12 Disciplines of a Grateful Heart

Part 5

Thank God especially in the midst of adversity

1 Thessalonians 5:18 

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God 

in Christ Jesus concerning you.

Giving thanks while you’re going through a trial is not an easy thing to do. How many of us praise God when things are rough? Do we stop to sing praises and speak words of gratefulness when all our lives seem to be crumbling all around us?

No. I know that my natural tendency is not to do this. Once the trial is over and I can see God’s hand in it, I am quick to praise and thank God for the things He has taught me and the way He brought me through. But during the trial? Sadly, no.

This verse in 1 Thessalonians tells us to give thanks IN everything! Not FOR everything, but IN everything! Big difference. Giving thanks FOR everything is usually after the fact, but giving thanks IN everything is praising God while the troubles and trials are swirling around us and threatening to drown us, and yet, we are to give thanks IN them! 

1 Thessalonians 5:16

Rejoice evermore.

If we want to rejoice, we have to be thankful. Thanksgiving is essential for rejoicing to happen. We can’t possibly ‘rejoice evermore’ if we’re grumbling and complaining.

So why should we give thanks IN everything? Why not wait til afer the hard time has passed and we can see more clearly? Then we can thank God with a heart of gratitude. Well, firstly, because God commands it. But there are other reasons as well.

Gratitude to God in our difficult times gives our witness to a lost world a greater impact. If we’re going through a hard time and we are still joyful and praising God, what does that say to those around us? It speaks volumes. It shows that we have something or someone greater than our problems that we are trusting in. And when people ask us how we can be so cheerful despite what’s going on, we have an answer!

Another reason to give thanks is that thankfulness replaces anxiety with peace. 

Philippians 4:6-7

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication

with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding,

shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

When we let our requests be made known to God with thanksgiving, God’s peace will fill our hearts. This word “keep” is the Greek word phrouréō, which means to hem in, to protect, to mount guard as a sentinel. So, God keeps our hearts and minds. He protects, He watches over, He guards. When we are thankful in the midst of adversity, God brings peace. The kind of peace that only He can bring. Although we may feel anxious all of the sudden, we don’t have to stay that way. If we continue to pray and give thanks to God, His peace will keep us. The peace that passes all understanding. I love that. We can’t even understand the kind of peace that God can bring. It’s beyond our human minds and yet it’s the peace that God gives.

Another reason to be praising God in the midst of adversity is that it focuses our attention on God rather than on our circumstances.  If we are continually fixing our eyes on our problems, the pain becomes unbearable, the situation seems hopeless, peace eludes us. But thanksgiving shifts our focus to the Lord. And by focusing on Him, it reminds us of promises in the Bible that we can cling to. Things we know for certain. 

We are not alone

God loves us unconditionally

We are eternally secure

The Lord walks with us

God will bring us through

God will work through the hard time to make beauty from ashes

It is for our good and His glory

God sees the bigger picture and He is in control

Gratitude can energize us physically, emotionally and spiritually. When we work on having a heart of gratefulness and a spirit of thanksgiving, despite the pain and disappointment draining us at times, we focus on God and He will revitalize us. Just being in His presence and offering Him a sacrifice of thanksgiving, will renew us spiritually, physically and emotionally. We are able to keep on. Things look brighter. The clouds are lifted.

But a word of warning. This grateful heart is not a once off thing. You can’t just have a season of praise and then the rest of your life is easy and you glide through your trials. No. It is a lifetime practice of giving thanks to God. We are human and we all have a sinful nature. We are not perfect and we have to be continually working on our attitudes and our responses to different situations. Each and every trial brings it problems and causes pain, but if we focus on giving thanks IN everything, God will bring peace.

Just when you think you’ve got it, you realize you don’t. But don’t be discouraged, God is always there and He is waiting for you. He longs to hear your words of praise.

Developing a heart of gratefulness is a lifelong practice and it needs work. A continual looking to God and a dedicated love for His Word.

Study the Word. Look for the promises it gives.

Read it. Learn it. Share it. Love it. Apply it. Live it. 

John 16:33

 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace.

