A Thankful Heart equals a Thankful Spirit

Luke 17: 15-16 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks...and he was a Samaritan...

Yesterday was a good day...I went to the State Park Camp Ground here on Hunting Island...They have a short devotional service each Sunday starting at 9 o clock until 9:45 or so...Rev. Bob Valentine shared a messaged on being thankful for all we have and all we are going to have in Jesus Christ...It was a good message...Then I went to my church at St. Helena Baptist where our pastor spoke to us about "Stop Complaining and get Thankful"...That was not his title, but that is what it said to me...

Then at 4o'clock we had another service...This is a service where another local church, (Brick Baptist) comes over to our church, we sing, we praise, we sing some more, and then the Pastor from the other church feeds us with the word of God...and then we eat...Baptist are famous for eating...

The Pastor from Brick Baptist preached on the same topic, Thankfulness...

How often do you really give thanks to God for what you have...? for where you have been...? or for where you are going...? Stop now for a moment and be honest with yourself...Are you thankful for your life...? your family... your all...?

So often we take things for granted...we really do...Like the water that we waste...Like the food that we have so much of...Like electricity...Like our cars and trucks...Even though gas and fuel is high, do we really realize how blessed we are to have all these things...How blessed are we to know Christ?

Thankfulness is foundational to the Christian life...Thankfulness is a conscious response that comes from looking beyond our blessing to their source...As Christians, we have been forgiven, saved from death, and adopted as God's children...There could be no better reason for a grateful heart...

Concerning our Scripture for this post...

Lepers in Jesus' day were social outcast...Their highly contagious condition ostracized them from those they loved...When ten lepers encountered Jesus, they desperately implored Him to show them mercy...Jesus sent them to the priest...As they obeyed, they were healed!

These ten men had been forbidden to enter their own villages, to live in their own homes, to work in their own jobs, or even to touch their own children...Imagine what unrestrained joy must have filled them as they ran back home again!!!

One of the Lepers, a Samaritan, stopped and ran back to thank Jesus...Samaritans were normally shunned by the Jews...but Jesus had healed him! Jesus asked him, "Where are the others?" Ten lepers had been healed...Ten lepers were reveling in their new found health...Ten men were joyfully rushing to share the good news with those they loved...But only one considered the Source of that blessing and stopped to thank and worship the One who had given him back his life...

How about you? We too have been healed and made whole by the Savior...We are free to enjoy the abundant life the Savior has graciously given us...Could we, like the nine lepers, rush off so quickly to glory in our blessings without stopping to thank our Redeemer?

God looks at our thanks...God looks at our attitudes...God looks into the heart of each of us...What does He really see in your heart...Are your thankful?

Our worship, prayers, service, and daily life ought to be saturated with thanksgiving to God...

There are many men and women all over this world right now that are like these lepers in this Biblical story...They are outcast because of the sin that has over taken them because of the deception that comes from "The Prince of this World" which is Satan!!

These unfortunate individuals are separated from what they really love in this world, family, home, children...Many have lost their jobs and self respect because the sin has over taken them...

Are you thankful that you are not one of these people? If so then pray for the ones that are still trapped in the deception of sin...Pray that God would us you and your life as a mirror to reach out and help lift someone else up and then bring them to Jesus so He can heal them from a life of destruction, and move them into the "Real Family of God..."

If God has healed you and set you up in a life of forgiveness, then get up off of it and share it with someone who needs to hear what has happened to you...Someone is out there just waiting to hear what you have to share...Be a witness, that is one of the things we are called to be when we are really "In Christ..."

Praise God today for His mercy because His love endures forever...

Robert N. Graves, Sr. Fisherman for Christ...("In Christ with a thankful heart")