Praise the Lord!
Psalm 103:1-2
Today in my Sunday School class at my church I became very convicted by the truth that I don't nearly give God the praise He rightly deserves. As a friend prayed this morning we just merely "try to make it." But we were not created to just "make it," the scriptures say we are more than conquerors! We have so much to be thankful for. In the last few minutes of class we just sat still in the presence of God, at His throne worshiping, and verbally expressing our thankfulness to Him. In the service later on the story of the 10 lepers came to mind.
Luke 17:11-19
New Living Translation (NLT)
Ten Healed of Leprosy:
11 As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem, he reached the border between Galilee and Samaria. 12 As he entered a village there, ten lepers stood at a distance, 13 crying out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
14 He looked at them and said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.”[a] And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy.
15 One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, “Praise God!” 16 He fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan.
17 Jesus asked, “Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine? 18 Has no one returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” 19 And Jesus said to the man, “Stand up and go. Your faith has healed you.[b]”
Only 1 leper came back to thank Jesus and worship Him for what He had done. Many times when we read this story we look down our noses at the other 9 thinking, "how dare they!" However, what we do not realize is, often times we are the other 9. We become so self consumed and that we deserve what God gives us. How dare we! Oh that we would be like Job, my Biblical hero. He couldn't understand why he had been through what he had just went through, then God spoke from a whirlwind the longest unbroken speech, and Job said, "Shut my mouth! I take back everything I said."
From the moment we wake up in the morning we should start thanking Jesus. Thank you for every breath, for waking me up, for another day, for creation telling His story, for a roof over our head, for the bed we will get out of, for the blankets that will cover us to keep us warm, for the breakfast we will eat, for the coffee we will drink all day, the list could go on and on and on. He is so faithful to us...and when the sun goes down at night we still sing His praises. He is everything!
Thankfulness sustains joy and blessing, it begins when my sense of entitlement ends. We must have an awareness of Jesus presence-focusing on Him. We must have a realization of what He has given us. All in all, when was Jesus not enough for us? HE is EVERYTHING! The gifts we receive are more about the giver than the gift itself! When we become aware of our inadequacies, we see God's sufficiency; we are more thankful.
Do not wait for a perfectly quiet time when you can lock yourself in your room and be alone. The very moment you feel drawn toward God is the moment to turn toward Him. Do this when you are driving, dressing, getting your hair done, eating, when conversations become boring....occupy every spare moment with Jesus. From the moment you get up to when you go to bed you will still not be done describing and blessing and thanking Jesus. I promise. I love the verse in John 21:25 "Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written."
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