In the early days of creation, God was known in Hebrew as Eloheim, which is plural, or El Shaddai , God who is sufficient for life. So when we say ‘God’, we are actually speaking about God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. It is somewhat difficult to completely separate the Eloheim who is ONE, the perfectly harmonized and unified One God, or a unity within Himself (the meaning of echad, ONE). So I’m aiming this as toward God our Creator.
In Deuteronomy 30 Eloheim/God said some profound things.
15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil,
19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; 20 that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”
It may be that the reason God put this in my mind is that all of my life God has continually given my life back to me in some way or another, starting from before I was born. So first God choose life FOR me and then God helped me continue to choose life.
I AM THANKFUL — that God gave us the ability to choose AND points us toward the best choices.
God made us sentient beings. We are aware, responsive, reactive, and capable of feeling and sensing. This means that we are capable of choice. But God didn’t leave it at just that. God spells it out for us. There are good choices and bad choices. It is God’s desire that we choose life. Not only does God spell it out for us what our choices are, but He also always points us in the right direction. From the very beginning, God spelled out our choices and told us which is the best choice.
EXAMPLES: THE ADAMS AND CAIN
God’s aim was always that we are to live life to it’s fullest. Not only does God point us in the right direction, but God is always available to encourage, explain and direct us in the right direction. When Cain was contemplating murdering his brother God explained to him that wrong choices allow “sin” to crouch in readiness to overtake us. But we must command sin to stay away.
God even sent His Son to suffer death for our sake so that we might be empowered to fight evil and to thus live life to it’s fullest.
I AM THANKFUL — that God said He would never leave us nor forsake us.
Deut. 31: 8 And the LORD, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.”
The word translated “leave” in some translations, means ‘to fail or neglect’. So God will not neglect us. He does not give us life and then send us on to fend for ourselves. He is there for us. God is aware of our trials and hovers over our lives looking for places to influence us toward choosing LIFE.
I AM THANKFUL — that God is patient and longsuffering.
There is an idiom in the OT that God used to describe himself with. He said He is ‘long of nose’. This means God is patient and longsuffering. He’ll take a good long breath and count to 1000 instead of quickly getting angry. God does not give up on us. J
This is very important to me. I have failed myself, others and thus God so many times. There have been times I did not want to follow His directions, when I argued with God. Facts are that humans are inherently self centered. I want. I don’t want. I can’t. I’m afraid. I’d rather ……
Thank goodness we have a God who takes a good long deep breath and then says “OK, daughter and son, let’s try this again.
I AM THANKFUL — that God heals and cleanses us.
Ex. 15: and said, “If you diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.
2 Chronicles 7:14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
There are so many instances of God’s healing in Scripture and in life. God desires the best for us. I have experienced many miracles of God’s healing in my life, especially healing from sin. Repetitive sin is by far the worst disease of all. Sin wounds the soul you know. It wounds, twists and taints our hearts and minds so that we limp through life not thinking properly, not sensing or feeling in accurate ways.
Ps. 147:3
He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds.
WHAT GOD CLEANS AND HEALS – HE USES!
Early on in my walk, God healed my hands of sinful doings. And then years later He called me to go to school and learn Massage Therapy. Hands called to cleanliness of intent are necessary for some jobs to be done well. And clean/holy hands means that God can use them for His purposes.
I AM SO THANKFUL — that God desires to use us.
Isa. 6: 8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “ Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”
Here am I Lord, use me, should be a heartfelt cry from all believers. Just as God cleansed the lips of Isaiah so that he could be used of God to speak God’s words, so also God sent His Son to cleanse our hearts and souls, to heal and deliver us SO THAT we could experience the joys of doing the works of God. SO THAT God could send us on a mission or two. Whatever God heals, whatever God makes new in our lives enables us to live a life more consecrated to God, and enables God to better speak and move through us to spread His truth and His love and healing throughout the world.
God desires that we mature into the fullness of Christ so that we can do the works that He did.
Ephe. 4: 11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect/mature human, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
John 14: 12 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. 13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.
As we mature we learn to give of our lives and that is where the blessing is. Jesus said He came to serve and give His life as a ransom for others. In God’s economy of giving, what we give He returns to us in fuller measure. (Luke 6:38) So what we give will be given back to us in some measure, “pressed down, shaken together, and running over”. In this way to give is to gain more. We don’t lose anything.
In SUMMARY:
I AM THANKFUL — that God gave me life and eternal life.
I AM THANKFUL — that God gave us the ability to choose
AND points us toward the best choices, the choices that bring and give life.
I AM THANKFUL — that God said He would never leave us, neglect us nor forsake us.
I AM THANKFUL — that God is patient and longsuffering, never giving up on us.
I AM THANKFUL — that God heals and cleanses us as well as forgives us.
I AM THANKFUL — that God desires to use us to bless others and that we are blessed in the process.
GOD IS SOOO GOOD!!! May we never forget that.
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