Greetings, Beloved!
Let us come into His Presence with thanksgiving in our hearts, and give Him praise! As we enter into what is meant to be a season of gratitude, please take time to look all around you. tell me, what do you See.. Hear.. Smell.. Taste.. and Touch?
I am utterly surrounded by spectacular high-rolling hills bearing manifold hues of scarlet, wine, orange, yellow, and copper, which adorn the branches of literally millions of trees, and bushes and flowers! Fields of amber and gold bob and weave before me in the brisk autumn wind. Sapphire skies laden with low, steely-grey clouds seem to be in suspension over my head. The fumes of a wood-burning stove tickle my nose, as its smoke rises in a steady column, into the cold November sky. Mmm… I smell that sauerkraut and kielbasa cooking, too, and I am instantly hungry! And oh-me-oh-my, I nearly swoon from the aromas of fresh-pressed cider and pumpkin pie! Why, the whole earth is ripe, and as I rejoice, I can hear those crisp leaves crunching beneath my heels. Suddenly, my heart is so overwhelmed with His goodness, that I spread out my arms towards the heavens, take a long deep breath, and shout out at the top of my lungs, "Thank You, LORD!"
In James 1:17 we read, Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no changing, neither shadow of turning.
In other words, EVERY good and perfect thing for ALL mankind is from Him! And Father GOD loves us ALL the same, too. He is not some fickle God who loves us one day and then, not so much the next day! He never changes, and His free gifts to us are unchanging, as well. ..He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. St. Matthew 5:45
But how many of us actually stop, to give Him the credit.. or the glory, He alone deserves? A heartbreaking very few..
What a travesty, Beloved! Those of us who have accepted His Son Jesus’ death on the Cross as a personal payment for our sins, should be in a perpetual state of thanksgiving to Him!
And not just for what our senses perceive.. But for the very senses themselves! We owe our very breath and heartbeat to Him, Beloved! For in Him we live, and move, and have our being. Acts 17:28
It is wise to remember that our days our numbered - our heavenly Father could “recall” us at any time. So as we enter into November, let us do it with thanksgiving at the gate!
Can you imagine the pain we cause our Heavenly Father? Do you ever ponder, in your heart, what it must be like to be the CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE, and yet, have its very inhabitants treat You with blatant disregard?
How does it make you feel, when you are treated poorly by
your family?
Father GOD has the same feelings.. He created us in His image; we share His emotions!
Now consider this.. you did not have to sacrifice your only son in order to redeem your family members... but Father GOD did!
He is GOD, He is Spirit, and He is Holy (Perfectly Pure), and after Adam and Eve fell to the wiles of Satan, mankind needed an equally Holy Sacrifice, in order to spiritually re-enter His kingdom.
I cannot bear to ponder for very long, how horrific the pain of Christ's scourging was, that literally tore His flesh off the bone.
Or the crown of thorns that pressed deeply into his temples, forehead and skull, sending blood into His beautiful eyes. I sob uncontrollably when I ponder the nails - the size of railroad spikes - being pounded into His sinless hands and feet!
Those hands healed everyone who asked.. those hands lifted children and embraced His mother. Those feet traveled thousands of miles, to spread the gospel, so that He might save "that which was lost".
WE ARE THAT WHICH WAS LOST, BELOVED!
As Jesus hung in agony, on a Cross that He Himself had spoken into being before the foundations of the earth were laid, He still forgave them for not knowing what they were doing. But He didn't do it just for that generation. He did it for all future generations, too.
He experienced every sin you and I have ever committed. When Jesus cried out, "Why hast Thou forsaken Me?", it was because Father GOD had to look away: HE IS HOLY (PERFECTLY PURE) AND CANNOT LOOK UPON SIN.
Jesus TOOK our sin, off of us, and put it onto Himself! WHY?
So that when our time comes, we can enter the gates of His Kingdom.. and Father GOD can look upon us.. because His Son, Jesus Christ already, paid the Entrance Fee for us.
Can we not then, at the very least, be thankful?
Father, forgive us our sins of omission, in Jesus' name, Amen.
