I give You thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart; before the angels I sing Your praise. I bow down toward Your holy temple and give thanks to Your name for Your steadfast love and faithfulness, for You have exalted above all things Your Name and Your Word.
(Verses 1-2)
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. John 1
(May) the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the work of His great might that He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at the right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but in the age to come. Ephesians 1 italics, mine
I was taught from a very early age that when someone does something nice for you, you say, "Thank you." The lesson was really brought home on my sixth birthday. I still do this: get something in my mind that I'd like to have and tend to obsess about it. But not so much as when I was six. My "wanter" is much less significant for me in these years of my life. Back then, I wanted a watch. I really, really, really wanted a watch for my birthday. My parents had a big party for me. I couldn't sleep the night before for thinking about the watch that somebody would surely give me. Man! I wanted to wind it and set it and show it off. Forget the birthday cake and the candles and let me at those presents! My first disappointment came when my cousin, an adult male who lived in our house, gave me a picture he'd drawn. Really? I'm six! What am I gonna do with that? Then came a stream of games and stuff that made me even more anxious to open the watch I was sure was beneath somebody's nicely wrapped gift. One after another. No watch. Just other stuff. Late to the party came my Sunday school teacher carrying a beautifully wrapped gift that I now know would've been way too big to be a watch. But ever optimistic and a bit greedy, I tore into the package thinking, This is it! It was doll furniture. Plastic doll furniture. Cute. But, hey, not a watch. So, I looked at her in all sincerity and said the thing that was on my mind (rarely a good thing). "It's nice, but Í wanted a watch." The unfortunate thing about this scenario was that Mother was standing there. I got smarter as I got older in this regard. At least wait until your mom is out of earshot to be an entitled little brat. As you can imagine, my mother excused herself and me. I'm glad she spanked me on my sixth birthday. Told me to be thankful. Withheld giving me a watch until Christmas that year...that was another whole four months. An ungrateful heart is an ugly thing.
Can you even imagine how God must feel when we withhold a thankful heart from Him? The gift from Him? Christ, of course. The Word Who called everything into being came down to those He created on the earth He'd set in motion to look at the stars He calls by name in order to make us God's inheritance. We are the ones Jesus came to claim as His precious endowment. Bought us out of the slavery in which we languished with no hope in sight and called us Beloved. Along with our salvation we receive the benefits of a Father Whose power is beyond comprehension. And God uses that power on our behalf, just like He did with Jesus when He raised Him from the dead! That's power! The everlasting love of a Father like that is a gift--outright undeserved by us. We are ungrateful, whining children most of the time. Wanting more, more, more!
Remember the ten lepers? They were standing outside a village, ostracized and hated because of their disfiguring disease. The lepers didn't approach Jesus, but yelled at Him, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" Jesus didn't touch them. Didn't demand anything from them. Didn't forgive them of sin. Didn't ask them to confess or plead or have great faith. "Go and show yourselves to the priest." That's it. The problem was, the priest wouldn't get anywhere near ten unclean lepers. So, they had to be healed on the way to the temple. Had to be cleansed in the process of their faith. It took guts to even walk in that direction. But they were healed. A gift. Unspeakable. Unbelievable. Life-changing. Men who'd been freed to go back to families and jobs and life because Jesus spoke. The Word said so. And they all came running back to thank Him!!! Oops. No. Only one. One. And this one guy, when he realized on his way to town that all his leprous sores were gone, that the word was true and right, just started shouting. Praising God with his screaming! Ran back. Fell at the feet of Jesus. "Thank you! Thank you, Master! Thank you!" Jesus wanted to know, "Where are the other nine?" Don't know. Entitled somehow to think Jesus owed them a healing. And they missed the greater miracle. This Samaritan man, a foreigner, outcast, never had to go all the way to the temple. Jesus declared him clean because he was so thankful. Ah, the beauty of a grateful heart. The Samaritan had the joy of seeing pure Joy get happy with him. Bathed in the radiance of the face of Jesus Who honored the leper for his acknowledgment and unabashed thankfulness!
I have a heart full of thankfulness today! None of that would be possible without the preeminence of the Name and the Word. Jesus is the reason for my living. I dance because I am His inheritance. Treasured and kept because I am so precious. Life has its ups and downs, but the constant is the One Whose Name and Word sustain all things. There in the valleys to hold me; there on the mountain top to sing with me. Every other gift this Earth can bestow will go away someday. Watches included. Jesus remains. Forever. The angels praise Him day and night. It is my incomprehensible right to join in the chorus.
