Greetings in the Name of Jesus and welcome to the PLN Sunday Night Bible Fellowship!
As we've been discussing throughout this series, being genuinely GRATEFUL to God is a particularly powerful means for connecting to His GRACE. As a reminder GRACE is defined as the undeserved FAVOR of God that He's ALREADY made available to everyone (and anyone) who'll make the effort to receive it by FAITH. The reason it's ALREADY available is because Jesus shed His blood on the Cross of Calvary to pay for the sins of ALL mankind (1 John 2:2) and to establish a New Covenant that now governs our relationship with the Kingdom of God (Hebrews 10:10-18).
The GRACE of God includes the EMPOWERMENT we all need to fulfill God's plans and purposes on the earth. He has plans and purposes for each person (Jeremiah 29:11) that can begin to be fulfilled after we have believed and received Jesus as Lord so that we can be born again. Only those who've been born again are able to SEE the Kingdom of God (John 3:3), receive eternal life and connect to His GRACE by FAITH. After we're born again we need to repeatedly connect to God's GRACE on an ongoing basis just as the Apostle Paul did so that we can be victorious in every situation and circumstance which is to say that God's plan for every Believer is that we overcome the World (1 John 5:4-5) and the Adversary (James 4:7 and 1 Peter 5:9) who's still the god of this World (2 Corinthians 4:4) and will apparently continue in that capacity until Jesus comes back to remove him (Revelation 20:10).
Over the past 25 weeks we've shown scripturally how THANKSGIVING connects us to God's GRACE. Many Christians are losing sight of the fact that they need His GRACE to overcome life's trials and circumstances. They try their own ways to get out of their problems but those ways of dependence on SELF and Flesh never produce the outcomes they'd wanted because God's way is the only one that actually works. In other words one of the key requirements of becoming victorious in life is to work at developing a lifestyle of THANKSGIVING. Most people are NOT by nature grateful, they're NOT THANKFUL. In fact, they're grumpy and complain all the time which serves to separate them from God's EMPOWERMENT instead of attracting and connecting to it. So, we need to work at developing a GRATEFUL character, to make a special effort which is why as we've discussed in past articles there're so many scriptures in the New Testament reminding/instructing us to be people of THANKSGIVING.
Developing Gratitude
In case you haven't thought of it before, the devil also knows about the power of THANKSGIVING. That's why he's doing everything he can do to bring your trials and circumstances to your attention all the time so you'll focus on them instead of on Christ and continue to be UN-grateful. If he can keep you UN-grateful and depressed and defeated then he knows you won't be able to connect to God's EMPOWERMENT. And if you're fixed on your problems all the time instead of TRUSTING God to deliver you out of them, the devil will be able to keep you in defeat indefinitely and in the wilderness for way longer than you ought to be. The example of the Israelites is that they wandered around in the wilderness for 40 years to complete an 11-day trip BECAUSE they were UN-grateful and refused to TRUST God to meet their needs.
Being a generally GRATEFUL person does NOT come out of our Flesh nature. Rather, it's something the Holy Spirit imparts to us over a period of time as we willingly reach out for it in FAITH. We start out making a sacrifice of THANKSGIVING and over time our attitudes change as God shows up again and again to deliver us out of our troubles in response to our THANKSGIVING. Indeed, the principle is clear: THANKSGIVING attracts the GRACE of God. As you work on this you'll become increasingly GRATEFUL to the point that you're able to meditate almost continuously on all the great things God has done for you in the past, on all the great things He's presently working on and by FAITH on all the great things He's promised to do for you in the future.
Now in some of our past articles we've discussed that there're certain character issues we need to work on as we're going through this process of becoming truly GRATEFUL people. For example, we've looked at PRIDE and the need to work on being HUMBLE. Last week we discussed the obstacle of ENVY and in the near future we'll look at the problem of UN-forgiveness and how it totally blocks off our access to God's GRACE making it virtually impossible to overcome our trials and problems. This week we want to look at the subject of FAITHFULNESS and see how it's also inextricably connected to THANKSGIVING. In short, becoming a FAITHFUL person especially to the Lord makes a vital contribution to the process of becoming a GRATEFUL person.
The Fruit of Faithfulness
The Bible speaks a lot about being FAITHFUL in both the Old and New Testaments. It starts with the fact that God is FAITHFUL (Deuteronomy 7:9, Psalm 36:5, 89:1, 1 Corinthians 1:9, 1 Peter 4:19). When the Bible talks about the FAITHFULNESS of God, it's saying that He WILL most assuredly fulfill His promises and covenants and carry out everything He's SAID He would do without fail. Another word that describes this quality is FIDELITY: God can be counted on, He can be TRUSTED. And since we know from 1 John 4:8 that God IS agape (unconditional, selfless) LOVE, we can make the obvious conclusion that the quality or characteristic of true FAITHFULNESS flows out of this special kind of LOVE.
