When God Says “No”

February 17, 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 I asked you to recall a time that your children were asking you for something they really, really wanted. How many times did they ask? If you said, “No” to their first request, did they immediately stop asking? Probably not. And that’s good, because Jesus tells us to keep PUSHing (Luke 11:9-10).

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

Let’s recall the story Jesus told to illustrate the kind of importunity that God responds to. Jesus used the example of a friend going to his neighbor’s house with a request for bread. No matter how many times the neighbor said, “No,” the man continued to ask and knock (vv. 5-8). Jesus concluded by saying that the neighbor would eventually get us and give his friend “as much as he needs.”

That is the key word: needs vs. wants. 

Jesus told us “your Father knows what you need, but He wants to give us so much more than what we are asking for—He wants to give us His Kingdom (Luke 12:30-32). A need is a necessity (Psalm 34:10 AMPC; Matthew 6:8), but wants are merely selfish desires (James 4:3). 

Loving parents know the difference between needs and wants and therefore they know how to respond to the requests from their children. Jesus pointed out that if we “evil” parents know this, how much more does our all-wise, all-loving, all-knowing Heavenly Father know this (Luke 11:11-13)! 

When my kids ask me for something—when they are asking, seeking, knocking—I want to give them the best. But sometimes the best thing means I have to say, “No.” I don’t give them candy for breakfast. I don’t let them drive a car when they’re 7 years old. I don’t give them responsibilities which they are unprepared to manage. They may want all of these things, and they may even enjoy these things for a fleeting moment. But they don’t need them and the end result could be dangerous or even disastrous! 

Jesus says that we human parents even in our very limited wisdom know that giving our children their immediate wants may prevent them from receiving what they really need. My “No” may really mean a better “Yes,” if they will trust me. 

Do you know a surefire way to determine if what you are PUSHing for is a want or a need? A temper tantrum! When we start throwing a fit, it probably means we are looking for a want to be supplied, not a need. Psalm 25:9 tells us that God loves to supply the needs of the humble who say, “Father, You know best.” 

What if I changed “suffering” with “God’s loving ‘no’” in this passage—

Not only so, but we also glory in God’s loving “No,” because we know that God’s loving “No” produces perseverance4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:3-5)

Our hope in our heavenly Father’s best “Yes” is vital for our ongoing prayer live (Isaiah 30:18)! 

Our all-wise, all-loving Father KNOWS what is best for us. But still, Jesus directs us to continue asking, seeking, and knocking. Keep PUSHing until His best “Yes” is given, found, and opened. 

God’s loving “No” is only so that He can give you His best “Yes”! 

If you’ve missed any of the other messages in this 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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The Prayer Before The Prayer

January 13, 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 I shared this thought with you from Pastor Tim Keller: “Your prayer must be firmly connected to and grounded in your reading of the Word. This wedding of Bible and prayer anchors your life down in the real God. … Without immersion in God’s words, our prayers may not be merely limited and shallow but also untethered from reality.” 

“Untethered from reality” means that we determine the manner in which we come to God in prayer, the way prayer works, and the way God must respond to our prayer. But what we read in the Bible is the opposite of this (Isaiah 1:11-15). 

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

I think there are two opposite and equal erroneous thoughts about how we approach prayer:

  1. I’m not worthy to come into the presence of an all-holy God 
  2. I can waltz right into God’s presence whenever and however I please 

Both are wrong and both are strategies the devil has used to keep us prayerless. Either we don’t go to God at all or our prayers are unheard because the Bible says that our arrogance has made our prayer ineffectual. 

Our Prayer Book—the Bible—helps us find the balance. George Whitefield noted, “Reading the Bible is a good preparative for prayer, as prayer is an excellent means to render reading effectual.” So here’s what we read about those two errors. 

  1. I’m not worthy. God is unapproachable in His holiness, but Jesus has made it possible for us to enter in through His righteousness (1 Timothy 6:15-16; Isaiah 6:1-5; Hebrews 4:1, 14, 16; John 16:23-24). 
  2. I can come anyway I want to. Passages like Psalm 15:1-5 and Isaiah 58:2-4 make it clear that we cannot simply approach God in a way of our choosing. 

Let’s unpack that second error a little more. We have to be clothed in righteousness in order to come into God’s presence, but we cannot be clothed in a righteousness that is apart from Jesus. When we say that we are praying in the name of Jesus, it means we are praying in the nature of Jesus and through the righteousness of Jesus. We must be wearing His righteous robe (Romans 3:22-24; Isaiah 61:10). 

So I think we need to pray before we pray. Let’s try these actions which are tethered to the reality of our Prayer Book. 