In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer;

 I have overcome the world.

Latest Happenings

Well, this past week has been 

busy as usual, but with 

the added blessing of another

opportunity to share with Katherine

God's love. 

Our church was invited to take

part in the annual Christmas Parade

and we were told we were allowed to hand

out what we like to all!

What an opportunity to be able 

to hand out tracts and goodies to 

the hundreds of people who turned out

for the parade! 

Some of the ladies in the church busily

made costumes and sleigh dog masks

and decorated our much used tandem 

trailer for the occasion

(she has NEVER looked quite like that before)

We were able to walk alongside handing out 

little goody bags with lollies and tracts inside, 

and a banner that had our church name on it. 

One lady must have thought Dave and Justin needed

a hand carrying it as she walked a short distance with them. 

All in all, we were able to hand out 500 tracts 

and could have given out much more

as we ran out due to the enormous number

of people who attended. 

One of the men in the church 

(who shall remain nameless)

made a big hit with his bear costume

and the was the subject of MANY photos! 

It was also a treat to see many of the 

Barunga people there with their 2 floats. 

We have been filling in on Sundays 

in the community of Barunga

and have made many friends.

(more on that in a future post)

I'm not usually in the photos,

but here I am with a couple of lovely 

ladies from the Barunga Church. 

And of course, I HAD to get a picture 

with the cute minion! 

Miriam got to come along as well

although I think she ended up sleeping

through most of it. 

We pray that God will use His Word

to speak to hearts and that we will 

see fruit from our labours. 

IN OTHER NEWS.....

Maddie and our front gate 

had a slight altercation on Monday

resulting in 7 stitches in her finger 

and yet another trip to the local hospital! 

We have just wrapped up Youth Group and

Teen Group for the holidays

and are looking forward to a little break,

at least in that department. 

Life flies along swiftly in all other 

areas. But despite our busy lives

and sometimes discouraging times,

God remains faithful and true. 

God's Word

and Prayer

In reading and studying recently on the subject of hindrances to prayer, I came across a verse that really jumped out and hit me right between the eyes. I had been looking at verses that dealt with hindrances to prayer, such as the relationship

between husband and wife:

1 Peter 3:1 Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands;

that, if any obey not the word, they

also may without the word

be won by the conversation of the wives;

1 Peter 3:7 Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge,

giving honour unto the wife, as

unto the weaker vessel,

and as being heirs together of the grace of life;

that your prayers be not hindered.

Then there is the hindrance to prayer by offences and wrongs against others:

Matthew 5:23-24 Therefore if thou

bring thy gift to the altar,

and there rememberest that thy brother

hath ought against thee;

Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way;

first be reconciled to thy brother, and then

come and offer thy gift.

Then the subject of our unforgiveness grieving God and hindering our prayers:

Matthew 6:14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses,

your heavenly Father will also forgive you:

Matthew 6:15 But if ye forgive not

men their trespasses,

neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

When I began to really study what it is that hinders our prayers and puts a 'roadblock' to God answering and hearing our prayers, I found that there was a lot! Our covetousness, our self-will, our rebellion, our disobedience. All of these things are a hindrance to prayer. These are things that were already clear to me and understandable. But then came the verse that I had never really noticed before.

Proverbs 28:9

He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law,

even his prayer shall be abomination.

This was a BIG revelation to me. A disinclination or indifference on our part toward the Bible hinders our prayers! This verse tells us that if we turn away our ear from the law (Word of God),

even our prayers are an abomination.

“Knowing the Bible is not enough.

Reading the Bible is not enough.

Blessing depends on delighting in it

and meditating on it” John R. Rice

Psalms 1:1-3 Blessed is the man that

walketh not in the counsel

of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners,

nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

But his delight is in the law of the LORD;

and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

And he shall be like a tree planted

by the rivers of water,

that bringeth forth his fruit in his season;

his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

In this Psalm, we see that the man that delights in the Word of God, and the man that meditates on it, is blessed. He prospers. He brings forth fruit.

