Devot. Thanksgiving!

Hi Folks,

Happy Thanksgiving Week!!  

The have a 7 devots. below for you to choose from all they all pertain to Thanksgiving.  

Give a look through and see what pertains to you the most right now.   

Thanksgiving can be a very blessed time celebrating with family, it can bring stress though, be a time to instill a godly legacy in your kids, grandkids or the "littles" in your life. This holiday can also be an opportunity to invite those without family or friends into your home for a meal, but also very hard for some folks, esp. if they do not a good relationship with their family or have recently lost a loved one.  

This devots. below handle these aspects and I pray that there is one that will comfort, bless and prepare your heart for the heart of Thanksgiving-giving thanks to God for all that we have.

I was listening to Thanksgiving sermon this weekend and I wanted to note one thing that I gained from it came from it and also include the link if you had time to listen to it in snippets on your way to work, on lunch break etc..(it's not long, but the message is very useful!) He used Ps. 136 as his reference passage.  Verse 1 states, "Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever."

The pastor said that this chapter was a responsive reading chapter. When people where gathered at the Temple in Jerusalem to worship in Old Testament days, if the Priest was reading this chapter, he would read one verse and then the people would respond with the words, "For His mercy endures forever!"   These specific words alone are used 36 times along in this chapter!!!  That is God's way of trying to tell us something important, get us to pay attention!  Verse 26 states, "Oh, give thanks to the God of heaven! For His mercy endures forever."

The pastor said that the last verse in the chapter was a way of saying, "Ok, now you know that you should praise the Lord for all He has done for you!  So, what are you waiting for??!!"   Indeed, what are we waiting for??? Why give thanks on one day?  Like I challenged last week, start to look for things to thank the Lord for each day, it could be as simple as clean water, a warm house or a green lights to work.  What you are thankful for does not matter, it is the "attitude of gratitude" that the Lord is longing to hear from you.

Lord bless you and yours this week!! Thanksgiving blessings!

Sermon:  Thankful or Entitled: 

https://www.faithcombible.org/sermons.html. (first link if you scroll down a bit)

(Read and Share devotionals.  Taken from https://www.dayspring.com/articles/)

Thanksgiving Prayer to Download and Share:

http://downloads.dayspring.com/thanksgiving-prayer.pdf?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NEBNANN20191124APrayerforSafeTravelsArticles&utm_term=DaySpring%20Newsletter%20%2B%20Daily%20Devotion%20List

Thanksgiving Day:

https://www.dayspring.com/daily-devotion/date/2019-10-28?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DaySpring%20Daily%20Devotion%202019-10-28&utm_term=DaySpring%20Daily%20Devotion

Finding Peace in the Face of Family Stress:

https://www.dayspring.com/articles/finding-peace-in-the-face-of-family-stress?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NEBNANE20191117WhenIt%27sHardtoBeGratefulOnThanksgivingArticles&utm_term=DaySpring%20Newsletter%20%2B%20Daily%20Devotion%20List

A Prayer for Safe Travels: 

http://downloads.dayspring.com/thanksgiving-prayer.pdf?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NEBNANN20191124APrayerforSafeTravelsArticles&utm_term=DaySpring%20Newsletter%20%2B%20Daily%20Devotion%20List

Upping the Game for Your Grandkids, Make the Most of Your Time Together :

https://www.dayspring.com/articles/upping-your-game-for-the-grandkids?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NEBNAEN20191113MakeThisTheBestThanksgivingEverARticles&utm_term=DaySpring%20Newsletter%20%2B%20Daily%20Devotion%20List

Table Manners and Ice Breakers:

https://www.dayspring.com/articles/table-manners-and-ice-breakers?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NEBNAEN20191113MakeThisTheBestThanksgivingEverARticles&utm_term=DaySpring%20Newsletter%20%2B%20Daily%20Devotion%20List

    

Practicing the Powerful Art of Hospitality: 

https://www.dayspring.com/articles/practicing-the-powerful-art-of-hospitality?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NEBNANN20191020PracticingthePowerfulArtofHospitalityArticles&utm_term=DaySpring%20Newsletter%20%2B%20Daily%20Devotion%20List

When It's Hard to be Grateful on Thanksgiving:

https://www.dayspring.com/articles/when-its-hard-to-be-grateful-on-thanksgiving?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NEBNANE20191117WhenIt%27sHardtoBeGratefulOnThanksgivingArticles&utm_term=DaySpring%20Newsletter%20%2B%20Daily%20Devotion%20List

5 Ways to Handle a Hard Holiday:

https://www.dayspring.com/articles/category/thanksgiving/when-holidays-are-difficult?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NEBNANE20191117WhenIt%27sHardtoBeGratefulOnThanksgivingArticles&utm_term=DaySpring%20Newsletter%20%2B%20Daily%20Devotion%20List

Devot. The Best Thanksgiving Ever/Leaving a Legacy

Hi Folks,

Happy Week Before Thanksgiving!!  

I have two devots. for you today and both have a great message/challenge.

The first on gives some practical ideas on how to make next Thanksgiving the best one you ever had (I really liked this one!!!).  The second devot. gives a challenge of how to pass down to your family a legacy of gratefulness to God.

