Links & Quotes

January 3, 2026 — Craig T. Owens

Jesus showed us how to remain faithful as a shepherd even in the face of painful attacks. If you are a pastor—or if you love your pastor—please check out my books Shepherd Leadership and When Sheep Bite. 

I have a lot of new video content on my YouTube channel every week. Please check it out and subscribe so you don’t miss anything.

Every year I see the same unsubstantiated claims that the Christian celebration of Christmas is a hodgepodge of pagan and cultic myths cobble together and hijacked by Christians. Here are three myths refuted by archeological evidence.

Dr. Allen Tennison points out how Luke emphasizes the work of the Holy Spirit all throughout his Gospel, and then continues that theme as he moves into the Book of Acts.

“One of the first gospel blessings is that of complete justification. A sinner, though guilty in himself, no sooner believes in Jesus than all his sins are pardoned. The righteousness of Christ becomes his righteousness, and he is accepted in the Beloved.” —Charles Spurgeon 

“For the apostle Paul, as, indeed, for all the apostles and early Christians, the Church is the Body of Christ, the continuing incarnation of the reigning and conquering King of Glory. The Church, according to the apostles, is the centerpiece of Christ’s historical agenda (Matthew 16:18). Whatever Christ intends to do on earth prior to His imminent return, the focal point of that work will be in and through His Church. … We do not have the mind of Christ if we are not thinking the same way about His Body, the Church. We need the Church, and if we do not think this is so, then we do not have the mind of Christ. We need the Church. But we need it according to the purpose with the guidance and blessing of the Lord Jesus Christ.” —T.M. Moore 

What an amazing story of faithfulness! The faithfulness of God is seen in the loving actions of an unnamed Sunday School teacher and in a lifelong missionary.

Cold-case detective J. Warner Wallace contrasts blind belief and unreasonable belief with what he calls forensic faith. His conclusion: “A forensic faith gives you confidence in uncertainty, strength in adversity, and the ability to engage intellectually with both believers and skeptics. It transforms faith from mere hope into informed trust, and that makes all the difference in how you live out your beliefs in a world that’s constantly questioning them.”

“Depression is one of satan’s most dynamic weapons to divert you from God’s purpose for your life. If he can scatter a little dejection here and there in your thoughts—and even in your prayers—he can convince you to remove your breastplate of righteousness because it is too cumbersome and will go against your material and temporal interest. Do not give in that easily!” —William Gurnall, The Christian In Complete Armor 

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Advent Quotes

December 23, 2025 — Craig T. Owens

“Joy doesn’t wait until everything is repaired and restored. It takes root in God’s presence and grows even in hard soil.

“Advent joy doesn’t mean everything is going well. It’s not shallow optimism or a quick distraction from pain. It’s the deep gladness of knowing God is near, faithful, and making all things new.  …

“This joy doesn’t depend on circumstances. It flows from union with God. That means joy can live alongside sorrow. … 

“The Advent season invites us to practice this kind of joy. As we remain in God’s love and join his Kingdom work of generosity and mercy, we let joy overflow through our lives like a song that begins quietly now but will one day fill all creation.” —Bible Project’s Anticipating Christmas reading plan 

“No other story, no pagan legend or philosophical anecdote or historical event, does in fact affect any of us with that peculiar and even poignant impression produced on us by the word Bethlehem. No other birth of a god or childhood of a sage seems to us to be Christmas, or anything like Christmas.” —G.K. Chesterton 

“One incident in angelic history, the angelic pronouncement to shepherds in their fields, is enough to weld our hearts to them forever. How free from envy the angels were! Christ did not come from heaven to save their peers when they fell. When satan, the mighty angel, dragged with him a third part of the stars of heaven, Christ did not stoop from His throne to die for them; but He left them to be reserved in chains and darkness until the last great day. Yet angels did not envy men. Though they remembered that He took not up angels, yet they did not murmur when He took up the seed of Abraham; and though the blessed Master had never condescended to take the angel’s form, they did not think it beneath them to express their joy when they found Him arrayed in the body of an infant.” —Charles Spurgeon 

“Long had God promised the world’s redemption would come through the offspring who would sustain a bite to the heel yet, in the very act of battle, crush the serpent’s head. Even as kings and prophets pinned their hopes on the coming births of sons, God unfolds His master scheme of one Son to overshadow them all.

