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Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:18
If you are like me and honest with yourself, there are times you’ve read today’s verse and thought ‘Yeah, right. Easy for you to say.’
It’s easy for someone who has no debt to tell you to get out of debt.
It’s easy for someone who has never been cheated on to tell you to trust.
It’s easy for someone who has dealt with their grief to say, ‘things will get better, keep your chin up.’
Reality is, when things are going well for you it’s easy to be thankful. When your kids are responsible, your marriage is sexually and emotionally fulfilling, your team is winning, thankfulness comes naturally. But when things go south it’s hard, but not impossible to show gratitude.
Here are some ways that may make it easier to show gratitude in difficult times, and especially now as we enter a new year.
- Spend some time in reflection. The fact that you are reading this proves that you’ve made it through the past! It may not have been easy. It may have been painful. There may have been times when you didn’t think you could go on. But you did! What lessons did you learn from your failures? What victories did you celebrate? How did you see God working in your life? Sometimes He shows himself best when we are at our worst.
- Set some realistic goals for spiritual growth. Start small. Perhaps get one or two close friends who can help keep you accountable. Ask God to help you in setting the goal, pursuing the goal and celebrating the victory.
- As you look ahead, see possibilities, not problems. Remember that God wants you to succeed and he has given you his Holy Spirit to help you accomplish it. Roadblocks will stop you, obstacles will strengthen you. Make every roadblock an obstacle by His grace.
- Pursue Praise. I can’t explain it, but in my own life I’ve noticed that the best way to destroy discouragement is to listen to or sing praise music. Why do you think the longest book in the Bible is a book of praise in the midst of adversity? Praise God for who He is, not for what you are going through.
- Stop listening to the voices. If you have accepted Jesus as Savior, Satan knows he’s lost. But he won’t give up easily. If he can’t get you to follow him, he’ll try to tell you lies. Don’t listen to the negative voices of others, social media or the voices in your head. Stop the negative talk, foster a positive mindset.
- Spread the Joy. It sounds ironic but it’s true. The best way to defeat discouragement, fear, worry and a host of other negative emotions is to help others. Paul tells us in Corinthians to comfort others with the comfort we’ve received. Helping others can be a great way to lift others up when they are down and it can give you opportunities to show the grace God has given you.
Make this year the year you focus on being thankful for all God has given you and share the lessons you are learning with those who are on this journey of life with you.
Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. Colossians 3:1-2
It’s a new year. As I write this we are a few days away from watching celebrations across the world as we enter in a brand new year. People will get engaged. Relationships will be healed. Goals will be set. Resolutions will be formed.
Each year is the same. We talk of hope. We talk of new goals. We talk of new opportunities. The problem is, the vast majority of those things pledged entering the new year will go unfulfilled. Changes will be temporary. New crisis’ will form. Life will, at best, go unchanged.
Are we better off than we were a year ago? If we look at things from a worldly point of view I think we’d all agree things aren’t getting better. In fact, if you look at things like world hunger, wars and rumors of wars, disease, relational and racial conflict, mental health issues and more, it can get pretty depressing!
So, how can we rise above the discouraging things looming in the shadows of the future and maintain a positive outlook on life?
Perhaps we need to look at the world situation through the eyes of our new life. Paul reminds us that when we accept Jesus as Lord and Savior we are no longer citizens of earth, but of heaven. Here, in Colossians he tells us to focus on the realities of heaven. He isn’t telling us to be so heavenly minded we are of no earthly good. Not at all. But he is challenging us to allow the situations we face to pass through the lens of Heavenly Realities.
What are some of those Heavenly Realities?
- Our God is Sovereign. All things are under his control, especially those things we don’t understand, those things that worry us, those things that cause us pain.
- God never asks us to understand him, he asks us to trust him.
- God’s love for us is new every day. He never gets weary of hearing from you, watching over you, helping you heal.
- You are God’s number one! You are made in His image; given eternal life through His Son, Jesus; Empowered by His Spirit to accomplish all He has planned for you.
- The worst day in heaven will still be better than the best day on earth.
These are just a few things we can focus on as we enter a new year, as we enter new challenges, as new worries attack us. Can you think of more? The true hope of the new year looks back to that baby in the manger!
For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland. Isaiah 43:19
I’ve been accused from time to time of being unobservant and I have to admit I’m guilty as charged. Sometimes I miss trivial things. I’ve never been able to find Waldo. He’s MIA in my book. Those ‘magic eye’ pictures. Yeah, no. Sorry.
While not being able to see pictures in a puzzle is a trivial thing, with no real damage done except to my pride, sometimes we can miss things of importance if we aren’t careful. A hunter needs to keep a keen eye out for whatever he is hunting, especially if they are camouflaged against the background. When driving at night in my neck of the woods it’s wise to keep an eye on the ditches for wildlife that may wander onto the highway.
We can miss a lot in life if we don’t pay attention. Automobiles have a large windshield and a small rear-view mirror for a reason. It’s important to keep an eye on where you’ve been, but more important to see where you are going.
