{"id":30519,"date":"2022-07-10T21:25:08","date_gmt":"2022-07-11T01:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=30519"},"modified":"2022-08-17T10:29:43","modified_gmt":"2022-08-17T14:29:43","slug":"pastors-ponderings-who-are-we-thankful-for-7-9-22","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=30519","title":{"rendered":"Pastor’s Ponderings: Who Are We Thankful For? (7\/9\/22)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pastor Jim submitted the below devotional on July 9, 2022…<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Greetings Friends:<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\nPLEASE READ:\u00a01 Chronicles 29:10-13<\/p>\n

\n

“David praised the LORD in the presence of the whole assembly, saying, \u201cPraise be to you, O LORD, God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. <\/span><\/p>\n

Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.<\/span>“<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nWOW! What an amazing prayer offered by David!\u00a0 He recognizes that blessings come into our lives by the hand of God.\u00a0 David really expresses appreciation for all that God has blessed him with.\u00a0 As a child of God, we are reminded by Paul in Ephesians\u00a05:20<\/a>, “Giving thanks\u00a0always\u00a0and\u00a0for everything\u00a0to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ…<\/span>“.\u00a0
\n\u00a0
\nAdmittedly it is easy to overlook the every day things that make up our life and it\u2019s only when we no longer have good health, or we are separated from a family member,\u00a0a close friend, a confidant, enter a new phase of life, loose a beloved job, or have a tragedy strike that we suddenly\u00a0realize what we had previously taken so much for granted.
\n\u00a0
\nI\u2019m sure all of us have a long list of things, experiences, and people in our lives that we are grateful for. It is shocking in many ways when we realize that the things, experiences, and persons that come our way on the journey of life are often only for a brief moment (see\u00a0Ecclesiastes\u00a03:1-8<\/a>\u00a0&\u00a0Ecclesiastes\u00a08:6a<\/a>).\u00a0 I fear that there is a danger, call it a temptation if you like, to forget or overlook and express gratitude to the One who has blessed us, God.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Someone once said,<\/p>\n

\n

“We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

As a people of God,\u00a0like David in the Scripture noted above, we have the privilege and opportunity to recognize,\u00a0appreciate, and\u00a0thank God for the essential things of our lives.
\n\u00a0
\nMoses reminds the people\u00a0that the\u00a0blessings of the Promised Land\u00a0is not something that they have earned or even deserve. They are reminded in clear terms not to forget to thank the One who has graciously given all this to them.\u00a0 So Moses offers the following instruction, “Make certain you do not forget the Lord your God. \u2026 Remember that it is the Lord who has given you everything you need<\/span><\/em>” (Deuteronomy 8:11,\u00a018<\/a>).
\n\u00a0
\nDavid sings in\u00a01\u00a0Chronicles\u00a016:8-12<\/a>, “Give thanks\u00a0to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations\u00a0what he has done.\u00a0Sing to him, sing praise\u00a0to him; tell of all his wonderful acts.\u00a0Glory in his holy name;\u00a0let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.\u00a0Look to the LORD and his strength; seek\u00a0his face always.\u00a0Remember\u00a0the wonders\u00a0he has done, his miracles,\u00a0and the judgments he pronounced.<\/span><\/em>”\u00a0<\/p>\n

The psalmist writes in\u00a0Psalm\u00a047:7<\/a>, “For God is the King of all the earth;\u00a0sing to him a psalm\u00a0of praise<\/span><\/em>.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Apostle Paul repeats this call to thanksgiving when he writes, “Sing psalms, hymns, and sacred songs; sing to God with thanksgiving in your hearts<\/span><\/em>” (Colossians\u00a03:16<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Again the psalmist writes, “Let us come before him\u00a0with thanksgiving\u00a0and extol him with music\u00a0and song<\/span><\/em>” (Psalms 95:2<\/a>).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A spirit of thanksgiving is a distinguishing\u00a0mark of a disciple of Christ.<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0
\nStop and think for a moment: What and\/or Who are each of us thankful for?\u00a0 Let us offer praise and thanksgiving to God!\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

Shalom,<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Pastor Jim<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

+\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 +\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 +\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 +\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 +\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 +\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 +<\/span><\/p>\n

For more Pastor’s Ponderings articles, click this button:\u00a0\u00a0 Pastor’s Ponderings<\/span><\/a> \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

God has given us life and He continues to give us everything that we need. How thankful are we?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3508,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[131],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pastors-ponderings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30519"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30760,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30519\/revisions\/30760"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}