Joshua 1:8 This book of the law shall not

depart out of thy mouth;

but thou shalt meditate therein day and night,

that thou mayest observe to do according

to all that is written therein:

for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

There is a close connection between the Word of God and spiritual prosperity. How can someone who is disinterested in the Bible, one who has his heart turned away from the Word of God, ever please God in prayer? All the promises in the Bible concerning answers to prayer involve a heart that is eager to find the will of God. And how can we find the will of God if we are not daily in his Word. If we're not abiding in Christ's Words, how can we ask anything of God, we won't know the will of God to be able to pray for it.

John 15:7 If ye abide in me, and

my words abide in you,

ye shall ask what ye will,

and it shall be done unto you.

We all know of George Mueller and his amazing prayer life and God's blessing upon his life. But even he knew where his priorities should lie.

“He tells of the new ease and joy in prayer he had when he began first to read the Bible before prayer every day and let his prayers begin out of what the Spirit whispered in his heart

as he read the Word of God.”

So, in reading the Bible and meditating on it and delighting in it, we are able to see more clearly God's will for our life, and therefore, we are able to pray more effectively. Our prayers will be inspired by the Holy Spirit. If we are indifferent to the Word of God or have no interest in reading it, if we find no joy in God's promises, how can we even begin to ask anything of God. His words are not abiding in us. So what right do we have to ask anything in His name?

If we go back to my key verse in Proverbs and look at that word abomination, we see that is means

'something disgusting. Abhorred. Loathed. Hated.' Those are pretty strong words for God to use and yet he does. He sees our prayers as an abomination, or something disgusting if we are not reading his Word and letting his Word abide in us.

If we are meditating on the Word of God, prayer will form in our hearts. Now we know that to meditate, we don't have to assume a contortionist position and say 'Ommm' and go into some state of altered conciousness. NO. To meditate simply means to dwell in thought; to muse; to reflect. But what do we meditate on? The Word of God.

The promises of God.

In the Greek the word is 'hagah' and it has the meaning of 'to study' but also, interestingly enough, 'to murmur in pleasure or anger'. I found that last definition kind of ironic because how many times do we murmur in anger, when we are reading the Word of God, because it convicts us and shows us our sinful hearts and we don't like God's piercing light so bright upon on lives. It hurts and we are like Saul, 'kicking against the pricks'. And so sometimes we 'murmur in anger' instead of pleasure.

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick,

and powerful,

and sharper than any twoedged sword,

piercing even to the dividing asunder of

soul and spirit,

and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

I don't know about you, maybe you already knew this verse, but I never realised the relationship between really studying the scriptures and meditating on them and my prayer life. Of course, I knew that it was important to read the Bible and to be daily in God's Word. But, to have God say that my prayers are an abomination to him if I am turning my ear away from his law! Wow! If my prayer is an abomination to God, then any fellowship or communion between

me and God is hindered.

When we have no desire to read God's Word, to meditate on it, to follow God's commands, to really search it out, it shows sin in our heart. That indifference to the Word of God shows that we have a carnal mind. As in 1 Corinthians 2:14

But the natural man receiveth not the

things of the Spirit of God:

for they are foolishness unto him:

neither can he know them,

because they are spiritually discerned.

If you know someone who is full of the Spirit, then you can know that he is full of the Word of God.

He delights in the law of the Lord. He reads it.

He mediates on it.

My focus of late has been on prayer and having a more effectual prayer life, but in doing so, I am learning more and more the importance of really getting into God's Word and truly meditating on it and letting the Spirit guide me through his Word as to how I should pray. Letting the Spirit inspire my prayers so that they are really what God would have me pray for, and not just empty phrases from a heart devoid of God's Word. Knowing God's will is not going to come from a heart that is not immersed in God's Word. God has given us the answer book to all of our questions. It's up to us, to search it out and hold fast to His promises.

Don't let your prayers become an

abomination to God!

Open thy Mouth Wide

Psalm 81:10

I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee

out of the land of Egypt:

open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.

Ok, so I'm on the subject of praying BIG again. I have been doing so much study lately on prayer and learning how to pray BIG, that I just have to say a few more things about what I've learnt.