  1. Worship. This is a deep pondering of who God is; it is humbly assigning Him the highest worth. In face, the Old English spelling of this word (“worthship”) gives us insight into what worship does. It is this kind of humility that God responds to (Isaiah 6:5-7; 57:15; Luke 18:9-14).
  1. Confession. As we are worshiping, we will see our inadequacies (much like Isaiah did in Isaiah 6, or the tax collector did in Luke 18). We then need to confession these shortcomings. Dick Brogden wrote, “Confessed sin opens the portals of heaven into our darkness, and light and glory overwhelm shame. Confession is our glory for it lifts our heads and eradicates shame.” We see this so vividly lived out in the prayers of David (Psalm 139:23-24; 51:1-2; 19:12-14). 
  1. Repentance. I think we could also call this Repair. After confession where we have fallen short, we resolve now to both take a different path and repair what was damaged (Matthew 5:23-24; Mark 11:25-26; 1 Peter 3:7). 
  1. Petition. After worship, confession, and repentance / repair, our heart’s attitude is now in the place for God to heed our cries for His help (1 Peter 3:12). 

Let’s learn to pray before we pray. Don’t just rush in and rush out of God’s presence. Take time to worship, confession any sins the Holy Spirit reveals, make things right, and then present your petitions. 

Our hearts need to be prepared to present our petitions. This is how we know that God will hear our voice. 

If you’ve missed any of the 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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3 Hindrances To Prayer

January 6, 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.  I am sometimes amazed at how much Jesus accomplished in just a little over three years of public ministry. What I would have expected to see is a Man burning the candle at both ends—up early, working hard without any breaks each day, very little (if any) leisure time, and then burning the midnight oil.  But instead we see Jesus never seeming to be rushed or exhausted. He takes time for meals with friends, time away from the crowds, and still in just a short period of time He fulfilled hundreds of ancient prophecies and trained His followers to take the Gospel around the globe!  One of the keys is His priority. Notice that I said priority and not prioritieS. Jesus was singularly focused on His Father’s glory and He showed total dependence on Him. I think one of the most telling verses is Mark 1:35: “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed.”  If Jesus needed prayer to start His day, how much more do we need this!  Scottish pastor Robert Murray McCheyne wrote in his journal, “Rose early to seek God, and found Him whom my soul loveth. Who would not rise early to meet such company?” 

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

So why don’t we treat prayer like this? I think there are three main hindrances to keep us from making prayer a priority.  (1) Self-reliance. A common phrase we use is, “I need to get to work.” But this puts the emphasis on me—my plans, my abilities, my work ethic. I believe I can do more than pray, but I also believe that I shouldn’t do anything until I have prayed.  Prayer, therefore, is a reminder of my utter God-reliance.  God has a better plan than we do. God has more wisdom than we do. God has more strength than we do. So wouldn’t it be better to ask Him what we should be doing, how we should be doing it, and then ask Him for the strength to do it?  When we have this focus, our prayer time will keep us aligned with His plans and empowered with His wisdom and strength. Look at a couple of examples.
  • Sarah knew how to believe God because He showed how He kept His promise in His perfect timing (Genesis 21:1-2). 
  • Mary knew how to pray and behave in alignment with God’s word (Luke 1:31-38). Her prayer shortly after this is sautéed in Scripture, showing how she relied on God to keep His Word (vv. 46-55). 
  • Saul of Tarsus (who became Paul the apostle) had assurances of God’s direction for his life at almost every turn (Acts 9:15-16, 20:22-24, 21:10-14, 23:11, 27:21-25). Then he writes to his friends at Philippi how God received the glory throughout this whole process (Philippians 1:12-14, 25-26). 
We can live and pray with the same assurance that God is completely in control (Isaiah 55:8-11; Romans 8:26-28).   (2) Distractions. When Martin Luther was asked about his plans for the next day he said, “I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.” That sounds unrealistic to most of us, but that is because we call too many things “priorities.” We need a singular priority: The knowledge of God’s will and the help that only God can give.  Stephen Covey has a very helpful tool that I use regularly: the urgent/important grid. Bible reading and prayer time is most decidedly a Quadrant II activity. We make time for these important activities by removing unimportant activities from Quadrant IV. The Bible frequently couples a “take off” with a “put on” (see 1 Corinthians 13:11; 2 Timothy 2:4; Ephesians 6:11-18), which should prompt us to ask, “What’s one thing I can take off of my Quadrant IV and put on that time for prayer in Quadrant II?”  (3) Uncertainty. Sometimes we may wonder if our prayers are doing anything. Maybe we think we are not praying the “right way” or perhaps we wonder if we are praying for something in alignment with God’s will or only our own selfishness.  The only two things Jesus said were the “wrong ways” to pray were praying to show off, and babbling like pagans (Matthew 6:5-8). As we read in Romans 8, the Holy Spirit will help us pray, if we will let Him.  One way we pray in alignment with God’s will is to pray using the Scripture. The Bible is our Prayer Book. Pastor Timothy Keller wrote, “Your prayer must be firmly connected to and grounded in your reading of the Word. This wedding of Bible and prayer anchors your life down in the real God. … Without immersion in God’s words, our prayers may not be merely limited and shallow but also untethered from reality.”  So here are three steps we need to implement to counteract those three hindrances to a consistent, meaningful prayer life: 
  1. Listen to yourself pray—replace the “I have to” with “God, I trust You to direct me and help me.” 
  2. Track your time in each quadrant and identify just one Quadrant IV activity you can replace with prayer. 
  3. Start turning Scripture into prayers. 
I will be elaborating more on the idea of using the words of the Bible to form on our prayers as we continue our series Our Prayer Book.  ►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎
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An Amazing Word!

