ThankFULL In the Empty

How can we be Thank FULL when things seem so EMPTY?

Our lives seem upside down, everything seems different, it seems we aren't able to do things the way we used to.

We feel discouraged, isolated, frustrated, alone, abandoned, desperate. 

And for some it isn't just the pandemic, but the circumstances of their life.

We can't celebrate like we used to, or gather, or shop like we have in the past. Even ministry and service to others l👀ks different.

Does it all feel different?

Hollow, almost pointless, feeling like "why are we doing this if it can't be the same?"

📖 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Philippians 4:4

It isn't the circumstances that should cause our thankfulness,

It is our relationship....with our Savior.

Our situation can cause us to feel empty,

but when we are filled with the Holy Spirit we have something to be thankful for.

📖 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

How we DO things may look and feel different, but we should continue to DO as we adjust and alter the "how". Worship Him everyday and seek His guidance and wisdom in how to love others, serve others and show His love.

📖 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.  Galatians 6:9

There is a song we have sung at church 

10,000 Reasons....by Matt Redman

Bless the Lord oh my soul
Oh my soul
Worship His Holy name
Sing like never before
Oh my soul
I'll worship Your Holy name

The sun comes up
It's a new day dawning
It's time to sing Your song again
Whatever may pass
And whatever lies before me
Let me be singing
When the evening comes

Bless the Lord oh my soul
Oh my soul
Worship His Holy name
Sing like never before
Oh my soul
I'll worship Your Holy name

You're rich in love
And You're slow to anger
Your name is great
And Your heart is kind
For all Your goodness
I will keep on singing
Ten thousand reasons
For my heart to find

Bless the Lord oh my soul
Oh my soul
Worship His Holy name
Sing like never before
Oh my soul
I'll worship Your Holy name
Bless You Lord

And on that day
When my strength is failing
The end draws near
And my time has come
Still my soul will
Sing Your praise unending
Ten thousand years
And then forevermore
Forevermore

Bless the Lord oh my soul
Oh my soul
Worship His Holy name
Sing like never before
Oh my soul
I'll worship Your Holy name

Bless the Lord oh my soul
Oh my soul
Worship His Holy name
Sing like never before
Oh my soul
I'll worship Your Holy name
Yes I'll worship Your Holy name
I'll worship Your Holy name

Sing like never before
Oh my soul
I'll worship Your Holy name
Jesus I will worship Your Holy name
Worship Your Holy name

No matter your circumstances today, this week, the rest of the holiday season...open up God's Holy Word and start counting....you will find reason to be thankful!

And in these times especially;

"Sing like never before"

Worship His Holy name!

And remember the THANK has to come before the FULL.

Thank Him, praise Him, even when you feel empty.....and soon you will find you will be full to over flowing!

📖  May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

🎵 10,000 Reasons Matt Redman

📖 I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge— God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. 1 Corinthians 1:4-6 💗🙏

Confident In A Destination Unseen

Hebrews 11:1

Now faith is the substance (realization, reality (HCSV) ) of things hoped for, the evidence (confidence, proof (HCSV) of things not seen. (NKJV) 

This verse has been swirling around me the last few weeks.  Around the people around me...so you know what that means!

Hebrews 11:1

painting by Rachel Ramsdell (2020)

We can not see tomorrow..

We can guess, assume, plan tomorrow...heck the next 5 minutes....but ultimately we don't know for certain what any point in the future holds...or do we?!

The reality is is that we have HOPE that God is in control of our future 

📖 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  Jeremiah 29:11

There is a song written by Bill and Gloria Gaither, Because He Lives (1971) and the chorus rings true;

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow
Because He lives, all fear is gone
Because I know He holds the future
And life is worth the living
Just because He lives.

Having that faith is the confidence in what we can not see....because we can not see the future.

We have confidence...in tomorrow because we know we have the faith that God has got it. It is more than a "wish", it is the reality that faith itself is our evidence.

But if we have faith...even small faith ...

📖 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:20

we have the realization...the substance... of something to hold on to...hope!

📖 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. Roman's 5:5-9 (NKJV)

 

We have Hope in the day to day, but our ultimate confidence is in our eternal Home. 

Our Faith in Jesus Christ, the blood He shed for our sin, His death and amazing resurrection is why we can have the confidence of our Home in Heaven.

I have not SEEN it, but I am confident it exists and that I will be there some day.

When He is finished with me here, I will be going HOME.