This verse was brought to my attention while I was reading and it got me thinking about the practicalities of praying BIG.

There are many examples in the Bible of people praying BIG prayers. For example, take a look at Joshua.

Joshua 10:12-14 Then spake Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day. And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the LORD hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the LORD fought for Israel.

For some strange reason, in all my years of wisdom, cough cough, I never really realised that it was Joshua who asked for God to make the sun stand still. It wasn't that God just did it. It says that Joshua 'spake' and 'he said'. As in, Joshua asked God to make the sun stand still! Did you catch that? He asked for God to make the sun stand still??? My mind boggles at his faith in God. For him to ask such an enormous thing of God with hope and expectation of receiving it!

Talk about praying BIG! And I thought some of my prayers were BIG!

Then take Elisha for example.

2 Kings 2:9-14 And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so. And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces. He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan; And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the LORD God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over.

He asked a BIG thing and God granted his request. I would have loved to have been there as he smote the waters. I can just imagine the thunder in his voice as he cried “Where is the LORD God of Elijah?”. Ba Boom! And the waters parted and he went on to do double the miracles that his predecessor Elijah did.

God is pleased by our boldness in prayer. God is waiting to do great and mighty things. We read about the widows pot of oil and how she went out and gathered as many pots and vessels as she could, and God filled every last one of them. You know, if she had had more vessels, God would have filled them too!

So why do we not put out more vessels for God to fill? Is it because of our lack of faith? Why do we put limitations on God?

Ephesians 3:20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us

“Exceeding abundantly above all that we ask”. Wow! God is able to deliver but we are so weak in our faith, that we continue to ask little things of God and hesitate to ask the BIG things.

And then there's that little word 'if'. We tack that onto our prayers. Lord bless us with such and such, if you can Lord, if you will Lord. What! There is no 'if' about God's power. The only 'if' is whether or not you believe and have faith!

Jeremiah 32:17 Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:

John R. Rice put it like this:

“Small prayers are a sign of weak faith. Big prayers show faith in God. Big prayers, when answered, stop doubts and glorify God, strengthening Christians and convicting sinners.”

So there it is. The end goal. To glorify God. What a testimony it is when a Christian is able to share an answer to a BIG prayer with the unsaved world. It shows God's great power. It shows that God is still in control. It shows that God is almighty and powerful and has no boundaries.

I love the verse of this song by Annie J. Flint:

“His love has no limits, His   grace has no measure,His power no boundary known unto men; For out of His infinite riches in Jesus He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again.”

The reason great things don't happen in our churches and in our homes, is because of our small asking. We need to learn, me included, to pray expectantly, largely, with faith and God will answer.

Of course, we need to pray according to His will, but that's another subject that I've been learning about and would take a lot more writing and explaining so I'll leave it for another time.

But back to our original verse from Psalm 81:10, in regard to this,

“Our mouths are never full because we never open them wide”

Hmmm. Think on that for a while. I have been and it's opened up an amazingly long list of prayer requests that I need to now start praying.

I'll leave you with the words of the apostles of old. It is something we all need to ask of God,

“Lord, increase our faith”

BRING A BUCKET!

I know I've posted this poem

before, but after my quiet

time this morning, it means

even more.

PRAY BIG!

In my studies this morning

it was brought to my attention

how little my prayers are sometimes.

How often is my faith so small

that I only ask for the little things

when God is waiting to do great things

and wants me to ASK BIG!

Jeremiah 32:27

Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh:

is there any thing too hard for me?

I think of the times I've asked God

for a specific thing and he hasn't given

me what I asked for, NO,

He's given me SO MUCH MORE!

There are a lot of "big things"

on my prayer list at present

but I find myself breaking them into

smaller bits when I pray!!

Whatever for???

This is God I'm talking to!!

Isn't He the creator of the universe?

Yes, be specific when you pray

but PRAY BIG!

I sit here, asking for crumbs

when He is waiting to give me the whole

loaf of bread! Complete with dripping butter!

PRAY BIGGER!

GRATEFULNESS

and

CONTENTMENT

On any given morning, you will probably find me

sitting at the desk in my room, next to the window

overlooking the neighbourhood and a myriad

of backyards and rooftops.

