THANKSGIVING
IN AN ACRONYM
Can
I pray for you in any way?
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any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com
In
Christ, Mark
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Anyone who knows me will understand
why I might have a fixation with acronyms. After all, twenty eight and a half
years of serving in the Navy will expose you to more than a few.
T = TRUSTWORTHINESS
Sovereign Lord, you
are God! Your covenant is trustworthy. 2 Samuel 7:28
The statutes of the
Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. Psalm 19:7
The Lord is
trustworthy in all He promises and faithful in all He does. Psalm 145:13
How
many people have let you down in your life when you trusted them?
I
don’t know about you but I lost count a long time ago.
This
is why it’s so critical to have a relationship with the One who never fails His
children. Ever.
We
find Samuel proclaiming the trustworthiness of our sovereign God, understanding
that the Lord’s covenant is one that can be relied on. David, the master
psalmist, is in agreement with Samuel because indeed, the Lord never breaks His
promises and He has made many of them in the scriptures. One need only read
their Bible to see that.
King
David also talks of how we, the simple, can expect to gain wisdom when we
choose to follow the Lord’s guidance and direction because both are grounded in
trustworthiness. The Lord has never and will never lead His people astray when
they rely on Him.
Finally,
we read from David’s words that the Lord is faithful in all He does. Note that
David doesn’t say that the Lord is faithful in most of the things He does. No,
our Lord is faithful in ALL He does. We can always have faith and trust in Him
because He and He alone is perfectly faithful and trustworthy.
H = HOPEFULNESS
God will never forget
the needy; the hope of the afflicted will never perish. Psalm 9:18
You answer us with
awesome and righteous deeds, God our Savior, the hope of all the ends of the
earth and of the farthest seas. Psalm
65:5
Yes, my soul, find rest
in God; my hope comes from Him. Psalm 62:5
Blessed are those
whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God. Psalm
146:5
Those who hope in the
Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will
run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:31
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. Jeremiah 29:11
The Lord is good to
those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him. Lamentations 3:25
Everything that was
written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance
taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.
Romans 15:4
May the God of hope
fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow
with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13
Praise be to the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new
birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
1 Peter 1:3
As
you can see, there are many scriptures that speak to the reassurance and hope
we have in our Lord. In fact, hope is what buoys us up and keeps us afloat in a
life where the world seems to want to drag us below the surface to drown in our
circumstances.
For
the afflicted, the scriptures assure us that their hope will never perish. This
is because the Lord Himself will never perish. As long as we have the Lord, we
have hope, a hope no one else can provide. When we’re in the midst of weakness,
the prophet Isaiah reminds us that all we need to do is hope in the Lord so
that our strength might be renewed. His hope alone can help the feeble soar on
wings like eagles.
For
those who are troubled in life, the scriptures offer assurance that through the
Lord’s hope, their souls can find rest, peace, encouragement, and even joy. The
scriptures breed perseverance within us as we read about the trustworthy
promises of our God. Indeed, the Lord IS good to those who seek Him and place
their hope in His hands.
And
for us, struggling to make sense of our life and where it might be heading, the
Lord speaks words of hope into our hearts and minds. Through the prophet
Jeremiah, He promises that He knows the plans He has for us. All we need to do
is trust Him and why wouldn’t we want to do that because He wants us to
prosper, be free from harm, and have a hope for our future.
The
primary instrument of that promised “future hope” was Jesus Christ, God’s only
Son who He sent to give us a new birth into a living hope, one that assures all
Christ-followers that they will overcome death and the grave when this life
ends, joining God and Jesus forever. Through the hope found in Jesus, the final
chapter of your life’s story has already been written and it’s the happiest
ending ever. All you have to do is place your hope and trust in Him as the
Savior, given to you by a loving, trustworthy God.
A = ABUNDANCE
Great
is the Lord and most worthy of praise; His greatness no one can fathom. One
generation commends Your works to another; they tell of Your mighty acts. They
speak of the glorious splendor of Your majesty—and I will meditate on Your
wonderful works. They tell of the power of Your awesome works—and I will
proclaim Your great deeds. They celebrate Your abundant goodness and joyfully
sing of Your righteousness. Psalm 145:3-7
How
abundant are the good things that You have stored up for those who fear You,
that You bestow in the sight of all, on those who take refuge in You. Psalm
31:19
God
is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all
that you need, you will abound in every good work. 2 Corinthians 9:8
Think
about where we are today in the scope of the dawn of mankind. We are countless generations
from the first couple, Adam and Eve. And yet, we still live and learn and love,
and do so abundantly because of a Lord who provides.
