So Many Things to Learn

Wow. What a crazy week it was after I posted last Wednesday. Thank you all who have been praying for my wrist. I am going in to have surgery on it Oct. 5, which is a Friday, they’re going to put a screw and wire in my wrist to cause it to heal faster and stronger. I’m pretty stoked about that. More importantly though in the last week the Lord has really been teaching me about thankfulness. Prior to last week He had caused it to come to mind that though I often hold gratitude in my heart very often I do not express it verbally thus making it thanks. This covers all areas of my life from my physical relationships here on earth to the spiritual relationship I have with God. Last week though on of the staff members spoke and taught over the place and need for thankfulness in our relationship with God. I must say that God spoke through him to me very deeply, and since then I have begun the process of trying to constantly have a heart and attitude of thanks. It should also be said that in entering into communication and prayer with God, if you know Him, that thankfulness should almost always come first in our talking to Him. Thankfulness causes us to reflect on the mercies received from God in the form of blessings, answered prayer, and the myriad other things that He does for us. Within the Tabernacle of God which resided amongst the Israelites there existed the proper way of entrance into the courtyard. This gate was known as the Gate of Thanksgiving. What followed the entrance into that gate was the Altar of Remembrance. It is upon this altar that the animals were sacrificed, and for us as believers and followers of Christ brings us to the culmination of our thanks in remembering and meditating upon the sacrifice of Christ. After the altar stood the Laver. It was this vessel which held the water that the priests would wash themselves with. Its bottom was burnished so brightly it was like a mirror so that you could see the dirt upon your face and wash it off. This practically for us means that as we come to God in prayer, that after we have given thanks to Him, remembered the things He’s done for us and to us, and reflected upon His character and word that we confess our sins, repent of them, and receive forgiveness from God. Herein we can run into a problem, if we do not approach the subject of sin in our lives rightly then condemnation and despair can enter into our lives, thus discouraging from God. This is effectively seen when we as Christians take our climbing hook, run full bore at the walls of the tabernacle, throw our hook over the wall and climb over. Instead of entering through the easy gate we enter the wrong way by storming the walls! This lines us up immediately with the laver where if we remember not the goodness and faithfulness of God to us then we will walk into self pity and condemnation instead of conviction and Godly sorrow which brings us to repentance. This whole thing has played out in my life by me learning, pursuing, and desiring thankfulness before anything else I bring before God, and you know what I’ve found? It is so wonderful to be thankful before God, and reflect on everything He is and has done. It causes your faith and belief to grow because you see that if this God has been so faithful to you in the past and continues to be in the present then most likely He will continue to be in the future. So don’t forget the things that God has done for you, because I believe that almost every problem we have sin-wise and doubt-wise is because we are or have forgotten the things that God is and has done for us. If you have trouble thinking of things to thank God for ask Him to grow thankfulness in your heart, and then begin to reflect on the circumstances of and in your life. You’ll soon find much to be thankful for. Peace.

Warren S.