Thanksgiving is the Best?

Don’t you just love Thanksgiving? The delicious smells coming from the kitchen, the gathering of family and friends around our tables, and for those sports lovers, the traditional NFL football games on the tube!

This Classic American holiday is a wonderful opportunity for all of us to stop and offer thanksgiving for the simple and best things in life; family, friends, health, jobs, shelter, and sustenance.

As we ponder what we are thankful for this Thanksgiving holiday, think not only about, what you are thankful for but also to whom thanksgiving should be directed towards.

This thanksgiving let us consider thanking those around us who have been a blessing to our lives; parents, spouses, children, employers and employees, friends, etc………. and of course please don’t forget to the source from whom all good gifts come, our creator God.


If you enjoyed this article, please join us at Boundless Grace Church the Sunday before Thanksgiving as we offer thanks to God for his many blessings.

Prayer is a Win Win Deal

I can't seem to leave this matter of prayer alone. As mention in one of my last entries, helpless qualifies us for prayer, and believe me, I am helpless without God, my Father, Jesus, my Savior, and the Spirit, my helper.

Check out what Jesus said about prayer here:

If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; and so shall ye be My disciples. (John 15:7-9)

In these few words spoken by Jesus, several things jump off the page. First, the key to answered prayer has to do with Remaining in Him. Jesus has linked prayer blessings to our constant fellowship with Him.

Second, Ask! Nothing profound here, but we must, rid ourselves of our pride and speak of our needs.

Third, prayer that is answered brings glory to our Father in Heaven. When the God of all riches deposits some of His wealth in our accounts don't we want to praise Him, glorify Him, brag on Him! Give Him all the credit!

Forth, praying ultimately leads to fruit on our spiritual tree, i.e. a godly disposition (Gal 5) and influence for the Savior.

Finally, praying underscores the fact that we are Jesus followers-disciples!

This all sound like win-win to me.

Have a great day!

Helplessness & Prayer

Helpless Believers and Prayer

This morning, let me share a great thought with you concerning this matter of prayer. O. Hallesby in his classic little book, PRAYER, says one of the key attitudes for effective praying is a strong sense of Helplessness. Two quotes from his book are worth the read:

1) This is unquestionably the first and surest indication of a praying heart. As far as I can see, prayer has been ordained only for the helpless. It is the last resort of the helpless. Indeed the very last way out.

2) Prayer therefore consist simply in telling God day by day in what ways we feel helpless. We are moved to pray every time the Spirit of God, which is the spirit of prayer, emphasizes anew our helplessness, and we realize how impotent we are by nature to believe, to love, to hope, to serve, to sacrifice, to suffer, to read the bible, to pray, and to struggle against our sinful desires.

My translation, helpless times can be a great asset to us. After all, when we are at the end of our proverbial rope God's prayer channel indicates a strong signal for our weak prayers.

With all this in mind, I have discovered that in times of helplessness my prayers seem so weak, a cry for help may be the most profound words I can muster. But this simple cry is not without assistance.

Read the Apostle's words to the Roman believers of his day, the Spirit helps us in our weakness (helpless state). We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. Romans 8:26

In this context listen to what Theologian Lewis Chafer once said, “Groanings which cannot be uttered- expresses at once the vastness of our need, our utter ignorance and inability, and the infinite concern of the blessed indwelling Spirit for us........ Groaning, what a word! And to be used of the Spirit of the Almighty Himself! How shallow is our appreciation of what is done, both by Christ for us, and by the Spirit within us.”

Friends, let me encourage you as I encourage myself, Christ and the Spirit are both praying for us and with us in times of helplessness.

Let me wrap these thoughts up with a quote from the great Charles Spurgeon,

"Groanings which cannot be uttered are often prayers which cannot be refused."

Grace, Faith, & You

How about rejoicing today over the truth of Ephesians 2:3-10.

The Apostle Paul speaking to a group of believers says,

Like the rest we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of His great love for us, God who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved! v.3b-4

Paul goes on to remind believers that grace motivated God to gift us with faith. Therefore the right response for Christians is to glorify God and reject any human boast!

JESUS PAID IT ALL, ALL TO HIM I OWE, SIN HAD LEFT A CRIMSON STAIN, HE WASHED IT WHITE AS SNOW!

Praise your Father in Heaven today. His Great love is upon you.

Dealing with our Doubts

I love the line from the book Reaching for the Invisible God by Philip Yancey,

Doubt is the skeleton in the closet of faith, and I know of know better way to treat a skeleton than to bring it into the open and expose it for what it is: not something to hide or fear but a hard structure on which living tissue may grow.

My blogger friends, as followers of Jesus we are called to pray in faith, but, at times we must admit that our prayers are more prayers of hope and not prayers of faith because of our doubts. What are we to do then? How about we call our doubts out into the open where we can hang God's truths on their bony structures.

God's word tells us to cast our cares on Him for He cares for us! Casting our cares on God is to throw our concerns on God's strong shoulders, for He can and will shoulder our troubles.

Therefore do some casting today and don't reel your concerns back in. Cast your cares on Him and then cut the line.

House of Prayer

Jesus was clear about God's heart related to the purpose of the corporate gathering of His people in Mark 11. "My House is to be a House of Prayer for all the nations." This statement was made in the context of Jesus clearing out the money changers in the temple courts. At first glance it might seem that Jesus was bothered about the selling of animals for sacrificial purposes. However, a closer look sheds light on the real issue, the lack of prayer which always manifest itself when relationship is replaced by religion. Israel had the religion thing down but at the cost of the relational aspect of true religion. In this context two things are clear to be. First, prayer must be primary to our church gathering times. In my observation of most church meetings, prayer is nothing More than a pause between songs, in which someone "prays over the offering." Again, a money changer mentality has crept its way into the meeting.

At Bound Grace Church we are trying our best to make prayer a major part of our worship gatherings. We pray scripture together, pray over people, and pray for one another on Sundays and also meet during the week for prayer in our Home Group Ministry. (By the way, if you need prayer email me and you request will be prayed over at our Prayer House meeting).

The second thing about this passage on the house of prayer is very interesting. Jesus said that God's house is to be a house of prayer for "all the nations." God is into worship gatherings were diversity is celebrated not just tolerated. It must be noted that Israel was, stand off-ish towards the non Jew, therefore the pagan cultures of the day were not welcomed guest into the temple courts.

Are the non chosen welcomed guest in our houses of worship?