From Complaining to Thanksgiving

Recently, I spoke to a friend who was having a self-confessed “pity party” and she invited me to the party to ask for my counsel. Her problems where bigger than any answers I could come up with and she was in such a hopeless state that my heart broke in compassion. I felt like I couldn't offer her any advice until I remembered some words of wisdom I received last year. Every time you feel like complaining, stop and thank God for something. Start small and work your way up.

Thank you God that I woke up this morning.

Thank you God that I’m breathing.

Thank you God that my heart is beating.

Thank you God for my health.

Thank you God for my car.

Thank you God for a roof over my head.

Thank you God for food to eat.

Thank you God for my family and friends.

And so on and so on….

I often lose sight of Jesus when I’m focusing on myself. When I feel sad, mad, or hurt, I emotionally shut down. When my problems are overwhelming, I want to run. When I’m fearful, I want to hide. I'm learning to stop the downward emotional cycle by changing my spiritual attitude from complaining to thanksgiving.

When I choose to give thanks to God in obedience, laying down my attitude at His feet, my thanksgiving eventually turns into worship and praise. I am purposefully taking the focus off my circumstances and back to the characteristics and promises of God. Humbled by the majesty and greatness of God, my problems shrink back into proportion.

Did you know it is God’s will that we give him thanks in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:15) The good, the bad, the ugly.

Because when we give thanks we are reminded of his goodness and steadfast love. (Psalm 107:1)

For He has given us every good and perfect gift. (James 1:17)

We should give God the thanks he is due because he is righteousness and just. (Psalm 7:17)

It’s spiritually dangerous to deny God’s goodness by neglecting to worship and give him thanks. In our foolishness and pride, we exchange the glorious, ever-living God for useless idols (Romans 1:20-23).

When we change our attitude from one of complaining to one of praise, we remember that He is the God who made us, we are his, and that his love for us is everlasting. We than come into his presence with singing. We enter into his gates with thanksgiving and a thank offering. We enter into his court with praise. We are instructed to be thankful and tell him so. We are to bless and affectionately praise His Name. (Psalm 100:1-5 AMP)

So this Thanksgiving, in addition to thanking God for all He has done for me, I’m going to give Him thanks for who He is: KING, LORD, CREATOR, SAVIOR, THE GREAT I AM, WHO WAS, AND IS, AND IS TO COME. 

Psalm 105:1-8

Praise the Lord and pray in his name!
Tell everyone what he has done.
Sing praises to the Lord!
Tell about his miracles.
Celebrate and worship his holy name with all your heart.
Trust the Lord and his mighty power.

Remember his miracles and all his wonders and his fair decisions.

You belong to the family of Abraham, his servant;

you are his chosen ones, the descendants of Jacob.

The Lord is our God, bringing justice everywhere on earth.

He will never forget his agreement or his promises, not in thousands of years.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Love,

Yolanda

Below is a video of an awesome sermon titled, "Extreme Thankfulness". The sermon starts at 46:12 on video. Great teaching.

How To Motivate God's Way

Recently I took a spin-class with a crazy-intense instructor. She was a self-confessed sports mom and she was scarrrry.  She yelled loudly throughout the entire class…

"There are two type of spinners: 1) those that listen and push themselves 2) those that cheat. I hate cheaters! There are winners and there are losers. Which one are you?”

I felt really sorry for the two poor losers who had to sneak out early. You could feel her disapproving stare.

Then she stalked around the class checking to see if we were cheating. In the background, she played a motivational audio with a Darth Vader voice, “Don’t be a quitter. Learn to feel comfortable with being uncomfortable.” She proudly admitted playing this audio for her children before their sports games.

Do you think this motivated me?

Nope. I found myself ignoring her, escaping into my happy place, pretending to be spinner #1 while really being spinner #2 (Sshh…don’t tell). 

While spinning, a conversation I had with a family friend came to mind. This friend used to be a professed Believer in Jesus Christ. He attended and served in church for over 20 years. Then for various reasons, disappointments, moral failures among some of his Christian friends, and so on, he decided to give up on God. He now considers himself an Atheist, at best an Agnostic. During our somewhat heated conversation, I found myself wanting to turn into my crazy spin instructor and yell, “Wake up, friend, before it’s too late! Don’t be a quitter! There are two kinds of people, those that are for God and those who are against Him.”

I attempted to motivate to repentance using logic, historical facts about Jesus, scientific evidence, current prophetic events in the news, theology, and finally to no avail, he must have seen the sad resignation on my face because he said, “I know you care but don’t.”

Brokenheartedly I replied, “I’ll keep caring. I even have your name written in my Bible next to a verse that made me think of you.”

That got his attention. “You have my name written in your Bible? I want to see it.” So, I opened up my Bible to show him his name and read him the following scripture:

For it is impossible to restore to repentance those who were once enlightened – those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come – and who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring such people to repentance again because they are nailing the Son of God to the cross again by rejecting him, holding him up to public shame. Hebrews 6:4-6 (NLT)

I believe the scripture got his attention because God was telling him, “My child, don’t you see by publicly rejecting my Son, you are rejecting my love for you. You are in danger of irrevocably hardening your heart towards me to that point that you will no longer feel My Spirit trying to draw you back to my love and salvation.”  For a brief moment, I saw a softening in my friend’s heart but then sadly witnessed the hardening when he said, “If I’m a lost cause then stop praying for me.”

At that moment, I had a choice. I could turn into the crazy spin instructor and bang my Bible over his head or I could choose love.

Before my friend left that day, I told him, “I want to leave you with just one thought. I will not stop praying for you because you may have given up on God but He has not given up on you. I’ll keep praying for you until you take your last breath or I take mine.”

Genuinely confused my friend asked, “Why?”

“Because God may save you for my sake. To honor my prayers.”

At least, he walked away smiling. Not angry. And I still have hope.

You see, recently in my weight-training class, I found myself motivated to push the limits of my endurance because a new instructor chose to motivate differently. She did not yell. She did not badger us. She brought us a healthy chocolate snack before class (I’m a sucker for sweets), she used words like “good job friends”, “you’re going to love how strong you feel”, she made us laugh through the pain, and at one point when I felt like quitting, she did push-ups next to me and gave me a fist pump afterwards.  That is the type of motivator I want to be.

So don’t give up on your friends who seem like lost causes. God keeps them in our lives for a reason. To motivate them back to His Son. Just don’t try to motivate them back to Jesus like my crazy-intense spin instructor. That just makes people run the other way. Choose to motivate by reminding them of God’s unconditional love. Speak words of encouragement. Give them sweet treats like remembering their birthday. When they feel like quitting, reach down into the pit and help pull them out. Write their names in your Bible. And most importantly, continue to pray for them and continue to believe in their salvation. Jesus told us, “All things are possible to him who believes.” (Mark 9:23)  So let’s keep believing even when our friends don’t. Until they take their last breath or we do.

Love,

Yolanda

So whether you’re my friend across town or a friend across the world, if you feel like giving up on God, the fact that you are reading this right now is proof that God loves you. You are not reading this by coincidence. There are no coincidences with God. He has made a divine appointment with you. He wants you to know that He is standing at the door to your heart knocking. If you let Him in, He promises His Holy Spirit will come dwell in your heart (Rev. 3:20). You will no longer be alone, God holds your hand (Psalm 73:23). He will be your Best Friend, Father, Savior, Healer, Protector, Defender, and Motivator (Isaiah 9). Nothing you have done or have thought of doing can separate you from God’s love (Romans 8:38-39).  Because if you acknowledge and confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and in your heart believe (adhere to, trust in, and rely on the truth) that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9).