“A glimpse of this Son’s manifold greatness will be captured in His name (Isaiah 9:6), which turns out to be not singular but fourfold. He is Guide, Champion, Caretaker, and Peacemaker, and each of these paired with attendant glory.” —David Mathis 

“The manger of Bethlehem was big with God’s glory; in the incarnation was wrapped up all the blessedness by which a soul, snatched from the depths of sin, is lifted up to the heights of glory.” —Charles Spurgeon

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Links & Quotes

December 20, 2025 — Craig T. Owens

When people start throwing mud at you, your natural response is to throw the mud back at them or to run away so the mud can’t reach you. Instead of the natural fight-or-flight response, Jesus shows us a supernatural response. I talk about all sorts of attacks—gossip, slander, betrayal, and more—in my book When Sheep Bite as well as the supernatural, biblical response to these attacks.

I have a lot of new video content on my YouTube channel every week. Please check it out and subscribe so you don’t miss anything.

“The minute you start talking about what you’re going to do if you lose, you have lost.” —George Schultz 

“A decent picture of good leadership: Air-traffic controllers have authority, but they use their authority to enable others to fly.” This is a thoughtful post, but as frequent visitors to my blog might expect, I prefer the term shepherd leader over servant leader.

This post recounts some of the stories people told of how Charles Spurgeon’s sermons led them from the bad news to the Good News. Spurgeon himself noted, “If you really long to save men’s souls, you must tell them a great deal of disagreeable truth. The preaching of the wrath of God has come to be sneered at nowadays, and even good people are half-ashamed of it; a maudlin sentimentality about love and goodness has hushed, in great measure, plain gospel expostulations and warnings. But, if we expect souls to be saved, we must declare unflinchingly with all affectionate fidelity, the terrors of the Lord.”

“Men have not got tired of Christianity; they have never found enough Christianity to get tired of.” —G.K Chesterton 

“Advancing the Kingdom economy is not exactly a cakewalk. It’s hard work, like running a marathon, going to war against spiritual adversaries, cultivating a field, or embarking on a long and arduous journey. We may expect to encounter many obstacles and challenges along the way as we seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. … We must neither run from these challenges nor give in to them. Instead, advancing the Kingdom economy requires that we face evil head-on, and determine to overcome it by good works of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17-19).” Check out the rest of T.M. Moore’s post Overcoming Evil.

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No Contention, No Compromise

October 20, 2025 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. 

As we continue our look at the Book of Jude, let me remind you that Jude calls Christians to contend for the faith with a servant’s attitude and with an all-in attitude that will not give in even when the going gets tough. 

What exactly are we contending for? Jude calls it “…the faith once for all entrusted to the saints” (Jude 3). 

(Check out all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.) 

It might be helpful to look at this phrase in the AMPC: “…to contend for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints—the faith which is that sum of Christian belief which was delivered verbally to the holy people of God.” 

During the Reformation there was a phrase that became prominent: “Sola Scriptura” which means the Bible is our authoritative guide for everything in our lives. Jesus addressed the religious leaders who added to the Scripture (Mark 7:8-9, 13), and here Jude is now addressing those who took away from Scripture (Jude 4).   

We have to be so careful here. Contending doesn’t meet fighting for our traditions, nor does it mean compromising with the whims of culture. Jesus told us to preach the Gospel, not to argue nor give in to avoid problems. Jude says this Gospel message have been entrusted to us. 

Ronald Reagan was talking about the freedoms in the United States of America, but his warning sounds like it originated with Jude: “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.” 

We don’t want to spend our sunset years telling our children and grandchildren how it used to be when we contended for the faith that was entrusted to us, but we want to tell them how we are still winsomely and consistently contending for this faith still to this day! 

So how do we contend for this faith the right way?  

(1) Study God’s Word and then study it some more. I like what Charles Spurgeon said of John Bunyan,  “Why, this man is a living Bible! Prick him anywhere—his blood is Bibline, the very essence of the Bible flows from him. He cannot speak without quoting a text, for his very soul is full of the Word of God. I commend his example to you, beloved.” May that be said of us! 