🎵 Home - Chris Tomlin

My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” John 14:2-4

The Living and the Dead

 I know I say I don't like to do this....and try not to very often...but sometimes a blog from the past just says what I am thinking at the moment.

So from 2018...with a few alterations.

In pray it is a blessing today.

Today is veterans day.... two years I wanted to know the difference between Veterans Day and Memorial Day...as some of the visual remembrances seem to be interchangeable.

Memorial Day is the day we honor those who have died in service to our country.
Veteran's Day is the day set aside to recognize and honor those living veterans and active military.
A big difference? Well to those still alive, I am guessing.

But aren't we honoring those who serve in our nations armed forces either way?
I think the distinction between the living; those who served/are serving...and those who have died in service, is an important one.  Don't we honor the living differently than the dead?
But it got me thinking about honoring our Lord.

Jesus Christ died....in a battle with the sin of this world....He sacrificed His life for a worthy cause...YOU and ME!
📖 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
And we can honor that by accepting what He did for us.
📖  God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God  2 Corinthians 5:21

BUT on the other hand!!  Jesus is ALIVE!

📖 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”  Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:27-29

And He is still "active duty"
 📖 He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. Isaiah 121:3-4
📖  being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6 

We can honor that by proclaiming what He did for us!
 If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. Romans 14:8-10

This says it all!  
I have accepted His death for me, and I proclaim it!!

I am grateful for those who have served our country, as well as those who have served the Lord and lost their lives in that service.  And I am thankful for those who can testify to their service and those who are serving now.
BUT I am most thankful for the Savior who gave it ALL for me and is on my side today...everyday!

My Lesson From Deep Space

As odd as it may seem, I occasionally see God's lessons for me in science fiction!

In this instance Star Trek's Deep Space 9.
I am a Star Trek fan, a Star Wars fan!  Not all science fiction, but I enjoy those series and most everything connected.
I had started rewatching Deep Space 9...and in the very first episode "The Emissary"....that I have seen before, I had a light bulb moment.
Commander Benjamin Sisco had been "taken" by a new entity, a new life form never before interacted with.
They were trying to understand (through Sisco and his memories and experiences) what a "linear existence" was.
There is a dialog in the episode when Sisco explains that we, as humans, live in a particular point in time and once we move past that point we can no longer go back.  And that what we do in this particular momemnt in time affects all our other future moments.

It got me thinking; how often do we not move on from a moment in time, which in turn doesn't allow us to move forward, to experience all that "tomorrow" has because we can't let go of yesterday?

IF the disciples hadn't let go of the horror and tragedy of the death and burial of Jesus, then they would have missed out on the amazingness of His resurrection.
Just as the Angel reminded and told the women...

📖 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee:  ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” Then they remembered his words. Luke 24:6-8

Thomas was about to miss it....when he refused to believe....for a whole week he was living in the past instead of the "here and now"...the others were saying HE LIVES, but Thomas doubted....

📖 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”  But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” John 20:24-25

Jesus was gracious enough to give Thomas what he needed....

📖 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:26-29

How long do we sit in doubt and fear, unwilling to let go of hurt, tragedy, a painful event or period in our life, only focusing on that....living in THAT moment of the past.  We can not move ahead to what God has for us if we do that.
We miss the blessings of the here and now.  Yes that moment, that tragedy may have changed how our days moving forward may look and feel, BUT GOD has got every one of your days, every one of my days....and He DOES have blessings for you in the days AHEAD!

📖  For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.  Jeremiah 29:1-12

Sisco was "existing" in the moment that his wife died.  He couldn't move from that point on his linear time line....this new entity told him that his existence wasn't actually linear....because he was not moving forward.

We must move forward, toward God. We can not dwell in the moments of our past...we can acknowledge it, learn from it, forgive; others and ourselves and move forward.
Psalm 23 does not say...."Yeah though I live, linger, wallow in the valley of the shadow of death..."
is says "though I WALK THROUGH the valley of the shadow of death THOU ART WITH ME!
we step forward,  walk, move, through this life.....leaving the dark things behind.  because HE is with us!

📖  Even though I walk
    through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
    for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.  Psalm 23:4

You may be in the dark time right now...right smack in the middle of it...but keep moving ...one step at a time ...and you will get through it...to the other side...to the "light at the end of the tunnel"!

📖  “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”  John 16:33

📖   Lord bless you

    and keep you;
25 the Lord make his face shine on you
    and be gracious to you;
26 the Lord turn his face toward you
    and give you peace.”’  Numbers 6:24-26

🎵 The Blessing