Day 5 - Week 54 - Ephesians 5:20 "Giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Sometimes we need to do run a "thankfulness" test on our hearts.  To score a 100 your heart would need to be functioning at the level that Paul instructs in our verse...thankful always for everything.

What would your score be today?  80%?  75%?  Or would we waiver more around the 50% mark?  One moment thankful, the other complaining.  One day satisfied, the next day whining about something we don't have.

On this Saturday morning, sitting in my den, I'm reflecting on things that I want to thank God for.

• First and foremost, I thank God for sending His Son, Jesus, my Savior, to live for me, to die for me and then to prove to me that death has been conquered through His resurrection. 
• My wonderful husband who is always by my side, traveling through life with me.  I thank God for bringing him to me at just the right moment in my life.
• Our children, grandchildren and great-grandchild.  To be blessed with seeing your children grow into adulthood and to enjoy them as adults is a real gift.  And then grandchildren...well everyone knows, they are the best!
• My mother, who still serves as one of the very best Christian examples in my life, and my Daddy, who went home to be with God almost 22 years ago.  God gave me wonderful parents and I cannot thank Him enough for that.
• My sisters and Robert's siblings who we share such fun times with.  Brothers and sisters are gifts that cannot be replaced by anyone else in our lives.  God was so wise in establishing families where we can learn unconditional love.
• Good friends to share life with, who encourage me to grow in my faith, and who just make me laugh!
• My home - comfortable, warm, secure.  It is where I am most comfortable and at peace.

The list could go on and on, and I realize that some of you may not be able to list the things that I have.  But you do have a list...there are always things for everyone of us to be thankful for. 

The thing about it is, after you list the first item on my list, everything else is secondary.  For once we have Jesus as our Savior, then His grace is sufficient to satisfy us.  Once we understand that Christ suffered for our sins to give us eternal life, then whatever this life brings, we can be continually thankful that this life isn't THE life.   Once we understand that we have been given a gift so totally undeserved by us, and yet given to us by a loving Father through the sacrifice of His loved Son, then we can start seeing this life through different eyes---eyes of children who look to their Father with nothing but hearts full of thankfulness and gratefulness for every provision that we receive each day of our lives here.  The picture above portrays all of this beautifully and gives us the great verse from Psalms to remind us, "Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.  His love endures forever."  That's the Father we have.  He is good.  He loves us always.  We can thank Him for every good and perfect gift we are ever given.

Over the next few days, really listen to what is coming out of your mouth. Does it reflect a heart of thanks....always for everything?

Day 4 - Week 54 - Ephesians 5:20 "Giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

We are told to give thanks to God the Father in Jesus' name...have you ever thought much about that?   I don't know if questions like this come to your mind when you read a verse like ours of this week, but when I read a verse repeatedly I start seeing things like this that make me think, "Why is that?"

Colossians 3:17 gives a similar directive...
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.  

We are told in James 1:17 that...

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father...

So can we determine that everything that we have to be thankful for is from God the Father, that the Giver of the Trinity is the Father.  He is the One who determines the gifts that are needed by His children and He is the One who orchestrates their delivery to us.  He is the Giver of every good and perfect gift, including the greatest gift ever given, Jesus, our Savior, His Son, given for us so we could be His.  Thankful?  Oh yes...eternally thankful to God the Father.  For His love, for His plan, for His Son.

Which leads us then to, why do we give thanks "in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."  And a similar question, why are we instructed to pray, "in Jesus' name?"  Throughout the New Testament, we are told to honor and to praise God, "through Jesus"...

Hebrews 13:15  Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise--the fruit of lips that confess his name.  

1 Peter 2:5...offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 4:11...so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.

Jesus instructed us to "ask in His name"  when we present our petitions to God (John 16:23-26).  What is it about Jesus' name in context of our dialogue with God the Father?

I think 1 Corinthians 3:23 gives us a good statement to launch our answer on..."and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's" or as The Message puts it, "and you are privileged to be in union with Christ, who is in union with God."   

