Always be thankful and celebrate all that God has done for you

Always be thankful and celebrate all that God has done for you. Don’t ever forget the good that God has worked in you life, lest you get carried away by the cares and worries of this life and be unfruitful.

Jesus himself spoke about this in the Parable of the Sower as in Mark 4: 18-10 saying “And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.”

 

As an act of continual gratitude speak to others what the Lord God has done in your life.

Jesus himself told the man from whom he expelled the demons to tell other what the Lord had done for him and this man gladly this. And the people marveled at the goodness of the Lord!

And they came to Jesus, and saw the demoniac sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, the man who had had the legion; and they were afraid. ¹⁶ And those who had seen it told what had happened to the demoniac and to the swine. ¹⁷ And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their neighborhood. ¹⁸ And as he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. ¹⁹ But he refused, and said to him, “Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” ²⁰ And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decap′olis how much Jesus had done for him; and all men marveled. (Mark 5:15-20)

Bible verses for reflection:

• With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the Lord: “He is good; his love toward Israel endures forever.” And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. (Ezra 3:11)
• I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness; I will sing the praises of the name of the Lord Most High. (Psalm 7:17)
• I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds. (Psalm 9:1)
• Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. (Psalm 100:4-5)
• Sing to the Lord with grateful praise; make music to our God on the harp. (Psalm 147:7)
• I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors: You have given me wisdom and power, you have made known to me what we asked of you, you have made known to us the dream of the king. (Daniel 2:23)
• Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 5:18-20)
• Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)
• Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. ( 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
• Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:28-29)

Are you willing to give up the vain things of the world?

A man from another religion once asked me, “I’m willing to join your religion (Christianity) but what’s in for me?”. I responded that he would go to heaven instead of hell after he dies. (This is taking into account that he becomes a Christian who follows and believes in the Lord Jesus Christ and his commandments in the true sense). Here’s how the rest of the conversation went on:

Man : “Is that all you have to offer?”

Myself : “Yes, aren’t you looking forward to everlasting life?”

Man : “Yes but I thought there some benefits more than that”

Myself : “What benefits are you referring to?”

Man : “I mean aren’t you Christians going to give me financial benefits for joining your religion?”

Myself : “No, but we can help you find a job if are unable to get something yourself”

Man : “Alright, I don’t need this religion”

Myself : “Okay fine, I see you made your choice because financial benefits is all you are after!”

Man :”I’ll be able to handle it from here”

Myself : “If you anytime again have thoughts about this, do reach out to the preacher of a church.”

 

Before all of that conversation started this same man was able to tell me the key principles of the Gospels, he also said he believed in the existence of Jesus and also his holy resurrection! Yet, somewhere down the line, his heart was attracted to the vanities of this world and in his case; the lust for wealth.

Indeed I now realize, ‘the love of money is root of all evil’ (refer 1 Timothy 6:10). I’m not saying you shouldn’t work to sustain yourself or your family nor count yourself a sinner just because you have some wealth. Here the key thing is that you should never be so attached to money that you forsake the Lord God and his commandments!

 

As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. (Matthew 13:22)

In the case of this man or even I can say in the case of even of those who call them Christians but don’t like it, the deceitfulness of riches choke the true understanding of the Word of God, and so it proves unfruitful ie there is no action nor faith in line with the Word of God. But the love of money is just one of the vanities of life. Some people love to party, excessively that they miss out on praying and reading the Bible, let alone being at Church. Some people want to be famous so bad, that they willing do evil deeds be it violent or sensual just to be showing up on TV, the newspapers and social media in general. While some just want to laze around when it comes to God but are super active in the things of the world such as their jobs, their social status and friend circles, that they miss out both on prayer and good works which have been ordained by God for them.

Make it your choice to reject the vanity of the world and instead follow the Lord Jesus in the true sense of the Word!

Verses for reflection:

• For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. (Mark 8:35)
• For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? (Mark 8:36)
• And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. (Matthew 10:22)
• For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)
  

Quick reminder: Love your neighbour

You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am theLord.(Leviticus 19:18)

And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (
Mark 12:28-31)