PART 21 AM AN OVERCOMER

What does it mean to thank God regardless of the circumstances?

21

Thanking God Regardless of the Circumstances

What does it mean to be thankful to God?

     One of the opportunities I have available to me is to bring people an awareness that God loves them and wants to be their best friend. During the summer months, I drive a taxi cab. This is a business I’ve owned for about 12 years.

     Behind the driver’s seat is a plastic divider. This was put in place during the Covid outbreak in 2019. I still use it today as an advertising display for my published Christian books. I take the front cover image of each one, which my daughter helps me with, the photo design and text, and I send it to a well-known online company that will make postcards from it. I’ll order about one hundred of them, and they’ll be sent to various churches, letting them know about my new book. I’ll also take one of them and display it on the shield barrier in the cab so that my passengers will notice it, and hopefully, a conversation will ensue.

     Occasionally, someone will notice that my books are in the spiritual genre and will comment that they’re mad at God for the state of the world, loss of a loved one, or personal issues. This allows me to share my testimony, sometimes the gospel of Christ, and offer them a free book of their choosing. I try to keep at least two hard copies of each in the vehicle’s console area.

     Usually, when I share how and when God came into my life, this will include the salvation message. I’d say this is what I’m most thankful for. Without what I’ll call a God-encounter, my life wouldn’t have been changed from within.

     Without further ado, I’d like to share my witness.

     I grew up as an only child. My mother and father were brought up in a mainstream denomination. I remember going to church with them quite frequently as a little kid until my teenage years. Then, I lost interest in attending.

     After graduating from high school, I went to a local State college. I achieved a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics that allowed me to apply for vacant teaching positions in secondary schools, i.e., grades 7-12. While I was highly regarded during the interview process, I was always beaten out for the position.

     I worked part-time for my Father, who bought a spa and grille business during this time. This brought about much friction between us. I wouldn’t say I liked to cook and enjoyed serving people food and drink. Besides this, I’d broken up with my girlfriend. And most of my friends were getting married at a young age. So, I felt out of place when I’d go over to their houses.

     What was I to do? I needed a new direction. Then, I remembered an elective course I had taken during my senior year in college. It was about the life of Israel’s first king, Saul. I noticed that the God (Yahweh) of the Old Testament interacted with him in different ways. He wasn’t just a six-letter Hebrew word but a loving personal deity interested in this person’s physical and spiritual welfare. I wondered if He could help me in my hour of despair.

     But where would this God be found? I reasoned it had to be in a church. Which one? I had no idea. I knew that the city where I was born had a different church on every corner. So, each Sunday, I’d visit a new one.

     Most had a similar story. Be obedient to those in authority, give financially, and be faithful in attending the various gatherings of the members. That’s what I did. But finding God Himself was like finding the lost city of Atlantis.

     Then, it happened. It was a Sunday, on a holiday weekend. A parade was passing by my dad’s store at noon, just when I was leaving work. So, I followed at the rear of it as it went down the city’s main street, dispersing at the town hall. As I turned to walk back to get my car, which was located in a parking lot in the back of my Father’s business, I heard a loud voice in the near distance.

     As I walked closer to where the noise was coming from, I saw a large group of people standing before a platform as a young man was talking about how God wants to have a personal relationship with every one of them. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I had attended many other churches in my quest, but none said anything like this. There was an invitation for anyone who wanted to have a God-connection. Some came forward, but I was hesitant. I got the time and address of their next meeting, which I purposed to attend.

     It was held at someone’s house during the day. When I arrived, there was a barbecue going on. I was asked to help myself to some food, which I did. Then, an older man appeared, who I was informed would give a sermon. After it was over, he gave a similar invitation concerning having a personal relationship with God. He asked if anyone was interested. This time, I didn’t hesitate. I walked up to where he was standing, awaiting instructions. I figured, like the other churches, that I had to agree to do such and such to win God’s favor. But this was different.

     It was declared to me that each person is a sinner, which I was asked if I agreed with this sentiment. And I said yes. Then I was told about one of the members of the Trinity, Jesus, who, if I believed in Who He is and what He accomplished on the cross, I’d receive another member of the Trinity into my body who would give me verification of God’s presence. I professed out loud the prayer that was verbally spoken for me to recite, and all of a sudden, I was filled with a saturating peace and joy. I knew at that moment that my life had changed forever. I didn’t understand it intellectually, but I felt wrapped in God’s arms.

     I’m most thankful for this provided me with a new beginning, a new nature, and a new purpose, a divine one. What about you? Are you a church-goer? Have you gone to a certain faith for many years, but the God I’m describing is someone you’ve never met?