Just as Jesus told His followers (and us today)..there is no other way to the Father, except through Him.  Jesus tore the curtain to the Holy place, the presence of God.  Read what Matthew Henry has to say about Matthew 27:51,

The rending of the veil signified that Christ, by his death, opened a way to God. We have an open way through Christ to the throne of grace, or mercy-seat now, and to the throne of glory hereafter.  

We can never presume that on our own, without Christ, we could ever have dialogue with God the Father; and we know we would never have been able to have access to the throne of glory hereafter. It is only through Christ that we have been given the right of entrance into the presence of God the Father.

Oh my yes!  Yes! - Give thanks always for everything to God the Father...our Giver...in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ...our Gift!

Day 3 - Week 54 - Ephesians 5:20 "Giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Remember when I posed the question, "What do our lives look like when we are Spirit-filled?"  Well Robert J. Morgan says that we will know we are filled with the Spirit when we see certain changes in our lives...such as singing in our hearts (v. 19), gratitude in our minds (v. 20) and....well we'll leave that for next week!

But just by looking at the two characteristics we've uncovered so far in Ephesians 5:19 and 20, don't you get the picture of someone who is not weighed now by worldly matters?  This person seems to have a heart free of burden, because they have been relieved of their load.  They sing because they're happy...it is a natural outpouring from a heart that has been redeemed, no longer carrying the burden of sin and guilt. 

Can't you just hear Jesus' words calling to us to become this type of person....

Come unto me, all ye that labour  and are heavy laden , and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

And now we see a person whose heart is filled with gratitude...who cannot keep their thankfulness contained but see their lives as being continually blessed by God.  This person doesn't necessarily live a life that is absent of any trials, but they seem to be able to give thanks anyway.  They truly live out the verse in James that says....

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.

They trust God and know that He is bringing them through everything and making them stronger in Him.  They can thank God even in the hard times, knowing that He is truly working everything together for their good---and knowing that life is more than what we see right now, their eyes are set on eternity.  Every gift given in this life cannot compare with what they know God has in store for His children, and that evokes a thankfulness that cannot be generated by any earthly blessing.

I keep saying "they", "that person", but for those of us who have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior, "that person" is us.  If we are not exhibiting the lifestyle described, we need a heart check.  What is keeping God's Spirit within us from filling us with a joy that promotes singing, a gratefulness that promotes thanksgiving? 

This world, and the ruler of it, can try to steal our joy and replace our thanksgiving with complaints.  It happens when our eyes are diverted from what we have been given (blessing upon blessing, culminating in eternal life) to what we may lack (some earthly offering that will rot and corrode). 

Keep your eyes on the eternal...let His Spirit fill your heart today, with joy and with thanksgiving!

Day 2 - Week 54 - Ephesians 5:20 "Giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

As I said, on first glance I don't see this verse as a testimony to the Holy Spirit's role in our lives.  But then I got up on a higher point of view, gaining additional sight, and realized a very spiritual truth.

The Holy Spirit enables us to do what we cannot, in our human flesh, accomplish.  Thinking on that, and looking at this verse, what power are we given by the filling of the Spirit?  The power to be continuously thankful, for everything. 

That kind of thankfulness is not human --- generally, we are dwelling on the latest thing that just went wrong in our lives.  How many times do we hear people say, "The way my life is going....", or, "well, that's just my luck....", or, "if it's going to happen, it will happen to me!"   We quote Murphy's Law ("whatever can go wrong, will") and apply it to our lives. 

But in Ephesians 5:20, following our instruction in 5:18 to be "filled with the Spirit", we are told to give thanks always for everything.  The kind of heart that can be thankful in every circumstance is a heart that has been given over to the Spirit of God.  A heart that has allowed the Spirit to transform it from one of hardness to pliability.  A heart that does not harden with cynicism and bitterness when something goes wrong, but tenderly reviews how faithful God has been in troubled times before, and trusts that He will again be just as faithful.  A heart that understands God will walk beside and teach lessons that would otherwise never be learned.  Because, just as we are told in Ezekiel 11:19, the Spirit replaces our hearts...

And I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them. I will take away their hearts of stone and give them tender hearts instead.