As I read and study and pray,

I am reminded of God's goodness.

I see a corrugated iron fence, covered in graffiti.

I see a backyard, so overgrown,

the rusting car sitting in it is almost invisible.

I see fences overgrown with vines.

Power lines blocking the view of the sky.

I hear bats screeching, an air conditioner

rattling on the side of the house.

But then I start to look past all that and

tune my eyes and ears to the sights

and sounds around me. Parrots are having

a grand conversation. Birds are chirping.

The wind is rustling the leaves of the trees.

The sunlight is filtering down through

the branches and lighting up the

passionfruit vine hanging on the fence.

The grass is green because of recent rains.

The sky is a beautiful blue with puffs

of white clouds floating by.

And I thank God, for letting me live here.

Despite my longing for a house in the country

surrounded by bushland, with no neighbours in sight.

No noisy all night parties and views of

10 backyards from my upper story lookout.

God has been so good.

My reverie is suddenly broken by a youth group kid

walking by, and singing out, “Mrs Holmes!”.

I am then reminded again of the reason

God put us here.

Right smack bang in the middle

of this crazy neighbourhood,

in an 'upstairs' house, as it is known here.

He put us here to be a light in a dark world.

A candle on a candle stick. Not under a bushel.

I continually remind myself, that if we hadn't

moved to this particular house in this particular

suburb, we would not have met all the kids in our

neighbourhood that we now have the privilege

to work with in Youth Group and Sunday School.

We are surrounded by families that need the Lord.

And no amount of advertising,

would have made up for all the contact

we have with parents and children that live

within a very short distance of us.

God put us here and said,

“Here is your missionfield. Be good stewards.”

Wow! What an awesome responsibility.

Too often, we as Christians, bemoan our

circumstances and we forget to look beyond

them and see what God has for us

in the bigger picture.

We know the phrase,

'bloom where you're planted',

but it has become so overused,

that it means nothing to us anymore.

So how about we just 'get grateful!'

Start looking at the positives in our situation.

Don't dwell on what we don’t' have,

and focus on what we do have!

We often say,

“Well, under the circumstances, I'm doing okay”.

BAH! Who says we should live UNDER our circumstances?

We should rise above them!

The Lord has a special plan and purpose

for all of us as Christians. And we know, deep down

in our hearts, that many people are a lot

worse off than us, but we don't want to

face that reality.

We'd rather wallow in our misery.

It gives us something to talk about

on Sundays after the service. Ha!

No, seriously, gratefulness and gratitude

don't just come naturally. We have to work on it.

Just ask my family. For a long time, I might as

well have had a sign on my forehead that read,

“Little Miss Pessimist'.

But the more I study God's Word,

the more I learn about the importance of being content.

Philippians 4:11 is a verse that I am

working towards being able to wholeheartedly say.

Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. 'In whatsoever state I am' is a pretty big ask. But if we look at verse 13, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. therein lies our help. In Hebrews 13:5 we have a command to not be covetous, but be content. And again a promise, 'I will never leave thee'. Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Another verse that has been an encouragement and a goal worth achieving is Philippians 4:8.    Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things Whenever I find myself dwelling on my negative circumstances, I reach into my mind and heart and pull up this verse from my memory bank and remember what things I SHOULD think about. True. Honest. Just. Pure. Lovely. Good. Praise. Virtue.           Think on THESE things. Being content has to do with being satisfied and gratefulness has to do with being appreciative and thankful. So, if we're content (satisfied) with where God has put us, and the circumstances he has allowed us to be in , then, we're going to be grateful (thankful) and it's gonna show! Too often we fill our lives with 'stuff' and as a result, we become ungrateful and discontent. In 1 Timothy 6:6-8 it says to be content with 'food and raiment'. But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. Well, I can tell you, that I haven't seen many Christians in Australia, walking around skinny and naked! So, we must have 'food and raiment'. We just need to quit our bellyaching. Trust God. Be content and praise God! Gratefulness is not going to come by getting things we don't have, but rather, by appreciating the things we do have.