In Psalm 107, the Psalmist King David is imploring, begging, "Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness,  And for His wonderful works to the children of men!"   This statement is made 5 times in this chapter alone!!!  Oh that we would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness toward sinful man and for all that we have been blessed with!

I can never wrap my head around how Thanksgiving can be celebrated without giving Thanks to God in some way.  Does one just sit down, dig into Thanksgiving dinner without giving thanks to the One who has blessed that individual with food, shelter, family???  

The Bible says in 2 Timothy 3 that in the "end days", the time before Christ returns to take those who have trusted Him home to Heaven, folks in general will have a spirit of ungratefulness.  My mom and others I have spoken to have stated that they notice how this spirit is pervading every aspect of life, whether it's not thanking someone for a gift with a note or even a text or just in general not saying "thank you."

Do you wish to leave a legacy such as this for your children, grandchildren, or those around you-a spirit lacking in thankfulness to God and others???    I don't think you would.   

I challenge us today to see where we are at in this area-giving verbal thanks at Thanksgiving, giving thanks to God everyday for "everyday blessings", encouraging others to look and give thanks for those blessings, and passing a legacy of thankfulness to God and others to the next generation.    Let's be the ones to give "thanks to the Lord for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men!" and then starting a chain reaction!!!

Lord bless you and yours this week!

Make this the Best Thanksgiving Ever:

https://www.dayspring.com/articles/make-this-the-best-thanksgiving-ever?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NEBNAEN20191113MakeThisTheBestThanksgivingEverARticles&utm_term=DaySpring%20Newsletter%20%2B%20Daily%20Devotion%20List

(Read and Share.  Taken from https://www.dayspring.com/articles/)

How to Leave a Family Legacy: 

https://www.dayspring.com/articles/category/thanksgiving/leaving-a-family-legacy-of-gratitude

(Read and Share.  Taken from https://www.dayspring.com/articles/)

      

Devot. Servant's Heart, Grateful Heart, Veterans Day

Hi Folks,

I hope you are having a great start week!  Our devot. today is on having a servant's heart which is also grateful to God. Mark 9:35 and 10:43, Jesus sat his disciples down and had a talk with them on just this subject.  

A mother of one of Jesus' disciples came to Him, asking that her each of her sons sit beside Him in His kingdom, one of the left hand, the other on the right, showing that they had authority to rule and reign as well.   Jesus asked if they were prepared to endure what He would in order to receive this (in the context of this Scripture He meant torture and death, which He did endure.) These men, James and John said they were willing, and based on church history, they were martyred for their faith in Jesus. 

Jesus told them that they would indeed endure what He would suffer, but it was not up to Him to establish this sign of authority, God the Father already had a plan of who would rule and reign. 

The rest of the 10 disciples were not too happy that these other 2 guys wanted to rule and reign with Jesus, what about the rest of them!! Then Jesus said in Matthew 20:27-28, "but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.  And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many" (this was the ultimate point of service, dying so that others could be saved!)

Jesus served His disciples and the multitudes while on this earth, and was giving a general call to any who believed on Him to follow His example and serve to the point of giving ones life if necessary.  

This Biblical concept ties in perfectly to our national holiday this week-Veterans Day.   If you, a loved one, a friend has served our country, MANY THANKS from a grateful citizen!     Those brave men and women who have served embody Jesus' call to servanthood  to the point of giving one's life if necessary to save another.     

Even those of you who are family to a vet, have served as well!!  You have waited and prayed anxiously for your loved ones' safe return, missed quality family time, births, birthdays, special occasions as you faithfully supported the one you loved.  Many thanks to you as well!

In light of day, I have included a link that brought tears to my ears and inspired me. As I just said, the families of military sacrifice as well and deserve to be remembered in our prayers for their service.   This link is the short story of 3 amazing, heroic ladies who lost military loved ones in recent years and turned their grief into a blessing in a way to help others.  My hats off to these ladies!   https://video.foxnews.com/v/6101562864001/#sp=show-clips

As a closing note, if you, a friend, a loved one, co-worker has experienced loss, I know I've mentioned  Grief Share before and what an amazing blessing it has been to my parents and I when we experienced the loss of a loved one 15 years ago.  Other than our relationship with Jesus and His peace and presence in our lives  at that time, the other thing that tremendously helped us heal and cope was going through Grief Share.

It's a 13 week faith based program that walks a person through the stages of grief, how to handle flashbacks, the loneliness, even dealing with the personal possessions left behind.  I know many churches in the US host GF, and even host a special "Surviving the Holidays" GriefShare.  (which we and others also found useful).  Consider looking into one if you or someone you know has lost and hasn't dealt with it. I can promise you, you won't be sorry for looking into it.  GF also offers free, daily devotionals via email that you can sign up for on their website as well.  https://www.griefshare.org

I pray that as you consider the idea of being a servant, as Jesus was, and having a spirit of gratitude, the Lord would give you practical ideas of how you can live this out.  Lord bless you and yours this week!

Devot. https://www.dayspring.com/daily-devotion/date/2019-10-20?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DaySpring%20Daily%20Devotion%202019-10-20&utm_term=DaySpring%20Daily%20Devotion. (Read and Share.  Taken from https://www.dayspring.com/daily-devotion/)