 

Without a spiritual heart transplant, there is no way that our human hearts can feel the kind of thankfulness that Paul expresses in our verse of this week.  Because we will fall into a spirit of defeat when bad things happen.  Listen to what Robert J. Morgan includes in his text for this verse:

We all have terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days.  We all have stormy days.  But when we're filled with the Spirit---when we've placed every part and parcel of our lives under the control of Jesus Christ---it affects our attitude.  We fly at a higher altitude.  We find ourselves always giving thanks to God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ.

After all, if all things work together for good, as Romans 8:28 promises, why not always give thanks in all things?

With the Spirit controlling us, we're at a higher point!  We can see things clearer and we can know who is in control.  We know that we are not defeated...that the Victor is on our side, and that we have been blessed beyond measure by the gift of Jesus.  When we have a gift of that magnitude, there should be nothing that distracts us from thankfulness.  And when we are in the middle of the very best of times, we will not be distracted by feelings of pride or accomplishment.  We will again turn our hearts toward God our Father, and say, "Thank You!"

We can give thanks for everything, always, to our Father, because He has given us everything in Jesus! 

Day 1 - Week 54 - Sunday is here again...do the weeks seem to go flying by for you?

It seems every time I turn around another week has sped by...weeks turn into months, and months turn into years...Christmases come so quickly anymore.  Do you remember as a child thinking Christmas would never arrive?  Now I find them coming faster than they should...it really feels like someone is messing with my calendar!

And here we are on Week 54...we've made a definitive jump over the midway mark on our journey to 100.  Back on the Appalachian Trail...where do we find ourselves at this point?

Some where right around High Point State Park in New Jersey, the highest point in the state, with the ability to see into three states, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania from its summit.   The second picture shown was taken at High Point at a time of being able to view the Northern Lights.  Wouldn't that be a great site?  So when you're at High Point you have a wide view of many different aspects of our world.

"High Point"...don't you think that's an appropriate place for us to be this week...right in the middle of our study of the Holy Spirit's role in our lives?  Just as in High Point State Park you are given a vantage point of seeing a wide array of scenic views, the Holy Spirit enables us to see so much more than we can when we are trying to view life, both earthly and eternal, through our human eyes.  The Holy Spirit lifts us up to a higher point of view, with sights not only of things as amazing as the Northern Lights, but straight into eternity---into the absolute Light of truth and life.

Let's review our verses of the past 22 weeks....

Promises of God (10)

Matthew 6:33 But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (ESV)

Romans 8:28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose.

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."

1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to humanity. God is faithful and He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation He will provide a way of escape, so that you are able to bear it.

1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Proverbs 3:-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. (NIV)

1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to humanity. God is faithful and He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation He will provide a way of escape, so that you are able to bear it.

Psalm 55:22 Cast your burden on the Lord, and He will support you. He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.

1 Peter 5:7 Casting all your care upon Him, because He cares for you.

Obedience (10)
2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people who are called by My name humble themselves, pray and seek My face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.
Lamentations 3:40 Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.
Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern the good, pleasing and perfect will of God.
Romans 12:11 Do not lack diligence; be fervent in spirit; serve the Lord.
Romans 12:12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in affliction, be persistent in prayer.
Romans 12:18 If possible, on your part, live at peace with everyone.
2 Corinthians 9:7 Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Hebrews 10:25 "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching." (NKJV)
Proverbs 1:7 "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction."
Proverbs 15:1 "A gentle word turns away anger, but a harsh word stirs up wrath."

The Holy Spirit's Role in our Lives (6)
Ephesians 5:18 "And don't get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless actions, but be filled with the Spirit."
Ephesians 5:19 "Speaking to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making music in to the Lord in your hearts."

Leading right to Ephesians 5:20...

"Giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

My first thought when reading this week's verse was, "What does this verse have to do with the Holy Spirit's role in our lives?  I'm not getting where we're going here." 

Well, hang on, we'll climb up to a high point as we look at this verse, in context with our previous two verses, and our relationship with the Holy Spirit.  We may see something we have never seen before!