Not only does FAITHFULNESS go together with LOVE, it also goes together with FAITH. In fact, the Greek word translated FAITH throughout the New Testament can also be translated as FAITHFULNESS. FAITH is steadfastness in belief, an unwavering conviction that Jesus is Lord and that we can TRUST in His WORD. Indeed, there're nine FRUITS or applied attributes of the Holy Spirit resident within each Believer (Galatians 5:22-23): the first is LOVE and the seventh is FAITH (KJV) also translated FAITHFULNESS in the modern translations including the NKJV and the Amplified Bible. Moreover, the Bible says that true biblical FAITH must work through LOVE (1 Corinthians 13:2 and Galatians 5:6) in order to be effective so they're designed to go together. If we substitute the word FAITHFULNESS into the verse Hebrews 11:6 which would be accurate to do, we could say the following: "without FAITHFULNESS it is impossible to please (God)."
Now true Believers have been reborn into the image of God (Romans 8:29, 2 Corinthians 3:18, 1 John 3:2) so it's expected that eventually after some mind renewal (Romans 12:2) and teaching by the Holy Spirit (John 14:26), we'll become FAITHFUL people (1 Corinthians 4:2) on a level that pleases God. A truly FAITHFUL Christian is a person who can be counted on to serve the Lord, to keep His commandments and to actually do what he/she has said or promised to do. He/she is fixed, unchanging, steady, firmly loyal and constant in the things of God. And, since the Christian has been given a free will to choose to be FAITHFUL or not, true biblical FAITHFULNESS must be voluntary. God won't force us to be FAITHFUL and neither can some person force us to be FAITHFUL. That's why pressure and manipulation from the leadership of a local church to cause its members to be FAITHFUL will never work. What they ALWAYS wind up with are disgruntled, over-used folks who're not walking in LOVE and eventually leave to go someplace where they can be free to be led by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:14).
A Believer who LOVES God is someone who's continuously GRATEFUL for what He's already done in his/her life and is continuously GRATEFUL by FAITH for what He can be expected to do in the future. It's impossible to LOVE God the agape unconditional, selfless way and at the same time be UN-grateful for what He's done. LOVE and UN-gratefulness can NEVER co-exist. Therefore, a FAITHFUL person is a GRATEFUL person who LOVES God and is learning how to connect to His GRACE by FAITH to get through life. If we seek after FAITHFULNESS through the Holy Spirit, He'll be FAITHFUL to teach us what we need to know. He is after all a rewarder of those who seek Him (Hebrews 11:6).
In sum, the FAITHFULNESS of Christ resident within each Believer is one of the principal qualities that connects us to God's GRACE and provides His EMPOWERMENT for accomplishing His plans and purposes. It starts with a commitment to keep the commandments of Christ to LOVE God with all our heart, soul and mind and to LOVE our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-39). Jesus said if we keep His commandments we'll be able to abide in His LOVE so that whatever we ask will be done (John 15:1-11). In other words, if we're FAITHFUL to His commandments, if we're FAITHFUL TO TRUST the Word of God, He'll see to it that we overcome the World (1 John 5:4). In fact, it can also be said correctly that it's our FAITHFULNESS that overcomes the World and every related storm, trial, tribulation, problem and circumstance so that we can enjoy VICTORY in every situation (1 Corinthians 15:57 and 2 Corinthians 2:14). It's our FAITHFULNESS to God and His Word that pleases Him and attracts His GRACE and in that process we're certain to find the abundant life that Jesus shed His blood for us to possess (John 10:10).
Thanks for dropping by tonight. We'll be looking for you again next Sunday evening, on June 17 and we hope you'll continue to join us each week as we continue to study the POWER of THANKSGIVING. Until then may God bless you and your family with every spiritual blessing in the Name of Jesus (Ephesians 1:3).
Sinners' Prayer
If you've never invited Jesus to be the Lord of your life, you need to and you can do it today just by saying out loud the following simple prayer:
Jesus I declare today with all my heart that I believe in you and that God raised you from the dead. I acknowledge that my sins have been forgiven and I ask you to come into my life today and be my Lord and Savior. Thank you for salvation and eternal life.
If you were sincere as you prayed this prayer, God has already come into your life and you are a new creation, a totally new species recreated in His image. Now ask the Lord to lead you to a good faith-based, bible-teaching church where you can be equipped to fulfill your potential in the Kingdom of God.
And, when you get a chance have someone help you look up the following scriptures because they confirm what you've done by saying this prayer today and believing what you said:
Romans 10:9
2 Corinthians 5:17
Ephesians 2:8
Prayer Requests
If you have a Prayer Request, please connect to the Link below and follow the promptings. The PLN staff members pray over Prayer Requests every Tuesday morning at 10:00 AM eastern time. Agree with us for God to answer your petition.
http://www.creditcounseling.net/prayer-request.aspx
Donations
If you've been edified by Prosperous Life Newsletter, you may want to consider making a SEED FAITH offering to support the Ministry (Galatians 6:6-7). God has instructed us to simply provide folks with an opportunity to sow seed into good ground so in due season you'll be eligible to reap a harvest and the rest is up to you as the Spirit leads. For your information PLN is a nonprofit gift to the Body of Christ so your financial offerings will usually be tax deductible (consult your tax advisor). Just go to the secure Shopping Cart on the Cornerstone web site by connecting through the following link. We appreciate your support and generosity.
http://www.creditcounseling.net/shop/item.aspx?itemid=1
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