December 24, 2024 — Craig T. Owens

This is an amazing word! 

God Almighty—in all of His holiness—lives in unapproachable brilliance in highest Heaven. And yet He also chooses to abide with those who humbly admit their desperate need of His mercy and forgiveness! 

You can check out the full sermon from which this clip came by clicking here.

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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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Christ’s Advents Bring Peace

December 16, 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 lit the candle of Hope last week and today we light the candle of Peace.  As we saw, hope is what allows us to experience peace and joy: “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). 

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

But notice the phrase “as you trust in Him” in that verse. Peace doesn’t come just because we want it to, but it only comes as we trust in the One called the Prince of Peace. 

Light drives out darkness and exposes sin, and often people don’t like it (John 1:9-11). In fact, Jesus Himself said that He was first coming with a sword to do battle against all of the things that rob us of lasting peace (Matthew 10:34). 

Oswald Chambers described it this way, “The coming of Jesus Christ is not a peaceful thing; it is overwhelmingly and frantically disturbing, because the first thing He does is to destroy every peace that is not based on a personal relationship to Himself.” 

Peace is only possible when the war is over. Modern-day diplomats use a phrase “sue for peace,” but this can only be done when one side admits defeat. God is at war with sin and He only gives peace to those who throw up their hands in total surrender to Him (Isaiah 57:14-21).  

Jesus said He was the Light of the world and the only way to peace with the Father. The apostle Paul elaborates on that idea—

Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in His flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in Himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the Cross, by which He put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of His household. (Ephesians 2:12-19) 

That’s what Jesus provided for us at His First Advent. Now, as we live between the Advents of Jesus, we can expect to have trouble in the world, but never peacelessness (John 14:27, 16:33). 

The Messiah’s peace will:

  • Guard your heart and mind—Philippians 4:7 
  • Arm your for battle against the enemy—Ephesians 6:15 
  • Equip you to do His will—Hebrews 13:20-21  

As our hearts are guarded, we are prepared to stand firm in spiritual battle, and we are equipped to do God’s will, we can live in peace concerning Christ’s Second Advent. 

Jesus will appear again to fulfill one of the first promises made about the peace He would bring. God told satan that Jesus would crush his head, and then Paul tells us, “The God of peace will soon crush satan under your feet” (Genesis 3:15, Romans 16:20)! 

So we have no fear of Death or Hell because the Prince of Peace has forever defeated those things for those who “trust in Him” (Revelation 20:10, 14; 21:1-5). 

The bottom line:

  • No Jesus = no peace
  • Know Jesus = know peace 

If you’ve missed any of the other messages in our Advent 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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Christ’s Advents Bring Hope

December 9, 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. 

The word Advent means the appearing—something that bursts onto the scene. At this time of year we are actually thinking about TWO Advents. We look backward in gratitude to celebrate the first Advent of Jesus when He was born in a manger in Bethlehem. And then we look forward in joyful expectation to the second Advent of Jesus when He will return to earth again as King of kings. As we will in this time between the Advents, there are four qualities that we should exemplify—the first is hope. 

When the candle is lit, darkness disappears. 

Darkness is not the opposite of light, it is the absence of light. In the same way, despair or hopelessness is the absence of hope. 

Adam and Eve lived in perfection, but when they tried to do things their way—instead of obeying God’s way—their sin caused them despair. They tried to cover their nakedness, but with a hopeless covering of dying leaves. God came with a promise of full restoration, and illustrated it by covering them with the skin of a sacrificial animal (Genesis 3:7, 15, 21). 

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

Job knew the hopelessness of self-covering and finality of earthly life, and even David—the man after God’s own heart knew this too (Job 6:11-13, 17:13-16; 1 Chronicles 29:15). 

But Job and David both knew the hope they could have in their Redeemer (Job 19:25; Psalm 16). 

Hope in both the Old and the New Testaments means a patient waiting, anticipating with pleasure, having a confident expectation. It’s a light shining in the darkness that cannot be extinguished—it’s hope that despair cannot darken (Isaiah 9:1-2, 6-7). 

