Enter His Gate with Thankgiving

And Joyfully Bless His Name!

THIRTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – WK I

Ant. 1 (Evening Prayer) “I cried to you, Lord, and you healed me; I will praise you for ever.”

¹Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth! ²Serve the Lord with gladness; come before His presence with singing. ³Know that the Lord, He is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.
Psalm 100:1-3 Modern English Version (MEV)

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

First, I want to wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving Day and instruct you to be at peace with all your troubles and worries so that you may be at peace on this special day. Second, Thanksgiving is more than just a Federal Holiday and time to spend with your family but rather it is a celebration that is rooted in our very creation by our one true loving and all-powerful God. It is on this point that I want to take you on a personal journey of all the wonderful and robust things we have to be thankful for that will reveal to you the awesome spirit of Thanksgiving!

To the Listening Faithfully Community! 2018

Being Thankful for Life!

As children of God, each and every day is a celebration of life. We wake and breathe, we experience the world around us with every breath, and God is solely responsible for the very air you take in and exhale and in this miracle called life, nothing is wasted! Consider this: the first action of a newborn baby is to gasp for air. Every baby from every species the world over repeats this action! In that act, God is reminding us how precious and fragile life really is. To God, the noise of each gasp for air is a joyful song babies sing praising God in taking that first precious life-sustaining breath. But moreover, when we finally come home to God entering into His presence the life force is not air but rather the complete power and majesty of our God. In this precious miracle, we all joyfully sing praises and give all the glory to God as His renewed sinless children. In this most natural life cycle, we are born, live, and die on every breath God has so graciously granted fulfilling His earthly promise to sustain us; giving us all we need. So, take a moment and reflect on this joyful mystery called life and be thankful God saw fit to grant you this most miraculous miracle that comes from the foundations of the world!

The heavenly scene from Revelation 4 has been transported to earth in this fifteenth century work by Jan van Eyck. In the center, the Lamb of God stands on the altar surrounded by angels, while groups of prophets, apostles, martyrs, and church figures also raise their voices in praise. Above the altar hovers the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, and in the distance the towers of Jerusalem can be seen above the trees. Jan van Eyck , Adoration of the Lamb from the Ghent Altarpiece (finished 1432). Oil on panel. Wikimedia Commons.

Being Thankful for Sight!

God, in the act of making mankind in His own image, looked down at what he had created and saw that it was very good and He was glad in it. From (Genesis 1:1-31) we know he sees all things and being created in His image we too were given sight. God gifted us in such a way as to allow us the opportunity to look upon all of His creation and to marvel in all the worlds splendor and beauty. From this, we understand that this world as beautiful as it can be is nothing in comparison to what is waiting for us when we join God in Heaven! Consider this: we can see the sky, the colors of each period as the sun transitions from day into night then into morning. Colors allow us to feel pleasure and it affects our emotions. Likewise, we can take pleasure from a simple smile, a wave from a cheerful child saying without words hello or goodbye. God wanted us to experience the nuances of this world no matter how large or small they are. To take from each experience and understand how great and loving our God is. Therefore, we experience God, just as He experiences us through the miracle of sight as He piers into our hearts seeing all the good in each of us. So, take a moment and reflect on all the wondrous things you have witnessed in your life and thank God for the awesome power of sight!

by Cymone Wilder
Freelance at Simon and Moose. Brand designer at SmileDirectClub. Former designer at She Reads Truth and He Reads Truth.

Being Thankful for Free Will!

From the very start, God granted us the power to make our own mistakes and or success determined solely on our own decisions. God has not interfered nor melted in the affairs of mankind other than to bring us salvation. He has given each person ever born the opportunity to learn and grow from what they believe to be best for himself or herself and thus we are reminded of our own sin and inadequacies. God has set before us the ability to chose good or evil, wisdom or stupidity, love or hate, and compassion or hardheartedness. God allows mankind this discretion to truly choose to be a child of God or not, to experience all the struggle and hardship which temper our character and then to triumph with Him at our side when we choose to be a child of light. In having free will God is assured what we want and to whom we belong. God’s free will is love in action, it is faith bestowed in the human spirit, and it serves as the starting point back to Him. So, take a moment and reflect on all your personal and professional success and be thankful to God for all the blessings he has so graciously allowed into your life! Be grateful for His trust shown in you through the gift of free will!

The Overflow of Thanksgiving

¹⁵All these things are for your sake so that the abundant grace through the thanksgiving of many might overflow to the glory of God.
2 Corinthians 4:15 Modern English Version (MEV

I say unto you, my brothers and sisters, there is nothing we own or have that was not first given to you by God. We own nothing in this world for everything first belongs to Him alone. The world and all its abundance which includes all the animals, planets, water, air and even all of the natural resources first and foremost belongs to God. Your life, your spouse’s life, and even your children’s lives belong to God. When you begin looking at the world in this way you can begin to see how much abundant grace for your sake God has bestowed upon you. Each and every single thing begins to reveal its true worth and the magnitude of that worth is both awe-inspiring and mind-blowing all in one. The first day my eyes were opened to this new reality my heart overflowed with love and I feel to the ground in tears of thanksgiving and I have not looked back since. I cherish everything God has given to me, all the doors He has opened and I marvel on how each one is greater than the last. I am reminded that God alone made me, and that I am his standing with Him in His pasture. For in my thanksgiving I know with every fiber in my body that God is good, He is love and mercy, He is faithful and is trustworthy, for my God has never let me down! I say this to give you all hope and faith, for even in the darkest of times I have felt God holding my hand, I have heard His voice reassuring me that He will see me through it all, and as I have surely experienced some herring moments God uplifted me and protected me through it all. So, take a moment and reflect on all the wonderful things God has done for you in both the good times and in the bad, and be filled with thanksgiving and love for He fulfills all of His promises to you and to all the generations. What more is there to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving Day?

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