James encourages Christians to receive God’s Word in their hearts. The Amplified Bible says it this way: “the Word which [is] implanted and rooted in your hearts.” But I really love the KJV rendering that calls it “the engrafted word.” We study God’s Word to us so that it can become a living, breathing part of who we are—the very fabric of our thoughts and attitudes. 

(2) Wrestle with the whole counsel of Scripture. This is hard work, but it is the most rewarding work of all! Don’t stick with only passages of the Bible that are enjoyable to read, but consider the whole counsel of God’s Word. Ask yourself things like: What did it mean then? What does it mean now? What does it mean for me? Where can I cross-reference this with another place in Scripture? 

(3) Make your “No” merciful, peaceful, and loving. This is how Jude calls us to live in v. 2, and the apostle Peter said something very similar in 1 Peter 4:1-5. 

(4) Make your “Yes” compelling and attractive. Remember that we want to be known more for what we’re for, not for what we’re against. Again, Peter sounds this same note in 1 Peter 3:13-16. 

As saints entrusted with the faith, we have to learn to contend for this faith without becoming contentious and without compromising the truth. 

If you’ve missed any of the other messages in this series Earnestly Contend, you can find them all here. 

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

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Links & Quotes

August 23, 2025 — Craig T. Owens

If you want your heart to be able to perform better, you are going to have to stress it a bit—that’s called exercise. The same thing is true for the heart of leadership—we have to exercise our leadership so that it can rise to the challenge later.

I have a lot of new video content on my YouTube channel every week. Please check it out and subscribe so you don’t miss anything.

J. Warner Wallace wrote, “Everyone, whether they realize it or not, is engaged in worship. We all adore something, elevating it above the rest, sometimes so much that we overlook its flaws.” Check out this post about being careful about what we worship.

“Nothing teaches us about the preciousness of the Creator as much as when we learn the emptiness of everything else.” —Charles Spurgeon 

“We should avoid end-time hysteria and ‘not grow weary in doing good’ (2 Thessalonians 3:13). There will be good work to do (vocationally and socially and personally) right up to the Lord’s coming. Our normal earthly duties will not end until the Lord appears. The rule then, until he comes, is, ‘Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men’ (Colossians 3:23).” —John Piper 

Greg Morse has a fascinating post connecting the fable of Chicken Little with the historical account of Noah and the imminent return of Jesus. “I hope an acorn falls afresh on our heads as we observe an Old Testament saint who was the Chicken Little of his day. A man who remained awake and faithful with his back against the end of the world: a man named Noah.”

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Links & Quotes

June 28, 2025 — Craig T. Owens

Don’t judge your creative efforts by the world’s likes (or even by its silence). If you did your best with the talents that God gave you, the applause from nail-scarred hands is all that really matters.

I have a lot of new video content on my YouTube channel every week. Please check it out and subscribe so you don’t miss anything.

“It will be vain for me to stock my library, or organize societies, or project schemes, if I neglect the culture of myself; for books, and agencies, and systems, are only remotely instruments of my holy calling; my own spirit, soul, and body, are my nearest machinery for sacred service; my spiritual faculties, and my inner life, are my battle axe and weapons of war.” —Charles Spurgeon 

John Piper shares four observations and applications from Philippians 4:8 in answer to a question about how to guard our minds from the impurity in the world. 

“A man who has faith must be prepared not only to be a martyr, but to be a fool.” —G.K. Chesterton 

The paleontological evidence of dinosaur fossils is most easily explained by the Flood described in the Bible. ICR reports, “Virtually every dinosaur fossil ever found is ensconced in sedimentary or (rarely) volcanic sediments, indicating a sudden and catastrophic deposition. … So why would paleontologists entertain bizarre extinction explanations such as slipped discs, sunspots, or magnetic reversals? Because if a scientist dismisses the global Flood out of hand, then anything goes when trying to explain the dinosaur demise.”

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How Long?

January 27, 2025 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. 

Last week we saw that if we make prayer our priority, we can expect that our eyes will be opened to the answers that God has for us. Hagar and Eliezer seemed to get pretty quick answers. Nehemiah had to wait four months for the answer to his prayer. 