God
is good. We hear people proclaim it all the time here in the 21st
century but it’s definitely not a modern day expression. Rather, it has been
proclaimed for the ages as people experience first-hand the remarkable,
amazing, copious goodness of God. Indeed, His power, majesty, and glory are
always on display. All we need to do is open our eyes and take in the creation
around us. Only an omnipotent Creator could craft the abundant nature of what
we see and experience in our world.
Going
back to the Psalms, we find David proclaiming that the Lord has good things
stored up for those who revere and respect Him. The apostle Paul shares this
sentiment asserting that God always looks out for the good of those who love
Him, those called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). Trust the Lord, place
Your hope in Him, and an abundance of goodness will be yours. He will bless you
plentifully so you will have all you need to abound in the works He will call
you to do and that is definitely reason to give thanks.
N = NEWNESS
If anyone is in
Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 2
Corinthians 5:17
We were therefore
buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was
raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new
life. Romans 6:4
I am coming soon.
Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. The one who is
victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will they
leave it. I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of
my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and
I will also write on them My new name. Revelation 5:11-12
I
often think about my life before Jesus. It wasn’t pretty.
Like
so many others, past and present, I thought I could captain my own vessel and
navigate through life successfully. What I learned is the more I was holding
onto my will and way, the more I was completely lousing things up. Something
needed changing. I needed newness.
Enter
Christ Jesus who brought the words of Paul to life in me, making me a new
creation from the moment I asked Him into my life and accepted Him as my
personal Savior. In a moment, the former me was in the past and I was now
embarking on an exciting journey that I’m still on this very day, a journey
that is not just for the now but forever. Once dead in my sin, I was now
assured of life, resurrection life that would allow me to be with Jesus (and
Father God) eternally. Jesus wrote on my a new name, one that would mark me as
His, a future resident of the new Jerusalem that will come down from the new
heavens and be found on the new earth when Christ returns.
Did
I mention He makes all things new?
Let
us give thanks for the newness we find in our Lord.
K = KNOWLEDGE
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Proverbs 1:7
The Lord gives
wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. Proverbs 2:6
Ask God to fill you
with the knowledge of His will through all the wisdom and understanding that
the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please Him
in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God.
Colossians 1:9-10
Grow in the grace and
knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 3:18
Where
would we be without the Bible and God’s inspired words within?
Well,
we would be left to a life of ignorance and foolishness, a life void of wisdom,
for starters.
I
give thanks that I can learn something new and fresh, every time I read the
scriptures, even from passages I may have read many times before. It’s amazingly
awesome to me that the Lord finds brand new levels of understanding to bring me
to. Maybe you can relate.
The
Holy Word of the Lord is available to anyone who would want it. A person can
choose to receive or reject it and those who turn away from it, do so because
they lack any kind of respect or reverence for their Master and Maker.
Therefore, knowledge never really gets started with them for only from the Lord’s
mouth do we receive legitimate knowledge and wisdom.
We
need to receive this offering with gratitude because it helps us bear good
fruits in our life, a life that is worthy of the Lord and pleasing to Him in
every way. And it’s this kind of life that leads us to a spirit of everlasting
thanksgiving unto the Lord who imparts all we need to know about Him and the
plan He has for each of us, a plan that leads to the final letter and its
representative word.
S = SALVATION
Jesus is “‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:11-12
For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Mankind has received no greater gift from God than His Son Jesus. Anything else pales in comparison and even gifts we might mention as runner ups are all connected to what we have because of Jesus. Every good and perfect thing is in and of Him.
Jesus is “‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:11-12
For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Mankind has received no greater gift from God than His Son Jesus. Anything else pales in comparison and even gifts we might mention as runner ups are all connected to what we have because of Jesus. Every good and perfect thing is in and of Him.
Indeed,
God made a trustworthy promise when He so loved the world so much that He was
willing to offer up Christ Jesus, His only Son, so no person would perish but
rather have the opportunity to live forever. The fulfillment of that promise is
what offers us newness in Jesus and an abundant hope that no one can take away.
We have this knowledge because God provided it through the scriptures.
Yes,
we end this T.H.A.N.K.S. acronym message with salvation, the promise of living
forever through Jesus, because God always saves the best for last. I pray that
we all put it at the top of our list of things to be grateful for, not just on
Thanksgiving, but every day of every month or every year that the Lord provides
in this life until He ushers us into the one to come.
Happy
Thanksgiving everyone and blessings to you always!
In
Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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