Daily Bread

A Flower that Never Fades

/ pastorpete51 / 4 Comments

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The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever  Isaiah 40:8

At the moment of her selection Esther was the most beautiful young woman that the king could find in all his domain. She was chosen to be queen and to live in his palace. Esther received the finest clothes, the most servants and the sweetest perfumes of any lady in Persia. But her true loveliness had little to do with her hair, her figure or her face. What still shines about Esther in the pages of the Bible is her character. Esther chose to be an intercessor for her people to the king. She willingly faced death, dishonor and failure because she trusted God. Her physical beauty is today remembered only in words but she retains forever a beauty that will last forever!

And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away              1 Peter 5:4

Thankfulness Challenge 2

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We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly[a] mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ  1 Thessalonians 1:2-3

“What exactly do you love about me?” my wife sometimes asks me. She doesn’t just want an akimg0754bstract lovey -dovey comment, she wants all the little nitty gritty details! Think of thankfulness as a thousand piece puzzle. It takes more than knowing what the big picture looks like to get that thing together. Finishing the puzzle means fitting each and every tiny part exactly into the position for which it was designed! Paul got very detailed about the thanks he was giving for his friends at the Thessalonian church. In fact Paul went into extra innings in his prayer time to remind God with a specific list of their work, their faith and their labor of love.

We might tell our pastor, “Hey great sermon today!” but can we take the time to say, “That part about unshakable confidence being like the mountains really made me think.” If we are to start building a design of thankfulness, let’s make it our goal this week to just fit in at least one tiny puzzle piece. If kimg0749we were blessed by the worship, we could say something like, “When you got to that part about God breaking chains, my heart just felt a breakthrough tonight!”

Saying thank you, may feel awkward and maybe a little strange but God himself can be very specific when he expresses His love for us. He counts our every hair, he bottles every tear and hears every cry. He touched a leper and put clothing on a naked demon possessed man. Jesus had compassion on the hungry, then took the time to count every one in the crowd before he multiplied their bread. He has left us a perfect example that is not only our duty but it is our joy to follow. When we give thanks for what someone has done for us we never know what it will do. Giving thanks is a bit like washing dirty tired feet. Thankfulness means taking the position of servant before our brothers and sisters, so we can walk together into everything that God has designed for us!

Challenged to Thank God

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My wife came across an interesting sign that asked the question, “What if you woke up tomorrow with only what you thanked God for today?  After we shared Communion tonight I began to ask myself, “What if next Sunday we only had the people for whom we thanked God for today?”

Maybe our church and yours would have a lot less empty seats if we wete grateful for one other rather than complaining. ( I confess to being one of those!) Maybe if we began to truly appreciate the people who do come to our services God could help us to grow and then He would get the credit!

1 Thessalonians 1:2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers.

I would be willing to bet big money that when the apostle Paul visited the folks couldn’t wait to get to church! When was the last time you couldn’t wait to get to church? I am taking the thankfulness challenge this week. Anyone care to join me? Let’s give thanks for as many people as we can remember starting tomorrow. Let’s give thanks and ask God to have His way in their lives and ours, then wait and see what He will do!