We saw in Psalm 5 that David laid his requests before God first thing in the morning, and then he went out of his prayer closet in expectation of an answer (Psalm 5:1-3). But how long did he wait? 

(Check out all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.) 

Psalm 6 may not happen historically right after Psalm 5, but listen to David’s heart, “Have mercy on me, LORD, for I am faint; heal me, LORD, for my bones are in agony. My soul is in deep anguish. How long, LORD, how long? (Psalm 6:2-3). And then again in Psalm 13:1-3, David asks, “How long?” four times in the first two verses! 

When we read the training Jesus gave His disciples about prayer in Luke 11:9-10, we see how He implores them (and us) to keep on praying. It becomes even more emphatic in the Amplified Bible—

So I say to you, ask and keep on asking and it shall be given you; seek and keep on seeking and you shall find; knock and keep on knocking and the door shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks and keeps on asking receives; and he who seeks and keeps on seeking finds; and to him who knocks and keeps on knocking, the door shall be opened. 

But once again we have to ask: how long are we to continue asking, seeking, and knocking? This is what Job asked in the middle of his trial (Job 6:8, 11-13). 

Charles Spurgeon said, “God has measured the crosses of all His children: Israel in Egypt, 430 years; Joseph in prison, 3 years; Judah in Babylon, 70 years.” That means that God knows what He is doing, God knows His timing for answering, and that our part is to simply to continue to ask, seek, and knock as we throw our total trust on Him! 

I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope. Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him.” (Lamentations 3:19-24) 

During these times of waiting, we need to keep recalling what we know:

  1. God’s love is unfathomable—Romans 5:5, 8:38-39 
  2. God’s timing is perfect—Deuteronomy 32:4 
  3. God’s method is flawless—Romans 8:28 
  4. God’s gifts are good—Luke 11:11-13, 12:32  

In Psalms 6 & 13, David doesn’t record any answers from God, but listen to this assurance from Jesus, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5:4). 

Jesus doesn’t tell us how or when God will bring us comfort, but He does assure us that we will be comforted! 

In a couple of the examples from David, you can see this assurance as he continues his prayers (Psalm 6:2-4, 8-10; 13:1-6). Paul also experienced this confidence (2 Corinthians 12:7-10), and so did Jesus (Matthew 26:38-39, 50-54). 

The writer of Hebrews assures us that Jesus was heard in His, “How long?” cries, and therefore He knows exactly how to intercede for us today as we lift up the same cry (Hebrews 5:7-8; 2:10, 14, 17-18)! 

How long? Quite simply stated: Until God answers or until He lifts our burden. 

In the meantime, the examples in Scripture and the assurance of Christ’s intercession for us us encourages us to…

  1. Keep asking with full confidence that God hears you 
  2. Keep expecting an answer 
  3. Keep worshiping God for Who He is 
  4. Keep trusting that your Heavenly Father wants to give you the very best!  

If you have missed any of the other messages in our prayer series, you can find them all here. 

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

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Prayer That Opens Our Eyes

January 20, 2025 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. 

Charles Spurgeon said, “We too often rush into the presence of God without forethought or humility. We are like people who present themselves before a king without a petition, and what wonder is it that we often miss the end of prayer?” I hope you are starting to…

Spurgeon also asked an important question: “Do we not miss very much of the sweetness and efficacy of prayer by a want of careful meditation before it, and hopeful expectation after it?” 

We talked about competing priorities, but also how Jesus made prayer the priority for His life. This means that some things we call important may have to temporarily be set aside. 

(Check out all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.)

Let’s look at the example of Jesus. He prioritized prayer over:

  1. Training. In Luke 5:16 and 9:18 we see Jesus praying in private even though His disciples were right there with Him. This was so revolutionary to the disciples that it prompted them to ask Jesus how they could pray like He did (Luke 11:1-13). 
  1. Sleep. Mark 1:32-35 tells us Jesus was up after sunset ministering to the needs of people, and that He was up and praying while it was still dark. And Luke 6:12 tells us Jesus spent the whole night in prayer before making a big decision. 
  1. Strategizing. The big decision Jesus had to make was choosing the twelve men who would be His apostles—the ones He would spend the most time training and preparing. He didn’t hold strategizing sessions or interviews with the perspective candidates, but He spent the night praying for wisdom (Luke 6:12-13). 
  1. Ministering. People were looking for Jesus, but He guarded His prayer time so the Holy Spirit could guide Him into His ministry time (Mark 1:37). 

