Giving Thanks through Barbed Wire
I love this photo taken recently by a friend in Scotland. 
The rainbow of God’s promise is clearly seen through the barbed wire. The wire was put there for a reason you can be sure, and most probably served its purpose.
Life is full of ‘barbed wire’ that looks ugly and threatening, but has a useful purpose. The concept that I take away from this picture is that I can see such beauty through the barbed wire. When we are able to focus on the promises of God, exemplified by the rainbow, and be thankful through the difficulties we are facing, there is hope. How do we “focus on the promises of God and be thankful?”
Pastoral Advice on the How-To of Thankfulness.
Dick Hester is our “pastor to missionaries” at Biblical Ministries Worldwide.
He and his dear wife, Carol, have many years of pastoral experience and have chosen to minister in the twilight of their years to missionaries all over the world. They get on flights and fly to the uttermost parts to serve and encourage.
One of the things that Dick does is send out prayer prompters to edify and inspire us to think and live godly lives. I was reading one that he sent out on the topic of thanksgiving and found his comments quite profound:
“Saying “Thank You” to God is an area that’s hard to measure. If I’d ask you how thankful you are in your day to day life you’d probably say “OK”. There are a lot of sins in the Bible which you know are sins: Adultery. It’s pretty black and white. Stealing. You don’t walk out of a store with something you didn’t pay for and say, “I think I might have stolen something.” You know you did it. But this whole area of giving thanks or not giving thanks to God, or being a thankful person or not, is a hard one to measure and we may not know exactly where we are. But it is very, very important and needs to be a fundamental part of our life.
Colossians 2:6,7 tells us that, “…as we have received Christ Jesus as Lord, we are to walk in Him…” As born again believers, we are to live like a Christian, according to the Word of God. We are “…rooted and built up in Him, established in the faith as we have been taught; abounding—overflowing— with thanksgiving.” We are to keep growing when we become His child and here’s how: do things we ought to do (obey) and thank God, profusely.
Overflowing with gratitude is foundational to our Christian life. Study the Word of God and you will find that you communicate that you love God by simply saying, “Thank You, Lord”. The more we say that to Him, the more we’re saying, “I love You” and the more we bring glory to Him. We’re to love God with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength, and one of the major ways we do that is to say, “Thank You, Thank You!” for what He’s done for you. Our goal ought to be to have an attitude of gratitude all the time about everything.
Ephesians 5:20: “Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father…” What is God’s will for us?” “In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (I Thessalonians 5:18) God tremendously blesses the ones who develop this basic discipline. One of my greatest joys in life is giving things to my kids. Do you know when I don’t like it? When they take it for granted; when they just assume. Nothing makes me warmer inside for people to say, “Thank you; I love you”, and the more grateful they are, the more I want to give.
Think about it: God created us, blessed us with spiritual blessings, sent His Son to die for us to pay the penalty for our sin. We do not have to do anything—no strings attached. We simply receive Him, believe Him, and God says, “I’ll adopt you into My family, bless you with every spiritual blessing, give you the gift of the Holy Spirit, and you get to go to heaven forever.” We don’t have to do anything if we don’t want to, because it’s a free gift. When we thank God and thank Him for everything, we bring glory to Him and He loves it. He blesses even more, those who thank Him.
Gratefulness is a character quality. I think the ultimate thanks will be for the gift of heaven. We should thank Him for that every day. If I died today I’m going to heaven. My prayer as a kid was, “Now I lay me down to sleep; I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray my Lord, my soul to take. Amen!” Every day say, “Thank You, Lord, for giving me the gift of eternal life. Thank you that I am saved, and I’m going to heaven and live with You forever.”
We thank God for our food before our meals. Have you ever turned the key to start your car and thanked the Lord for your car? Not everybody has a car! Do you thank God for your house when you walk in? For your clothes, shoes, job, ministry? I know I am blessed more than 90% of the world. We take so much for granted. God says we should thank Him always, continuously, for everything. Make that your goal, for all things in your life. First We Pray! Give thanks!”
God delights to bless His children. I wonder how much we hold back further blessing by simply failing to say “thank you so much.” I wonder how much longer we stay tangled in the barbed wire because we haven’t pushed through and thanked Him for it. Expressing thanks benefits how we process all of life, and is done in obedience to His commands, but it is also a trigger for His sustaining grace, delivering power, and further blessing.
David and I are moving back to South Africa in a few months. We will go alone to this land; we will leave family behind. We plan to study the Zulu language diligently, and then teach the Bible, theology and counseling to emerging Zulu leaders, and help them begin a church-planting movement.
Have you ever thought about what someone would find among your things after you died?
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ng thinking thanks takes time. You have to see progress in little steps at a time. Think about that path through the woods. As you step by step conquer the mess, soon the path becomes apparent.
e an alabaster box filled with precious spikenard perfume and poured the ointment on Jesus. Jesus was visiting Bethany six days before his crucifixion and had been invited to a meal at Simon’s house. Resurrected Lazarus was seated at the table, and Martha was serving. Mary took a costly treasure, worth a person’s yearly wage (about $50,000.00 today), and poured it out on Jesus. Her act was taken by Jesus as preparation for His upcoming burial (Mark 14:8). John tells us the house was filled with the odor of the ointment (John 12:3). Imagine spending $50,000 for something that would disappear in a few minutes! She was obviously convinced of who Jesus really was, and must have strongly sensed that his death was close.
and listening at His feet (Luke 10:18-42). He had also come to them in Bethany four days after Lazarus had died and raised him from the dead (John 11). Now, He was again with them in Bethany, and Mary grabbed the opportunity of worshipping Him with probably her greatest treasure, the alabaster flask containing costly spikenard perfume. She didn’t hold back. She poured out her treasure on her even greater Treasure, the Lord Jesus, in preparation for his death and burial. She knew from experience that He had the power to raise people from the dead. Although she may not have known all the details of how Christ would die and rise again, her faith, garbed with devotion, was strong and committed.
I Corinthians 3:12-14 states that at the Evaluation Seat of Christ all our works will be tested by fire. We’re not sure how our works will materialize into fuel nor what this fire will look like, but we are left to ponder the “burn-down factor” – what are we doing here and how that will survive the fire? Jesus said we can actually “lay up treasure in heaven” – pass our time, energies, and finances through an unseen membrane out of this life and into heaven.
l be over one day and we will finally be with the Lord. Live life full of thanks and joy will bubble up. It may sputter up slowly, but slowly it WILL come. Start now.
lection in life; including gratitude and thanks; benefit, favor, gift, grace, liberality, joy, pleasure.”
Dan Haines, a dear friend of ours, has encouraged David and me so many times. This photo is from his wedding in which our oldest son Joshua was a ring-bearer.
th(i)nkful 