At His first Advent, Jesus appeared in our “clothing” so that He could become our sin and then clothe us in His righteousness (Hebrews 2:17; John 1:14; Romans 4:6-8; Hebrews 6:16-20). For this we look back in gratitude. 

But we don’t live today merely in gratitude for Christ’s first Advent, but we also live in confident hope of Christ’s second Advent (Acts 1:11; John 14:1-3; 2 Corinthians 5:1-8; Revelation 22:7, 12, 20).

He came into this world of sin,
Made flesh and blood His dearest kin;
He died, that He might take us in,
And keep us till He comes again. —Scott Hubbard



How do we live out this confident hope—


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) 


Follow along with all four of the Advent attributes 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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Don’t Let Your Gratitude Get Hijacked

November 11, 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. 




Last week I mentioned that I was a bit surprised that scientists had done so much research on the benefits of gratitude because science tends to have an over-reliance on the tangible world. But it’s hard to ignore that there are so many intangibles (like gratitude) which make a tangible difference in people’s lives. 


We get ourselves into trouble if we focus exclusively on the tangible or intangible. We also get ourselves into trouble if we don’t use all of the resources God has given us. 


The Bible tells us that we have been created in the image of God, and that one of the things that separates us from the other creatures in the world is our soul (Genesis 2:7). Our soul is compromised of our mind, our will, and our emotions. 


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


We cannot allow any one of these to lay dormant or even considered less valuable than the others, nor we can allow any one of these to bully the others. 


    

  • If my emotions dominate (especially emotions like fear or anger) I can give into fight-or-flight—Psalm 106:7 
    • 

  • If my mind dominates, I can become dark and confused—Romans 1:21 NLT 
    • 

  • If my willpower dominates, I tend to be very selfish—Isaiah 14:13-14 
    • 



When my emotions flare up, when my mind is dark, or when I feel selfish, I need to remember to engage the other two parts of my God-breathed soul. This is where gratitude comes into play. 


I love reading the Psalms when I’m battling the negative emotions that seem to rush in during trying times. The psalmists were so honest about what they were feeling. Check out a couple of examples in Psalm 7:17 and 9:1-2 where we see David engaging his mind and his will to make the choice to be grateful to God despite his circumstances. 


In the New Testament, we see a similar response from Paul and Silas when they are falsely imprisoned in Philippi (see Acts 16:22-26). Despite their cruel circumstances, they chose to life thankful worship to God. Luke write that the other inmates were listening, and so was the jailer and his family, who ended up accepting Jesus as their Savior. 


I’ve got three important words for you when dark times threaten to hijack your gratefulness:


TALK TO YOURSELF


We see another psalmist doing this in Psalm 42:1-6. He asks his soul why it is so downcast, and then he says, “I chose to remember God in all His goodness and I chose to praise Him!” These words are repeated again in Psalm 42:11 and 43:5, which tells me that giving thanks to God is not a one-and-done thing, but something that needs to be continually repeated. 


You can get some conversation starters for your self-talk in two simple ways:


    

  1. Write down your gratitude 
    2. 

  2. Talk about your gratitude 
    3. 



Keep a gratitude journal: Write something down at the end of each and every day. Write it down. Re-read it regularly. Tell others about it. And then be ready for others to ask you about Jesus—just like the Philippian jailer—when they notice how thankful you are! 


Use your mind to talk back to your fears and worries, and then engage your willpower. Don’t let your gratitude get hijacked by the circumstances around you, but allow your thankfulness to help you reframe your circumstances into God’s plan. 


Check out the other messages in our Be Thankful 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. 

  2. Physical benefits—stronger immune system, less body aches and pains, regulated blood pressure, a better sleep-wake cycle 
    3. 

  3. Social benefits—better communication with others, increased empathy, increased likability 
    4. 



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 
    2. 



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. 

  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. 

  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. 

  4. Keep a gratitude journal so that you don’t forget what God has done for you (Psalm 106:7).  
    5. 

  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). 
    6. 



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. 


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Pre-Political Christians

October 17, 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. 




John Stonestreet used an interesting term (pre-political) that got me thinking about how many government programs would be unnecessary if the Church was doing what Jesus called the Church to do. 




Here’s the full quote from John Stonestreet: “Christian political engagement should hit its fever pitch not during elections. The only way to relieve the political pressures of our day is to build up the pre-political aspects of our life together, especially the family and the Church. When we care well for our children, our neighbors, and our communities, the state doesn’t have to.” 


The Scriptures I reference in this video—Isaiah 3:4-5; Mark 12:28-31; Matthew 25:34-40. 


The post I mention in the video that was prompted by the Isaiah 3 passage is It’s Not “Them,” It’s Us. 


If you would like to watch the full sermon from which I took this clip, you can find that here. 


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






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