     Are you in a place where I was, where nothing was going right in my life? And you want to have a similar experience similar to mine. Well, before you is the salvation message. If you want a life-changing encounter with God, this is how it will happen. Just read the following words silently or aloud, and you’ll never be the same. Here they are.

      I acknowledge that I’ve sinned in many areas, such as: slandering others; having sexual relations outside of marriage; being jealous; having participated in alcohol or drug abuse; having sex with others of the same gender; having committed adultery; having taken money from others in a deceitful manner; having committed rape; having engaged in pedophilia, having committed murder, etc.

     I don’t want to continue in these mental, verbal, or overt sins. I need a new nature.

     I believe in you, Jesus Christ, as one of the members of the Trinity, who pre-existed time; came to the earth and took on the form of a man, being born of a virgin (no sin nature); God incarnate (God come in the flesh); deity (possessing a divine nature); lived a sinless life; listened to and obeyed the directives of His Father; went to the cross and paid for the penalty of and forgave the sins of the whole world; rose from the dead after three days, never to die again, walked the earth in His resurrection body for forty days witnessing to over five hundred people; and ascended into heaven to be seated at the right hand of God the Father.

     If you said this prayer, God the Holy Spirit has indwelt your body to abide in forever. He’ll convict you of sin, lead and guide you, pray for and teach you, and help you mature spiritually. Along with this, you’ve received in your spirit many blessings that declare all that has taken place in your new life.

     Like me, there will be many future instances ahead, whether in prosperity or adversity, where you can glean from each one something that will cause you to express thankfulness to God. As you read the Bible, you’ll find many stories of people just like you, who, along their spiritual walk, God came through for them in unexpected ways. One such story is what we’ll read about next. Please turn in your Bible to the Book of 2 Kings.

 

Suggested Reading: 2 Kings 4:1-7

     A widowed woman, whose husband was a disciple of the prophets, came to the prophet Elisha asking for financial assistance. She and her family were in debt and unable to pay the creditors. She was concerned that if the loan weren’t paid, the moneylender would come and take her two sons away and make them slaves.

2 Kings 4:2 And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil.

     Elisha asked her if she had anything in her house that could be used to help pay what was owed. She said that the only thing available was a pot of olive oil. He advised her to go to all of her neighbors, asking them if she could borrow vessels that could be used to hold this oil. If we were in her shoes, would we question the logic in obtaining many empty containers when the amount of oil in the pot being limited would only fill a couple of them?

2 Kings 4:7 Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest.

     She sent her two sons to collect the containers. When they returned, she was instructed to remain inside her house with her two sons and fill the receptacles from the pot of olive oil. This was done until all of them were filled. There was enough gathered to pay her debt and provide for her family’s present and future welfare.

     Did this woman blame God for her hardship? No. She was aware of her indebtedness and entreated a man of God about it. He asked her what she was willing to provide of value that might remedy her family’s financial plight. She told him, and God multiplied it. Wow!

     God knows all of our needs. There will be times in our lives as we follow His plan that the unexpected will occur, and it will appear that all is lost. Don’t wallow in what happened. Get up and seek God’s counsel.

     Some might ask, should we thank God that we lost our job? Should we thank God for the hurricane which took the lives of thousands? Should we thank God for the loss of our spouse or children? No, no, and no. However, we should look for all that we can be thankful for in the midst of it all.

     When my wife’s brother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, we watched his life deteriorate both mentally and physically over a short period. There came a time when he needed to be placed in a healthcare facility. Eventually, he was bedridden and fell into a coma. I went to visit him the night before he passed away.

     After talking to him at his bedside, being aware by specific cues that he was listening to what was being said, I shared the gospel of Christ. After which, he indicated that he responded to such. Amid much sorrow, I was thankful for the opportunity to declare an eternal changing message to him. The following day, he passed away. In God’s timing, I’ll see him again and hang out with him in a place free from sickness, pain, and regret.

     I’d like to leave you with some verses on being thankful.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 In every thing (in all circumstances; prosperity or adversity) give thanks (there is a silver lining to every cloud¹⁴⁶): for this is the will of God (God works everything together for good for those who love Him¹⁴⁷) in Christ Jesus concerning you.

1 Peter 2:19 For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.                            

2 Corinthians 2:14 Now thanks be (be thankful) unto God, which always causeth us to triumph (of the person or thing triumphed over¹⁴⁸) in Christ, and maketh manifest (known) the savour (the fragrance) of his knowledge by us in every place (that was diffused everywhere throughout the world via the preaching of the gospel¹⁴⁹).

     Something else we should be mindful of when we’re struggling to be released from our captivity to a compulsive mental, verbal, or actionable weakness is what we’ll take a look at next.