(Verses 1-2)
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. John 1
(May) the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the work of His great might that He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at the right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but in the age to come. Ephesians 1 italics, mine
I was taught from a very early age that when someone does something nice for you, you say, "Thank you." The lesson was really brought home on my sixth birthday. I still do this: get something in my mind that I'd like to have and tend to obsess about it. But not so much as when I was six. My "wanter" is much less significant for me in these years of my life. Back then, I wanted a watch. I really, really, really wanted a watch for my birthday. My parents had a big party for me. I couldn't sleep the night before for thinking about the watch that somebody would surely give me. Man! I wanted to wind it and set it and show it off. Forget the birthday cake and the candles and let me at those presents! My first disappointment came when my cousin, an adult male who lived in our house, gave me a picture he'd drawn. Really? I'm six! What am I gonna do with that? Then came a stream of games and stuff that made me even more anxious to open the watch I was sure was beneath somebody's nicely wrapped gift. One after another. No watch. Just other stuff. Late to the party came my Sunday school teacher carrying a beautifully wrapped gift that I now know would've been way too big to be a watch. But ever optimistic and a bit greedy, I tore into the package thinking, This is it! It was doll furniture. Plastic doll furniture. Cute. But, hey, not a watch. So, I looked at her in all sincerity and said the thing that was on my mind (rarely a good thing). "It's nice, but Í wanted a watch." The unfortunate thing about this scenario was that Mother was standing there. I got smarter as I got older in this regard. At least wait until your mom is out of earshot to be an entitled little brat. As you can imagine, my mother excused herself and me. I'm glad she spanked me on my sixth birthday. Told me to be thankful. Withheld giving me a watch until Christmas that year...that was another whole four months. An ungrateful heart is an ugly thing.
Can you even imagine how God must feel when we withhold a thankful heart from Him? The gift from Him? Christ, of course. The Word Who called everything into being came down to those He created on the earth He'd set in motion to look at the stars He calls by name in order to make us God's inheritance. We are the ones Jesus came to claim as His precious endowment. Bought us out of the slavery in which we languished with no hope in sight and called us Beloved. Along with our salvation we receive the benefits of a Father Whose power is beyond comprehension. And God uses that power on our behalf, just like He did with Jesus when He raised Him from the dead! That's power! The everlasting love of a Father like that is a gift--outright undeserved by us. We are ungrateful, whining children most of the time. Wanting more, more, more!
Remember the ten lepers? They were standing outside a village, ostracized and hated because of their disfiguring disease. The lepers didn't approach Jesus, but yelled at Him, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" Jesus didn't touch them. Didn't demand anything from them. Didn't forgive them of sin. Didn't ask them to confess or plead or have great faith. "Go and show yourselves to the priest." That's it. The problem was, the priest wouldn't get anywhere near ten unclean lepers. So, they had to be healed on the way to the temple. Had to be cleansed in the process of their faith. It took guts to even walk in that direction. But they were healed. A gift. Unspeakable. Unbelievable. Life-changing. Men who'd been freed to go back to families and jobs and life because Jesus spoke. The Word said so. And they all came running back to thank Him!!! Oops. No. Only one. One. And this one guy, when he realized on his way to town that all his leprous sores were gone, that the word was true and right, just started shouting. Praising God with his screaming! Ran back. Fell at the feet of Jesus. "Thank you! Thank you, Master! Thank you!" Jesus wanted to know, "Where are the other nine?" Don't know. Entitled somehow to think Jesus owed them a healing. And they missed the greater miracle. This Samaritan man, a foreigner, outcast, never had to go all the way to the temple. Jesus declared him clean because he was so thankful. Ah, the beauty of a grateful heart. The Samaritan had the joy of seeing pure Joy get happy with him. Bathed in the radiance of the face of Jesus Who honored the leper for his acknowledgment and unabashed thankfulness!
I have a heart full of thankfulness today! None of that would be possible without the preeminence of the Name and the Word. Jesus is the reason for my living. I dance because I am His inheritance. Treasured and kept because I am so precious. Life has its ups and downs, but the constant is the One Whose Name and Word sustain all things. There in the valleys to hold me; there on the mountain top to sing with me. Every other gift this Earth can bestow will go away someday. Watches included. Jesus remains. Forever. The angels praise Him day and night. It is my incomprehensible right to join in the chorus.
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