Why did He treat prayer this way? Because He knew that God knows our day better than we do. He knows the people will encounter, the conversations that we need to have, the decisions that await us. So we must prayerfully entrust our days to Him (Proverbs 16:9, 3:5-6). 

Remember that Spurgeon said “careful meditation” before prayer and then “hopeful expectation after it.” This is exactly what David said in Psalm 5:1-3 where he was expectant of God’s answers throughout the day.

We see this example throughout the Bible, but let me give you three quick examples: 

  • Hagar’s eyes were opened to see the supply of water that was already there (Genesis 21:14-19) 
  • Eliezer had success in finding a wife for Isaac by seeing a woman that was already at the well (Genesis 24:7, 12-15, 21, 27) 
  • Nehemiah prayed for 4 months so he could pray in the moment that the king asked him what he needed to be successful (Nehemiah 1:4, 11; 2:1-4, 8) 

I think this is what Paul meant when he told us to “pray continually “ (1 Thessalonians 5:17). 

Jesus could announce that everything He did (John 5:19) and everything He said (John 12:49) was directed by the Father. 

We can live like this too, if we will only make prayer the priority that sets the order for any other thing that we call a priority. Missionary Hudson Taylor said, “Do not have your concert first, and then tune your instrument afterwards. Begin the day with the Word of God and prayer, and get first of all into harmony with Him.”

If you have missed any of the messages in our series called Our Prayer Book, you can find them all by clicking here.

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

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Christ’s Advents Bring Joy

December 23, 2024 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. 

We have the candles of hope and peace burning brightly. Romans 15:13 tells us that our hope in God’s fulfilled promises and our hope in His fulfilling of His future promises is what brings us not only peace but joy as well. 

(You can read all the Scriptures I reference in this post by clicking here.)

William Gurnall noted, “Joy is the highest testimony which can be given to our peace.” That means that hope bubbles up in peace and joy, but joy then sustains and fuels future hope, which allows us to experience peace all over again!  

The English dictionary has the right definition for joy: the emotion of great delight caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying. Unfortunately, all of the examples the dictionary gives for joy are fleeting external things. 

The Bible makes it quite clear that pleasure is not the same thing as joy, but still people try to find what they call joy in things that bring them pleasure. C.S. Lewis wrote, “Joy is never in our power and pleasure often is.” 

Just ask the wisest and richest man who ever lived: King Solomon. He wrote the Book of Ecclesiastes which is all about his pursuit of pleasure, yet every attempts ends with him crying, “Vanity! Meaningless!” But notice something: every time he says this, the phrase “under the sun” is adjacent to it. In other words, nothing on earth can provide true joy. 

Paul experienced the same thing in the New Testament (see Romans 7:18-20). 

Just like we said about these candles that darkness is not the opposite of light, but it is the absence of light, so too, this wretched state of joylessness is the absence of things that are eternally satisfying. 

That means we need something other-worldly—something higher than the sun—to truly bring light and satisfaction. The prophet Isaiah foretold the light that Jesus would bring from Heaven, and this light would be our eternal joy and salvation (Isaiah 9:1-3, 6-7; Matthew 1:21). 

Notice how the angelic announcement of Christ’s birth ties together the thoughts of joy with Savior (Luke 2:8-11).

Isaiah foretold this First Advent which Jesus fulfilled (Isaiah 61:1-3; Luke 4:18-19), and which Paul come to discover as well (Romans 7:24-25).

Another biblical definition for the word joy is delighting in God’s grace in our trials because we understand that these trials enlarge our capacity for even greater joy. This is the joy we can know as we live between the two Advents of Jesus. We see this in the example of Jesus fixing His eyes on the eternal joy even as He walked toward Calvary, and how His Father then exalted Him for that (Hebrews 12:2; Philippians 2:9-11). 

In a similar, Jesus prepares us for the joy following our time of grief (John 16:17-24). The writer of Hebrews agreed with this (Hebrews 12:11), as did the writer of the 126th Psalm (notice the word joy being used four times in just six verses here!). 

