.”1
Thank YOU for your prayers and support for us. We are so grateful for your friendship.
1 The Breaking of the Outer Man and the Release of the Spirit. Watchman Nee, Living Stream Ministry, 1997
One of the principles I had been taught before, but that came alive during those days was this:
If there is any situation (or person) in my life, past or present, for which I can not instantly thank God when that situation (or person) comes to my mind, then I am bitter.
God showed me that I was bitter. But how could I be bitter?! We’ve been blessed so much! God has provided our every need, with many blessings on top! But He showed me that I was indeed bitter. Here’s how He did it.
During the first three weeks of our stay in Texas, God provided a wonderful house for us to stay in, 17 miles away from the summit, down the same highway I traveled for ten years while I worked at Motorola. My work commute used to be exactly 17 miles! As we traveled back and forth during those first days of the summit, I remembered the years of terrible stress and anxiety that I had while working there. And I was reminded of difficult people. All together, it was a very painful and stressful time in my life.
During one of those days, the Lord showed me Ephesians 5:20, and reminded me again that if I couldn’t or wouldn’t thank God as He says to do, giving thanks to God always for everything, then I was bitter. I realized I wasn’t thanking God for those hard times, or for those hard people. At first, I thought I couldn’t find anything to thank Him for. But He lovingly showed me it was sin not to give thanks, as He says to do. So I confessed and agreed with God that not thanking Him was sin, and I asked Him to change my heart. I began thanking Him for those hard days and years, and for those difficult people.
At first, I didn’t understand what I had to be thankful for, but I knew I needed to be obedient. And as I begin giving thanks, a wonderful thing happened. God revealed to me that if those days had been easy, if that place had been enjoyable, if those difficult people had been warm and friendly instead, I would have been comfortable and I would not have recognized my desperate need for Him.
In His sovereign way, He put me in the midst of those people and that work environment (like between a rock and a hard place) to shape me and to drive me to Himself. Now I can thank Him with understanding, because His faithfulness never ceases, and His sovereign plan has been working all along.
God also showed me other areas where I had an ungrateful heart. In one of our newsletters, we had expressed disappointment for the amount of support given by our church, and for another church’s decision not to support us. That disappointment was rooted in sin, because we thought we deserved something. In fact, we deserve nothing but hell! And anything that is given is a blessing. We were wrong to be ungrateful. We have publicly confessed that before the church and asked for their forgiveness. We have offended others of you in this, and so we humbly ask, would you forgive us? We have also been asking God to change our hearts so that we would not have a spirit of expectation or ungratefulness.
He has blessed us so much, and I want to always be thankful for everything.
“Dear God, I now see that everything comes from You. My experiences of the past five, ten, or twenty years have all come from You. All of these things were done with only one purpose in mind – that Your life would be expressed through me. I have been foolish. I did not see this. Through self-love I have done many things to save myself, and I have wasted much of Your time. Today I see Your hand, and I willingly consecrate myself to You. I commit myself to Your hand once again.”1
Thank YOU for your prayers and support for us. We are so grateful for your friendship.
1 The Breaking of the Outer Man and the Release of the Spirit. Watchman Nee, Living Stream Ministry, 1997
posted by Jeffrey A. Norris at
3:29 PM
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