The prophet Isaiah paints a great word picture for us going into in the new year, or any other new situations we may face. He gives us a challenge and a promise to take with us as we move forward, which by the way, is what God intends for us. As one writer stated, in the Christian life there is no standing still. We move three steps forward, or we move two steps back.
Our ‘challenge’ as we move forward into the unknown is to look carefully for how (not if) God is working.
Our promise? The way is already started. He provides a path through the wilderness. Not an interstate, not even a back road. A path. I love to hike and while some trails are easy to follow and even paved, some are nothing more than game trails through the forest. But I’ve also noticed that in many cases, the more obscure the path, the more beautiful the scenery.
God offers us a path for a purpose, so we can see the wonder of what he is providing for us. He also will provide for us in the wilderness. He provides a stream, not a well. A stream can be followed and offers continual refreshment, a well is a one-time stop. A stream allows you to move on. A well requires you to stop or even camp out.
I’m a worrier. Not proud of it, but it’s a trait I constantly battle. The reality I can rest on, even when the enemy of worry attacks, is that the path God has for me is already complete. Mine isn’t to blaze new trails through the brush, mine is to look for his way in the wilderness and drink from the stream he provides for the journey.
As you move forward into whatever wilderness you may be in, look for the way God has for you and enjoy his provision along the way.
”Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.“ Psalms 51:12
We’ve been talking about joy-killers this week. Those things in our lives that can take away, or appear to take away the joy promised to us through the birth of Jesus.
Joy-killers can be a result of the actions of others, or natural things that happen in life such as life transitions, grief over the loss of a loved one, natural disasters, etc.
While actions against us, or those actions we perceive are against us, can rob us of joy, I think one of the hardest joy-killers to deal with are the self-inflicted ones. It’s relatively easy to point the finger at others and play the victim. It’s easy to blame Mother Nature and say, ‘Woe is me’. But what about those times when you look in the mirror and realize the person you see is both the perpetrator and the victim? Then what?
That was the decision King David faced. His enemies were largely defeated. He was popular among the people. And God had a nickname for him, ‘A man after my own heart.’ Imagine that! The God of all creation looking down on you and seeing someone so in tune with His heart that he calls him out. God says, ‘HUGE SHOUT OUT to my buddy Dave. He’s got it all together. He knows what I like and he does it!’
Pretty cool, right? Not so fast. David had a heart for God but he also had a heart for pleasure and sometimes pleasure took the place of God.
Can you relate? Oh, maybe you didn’t have an affair and murder one of your friends like David did. Maybe you didn’t see your daughter raped and ignore it. But what about the other ways we choose satisfaction over surrender?
Those times we gossip. The times we lie and then lie to cover up that lie, and then lie again…well, you know the picture. The times we harbor wrongs committed. The times we hang on to judgmental attitudes.
Surrender brings joy, satisfaction (in the human sense) destroys joy. I love David’s honesty in Psalms 51:12, ”Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.“
David knew his limitations. David knew how easy it is to sacrifice surrender for satisfaction. But David also knew the joy that comes from total surrender to God’s ways. Easy? Definitely not. Worth it? Beyond description. Available? That’s grace.
The joy of Christmas is much more than a babe in a manger. It’s being totally surrendered to God through the power of the Holy Spirit, because of the babe in the manger.
”So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy.“ John 16:22
Joy killers. They can sneak up on you and catch you unaware. Joy killers rob you of your joy. They whisper lies in your ear about your inability to succeed. They remind you of your failings. They accuse you of your weaknesses. They refuse to let you forget the hurt of being deceived and rejected. They poison you with bitterness for wrongs committed and unforgiven actions.
If you have something of value, you go to great expense to protect it. You put on locks. You build walls. You have your own set of alarms that remind you, ‘Never again.’
Jesus knows all about joy killers. He wrestled with them all through his time on earth. He was misrepresented. He was misunderstood. He was labeled. He was rejected by the very people he came to rescue.
One of the greatest joy killers can be the transitions in life and accompanying feelings of the unknown. The unknown is a huge joy killer. When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, angels announced his birth and great joy with his arrival. 30+ years later, Jesus told his disciple he would be leaving them for a time.
For over three years they had experienced the joy of his presence. They celebrated the miracles with him. They endured the storms with him. They were accosted physically and spiritually with him. Now he’d be gone and the joy killer of the future hit them hard.
Jesus saw the sorrow in their eyes. Jesus understood their fear. In the midst of their fear, in the midst of their sorrow, Jesus reassured them that this time of sorrow would be temporary. In the midst of their sorrow they had a guarantee that would go with them throughout life. The joy they had when they were with Jesus would return.
Sorrow is temporary. Fear is temporary. Joy is eternal. No matter what things in life attack you, when you draw close to God you can experience joy in the midst of sorrow. Joy in the midst of fear. Joy in the midst of worry. Joy in the midst of hurt. Joy in the midst of rejection. Joy in the midst of grief.
Don’t allow the lies of the enemy keep you from experiencing great joy through the giver of joy, Jesus.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 