The Second Advent of Jesus will be eternally satisfying joy beyond anything we can imagine! I love how Isaiah 35 foretells what we can read on the last pages of the Book of Revelation. 

This thought from Charles Spurgeon is spot-on: “We who trust in Jesus are the happiest of people, not constitutionally, for some of us are much tried and are brought to the utter depths of poverty, but inwardly, truly, our heart’s joy is not to be excelled.” 

May we all live in that hope-filled, peace-fueled joy every single day until Christ returns or calls us Home! 

If you missed it, check out the lights of hope and peace in our previous messages in this series by clicking here. 

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

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4 Benefits Of Gratitude

November 4, 2024 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. 

Do you remember this song: “If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands”? It goes on to say, “If you’re happy and you know, then your life will surely show it….” Frankly, I’m concerned about Christians that are unhappy. 

Charles Spurgeon was talking to his students and he said, “I commend cheerfulness to all who would win souls; not levity and frothiness, but a genial, happy spirit. There are more flies caught with honey than with vinegar, and there will be more souls led to heaven by a man who wears heaven in his face than by one who bears Tartarus in his looks.” Tartarus, in Greek mythology, is a sunless abyss, below Hades, in which Zeus imprisoned the Titans, which is the exact opposite of the Paradise described in the Bible. 

Unhappiness generally comes from ingratitude. An unhappy Christian gives God no praise, robs Him of glory, and paints God in a bad light. A happy Christian lifts God high and invites others to know this All-Good, All-Happy God too! 

Christians need to fight against the downward pull of negativity in which our culture seems to so easily gravitate. In his letter to the Philippians, the apostle Paul says that a Christian who doesn’t engage in the complaining that the world is known for will shine brightly. Quite simply, thankfulness is the antidote to complaining (Philippians 2:14-18). 

(Check out all of the Scriptures I reference in this post by clicking here.) 

Even those who may not recognize the the authority of Scripture have extolled the benefits of gratitude. Psychologists and medical professionals have identified three benefits from a thankful heart: 

  1. Psychological benefits—more mentally alert, increased self-satisfaction, enhanced mood 
  2. Physical benefits—stronger immune system, less body aches and pains, regulated blood pressure, a better sleep-wake cycle 
  3. Social benefits—better communication with others, increased empathy, increased likability 

And Christians can add one more benefit to this list:

  1. Spiritual benefits—more dynamic corporate worship, enchanted Christian testimony, perseverance through trials, fortification against giving in to temptation 

The well-known Cleveland Clinic reported that an attitude of gratitude leads to overall wellness. When you are grateful for what you have, it improves your outlook mentally, physically, spiritually, and relationally. 

Here are five things you can start doing today that will increase your gratitude levels, enhance your Christian testimony, and generally improve your life: 

  1. Switch your perspective. Worry is focusing on what you don’t have. Make the switch to gratitude by giving thanks for what you do have (Matthew 6:25-34). 
  2. Strengthen your relationships. It’s fine to weep with those who weep, but let’s encourage others and be encouraged by others so that we can rejoice with those who rejoice (1 Thessalonians 3:6-10), 
  3. Foster healthy habits. Dr. Luke gives us the pyramid of health that Jesus demonstrated in Luke 2:52. The pinnacle is strong relationships, and grateful people are more empathetic and likable. 
  4. Keep a gratitude journal so that you don’t forget what God has done for you (Psalm 106:7).  
  5. Talk about your gratitude. This instills thankfulness in other saints (Isaiah 63:7) and in future generations of your family (Isaiah 46:4), and it becomes a testimony for seekers (1 Peter 3:15). 

Let me close with this observation from Blaise Pascal: “There are three kinds of people in the world; those who have sought God and found Him and now serve Him, those who are seeking Him, but have not yet found Him, and those who neither seek Him nor find Him. The first are reasonable and happy, the second reasonable and unhappy, and the third unreasonable and unhappy.” 

Reasonable, happy saints are the ones who lift God high and invite others to know this All-Good, All-Happy God too! Not just at the Thanksgiving season, but starting now and then going all year long! 

Follow along with all of the messages in this series called Be Thankful by clicking here. 

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

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