Psalms 34:1 I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
In Budapest, a man goes to the rabbi and complains, "Life is unbearable. There are nine of us living in one room. What can I do?"
The rabbi answers, "Take your goat into the room with you." The man in incredulous, but the rabbi insists. "Do as I say and come back in a week."
A week later the man comes back looking more distraught than before. "We cannot stand it," he tells the rabbi. "The goat is filthy."
The rabbi then tells him, "Go home and let the goat out. And come back in a week."
A radiant man returns to the rabbi a week later, exclaiming, "Life is beautiful. We enjoy every minute of it now that there's no goat -- only the nine of us."
This is a funny story but how many of us know how to be truly thankful in the face of trial? Many powerhouses of the faith who preceded us realized the importance of mastering thankfulness. How much more should we who have so much more than they!
We have an opportunity this Thanksgiving week, to practice being thankful! If we’re struggling today, let’s practice paising God in thankfulness for all the good things He's done! He deserves all of our praise regardless of our circumstance!
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]As we’ve been speaking a word of revival across the United States, a primary purpose is to re-dig the wells for a great harvest in the midst of such darkness. While many would say “there is no revival coming”, we simply refer to Matthew 13:24-30 which describes a two-fold harvest. First, the WHEAT is ripening for harvest, while second, TARES are growing up along with it.
Returning from their ‘mission’ trip, the 72 disciples of Yeshua (Jesus) were filled with joy. “Even the devils are subject to us through your name”, they exulted. Yeshua responded that He saw Satan fall like lightening from Heaven and that He had given them authority to trample snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy.
When Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt I'm sure several million people were wondering, "How am I going to be fed? How am I going to survive in this wilderness?" Imagine the logistical nightmare. An incalculable quantity of food and water were needed to survive in the desert. Where would it come from? Yet, in this seemingly impossible situation, God provided!
There was a mailman, John Hand, who rode his mail truck through Los Altos Hills of California on his 50 mile route each day. The route was plain, all brown and virtually no color. One day he began to throw wild flower seeds out of the window as he drove. Today, if you travel his route in the Los Altos Hills you’ll find beautiful patches of flowers throughout, blossoming in many colors.
A farmer and his friend went duck hunting. Eventually, they got to talking about the things of God, as they always would. "You're always talking about these battles you have with the devil," the farmer's friend said to him. "It's so silly – I mean, I'm not even a Christian and I've never experienced anything like that."
Have you ever noticed that when people are in love, they tend to forget everything else? Everything becomes secondary — cars, houses, money — nothing matters — it is all secondary to love. Then, when they fall out of love, as in a divorce, all of a sudden those things mean everything! They argue about all the little meaningless things they ever owned together. Each wants it all for himself.
The Hebrew word for a dried up river bed is "Nachal". Israel has many of these. Here, in Israel it rains in winter, but not in summer. In the summer, these places stand as a testament of the rains that once fell and of the rains yet to come. Then, when they do come, the Nechalim (nachal plural) almost instantly fill with water. This is what the Scripture means when it says, "I will give you rivers in the desert." There is a promise in that for us.