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opening In 1832, French engineer Ferdinand Marie de Lesseps was traveling on the Mediterranean Sea. One of the passengers on the ship he was on came down with a contagious disease and the ship was quarantined. Lesseps became very frustrated. To help kill time he read the memoirs of Charles le Pere who had considered the feasibility of building a canal from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea. In 1869 the Suez Canal was completed. It was constructed following the design by and under the leadership of Lesseps.

It was during that quarantine thirty-seven years earlier that the plan for the Suez Canal was germinated and conceived by Ferdinand Marie de Lesseps. The entire world has reaped the benefit ever since.

Probably more often than we realize God uses adversity to help us grow, to motivate us to find creative solutions to life’s problems, or to further his work. For example, the early Christians didn’t fulfill Christ’s commission to move out of Jerusalem with the gospel to the ends of the earth until the church faced persecution. They were forced to move to the ends of the earth.

This principle has been true in my life too. Just about every major change in my life for the better has been the result of some kind of set back or adversity.

So, every time adversity comes into your life, may I suggest that you embrace it, and ask God what he is saying or seeking you to learn or do through it.

Here is your copy of firstIMPRESSIONS, Volume 9.47. Live for God, on purpose, knowing that God can take even what the enemy means for harm and use it for His good – and for your’s!

Thanksgiving

In just a few days, we Americans will once again celebrate Thanksgiving. But what does American Thanksgiving really mean? Well, traditionally, it’s the start of the Christmas season, and specifically, shopping! Of course, Thanksgiving for a majority of us is the preparation and consumption of huge quantities of food. It’s also marked by watching parades in the morning, and football games throughout the rest of the day.

Of course, none of those activities has anything to do with Thanksgiving is supposed to acknowledge. The modern Thanksgiving holiday traces its origins from a 1621 celebration at the Plymouth Plantation, where the Plymouth settlers held a harvest feast after a successful growing season. It is this event that is generally referred to as the “First Thanksgiving.”

There are many stories as well as traditions related to our Thanksgiving and its history. But, as believers in Christ, we of all people should most surely understand the necessity of giving thanks. True thanksgiving isn’t understood through historical research of our American beginnings, but rather through the Word of God.

The Psalmist understood what it was to give thanks. Psalm 100:4 says, “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.”

Let’s make this year’s Thanksgiving more than football and feasting. Let’s make it a time of true thanksgiving – giving thanks to the one who gave us everything. This Sunday at WFA we will discover just such a thanksgiving – a “Psalm 100 Thanksgiving.”

Gratitude as a Way of Life

by David Jeremiah

“In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:18

When the American pilgrims celebrated three days of thanksgiving in 1621 they were doing what came naturally for them: honoring God in the daily course of events. Many had perished. Food was scarce. Their Indian neighbors were hostile. But they survived. It only seemed normal to them to give God thanks. They weren’t instituting a public holiday – they were manifesting a lifestyle of gratitude.

In the Old Testament, seven days were set aside for feasts of thanksgiving. In 1621, three days were set aside. Today, we set aside one day – and spend most of that day focused on food and football. A national day of Thanksgiving is certainly better than none at all, but how much better would be if every person lived a life of gratitude toward God – 365 days a year. No special meals would be required – just daily gratitude for the Bread of Life. No unique decorations would be called for – just the fragrant aroma of thankfulness. And no invitations would need to be sent – other than inviting people to taste and see that the Lord is good.

If you are grateful to God for His blessings, make sure it’s an everyday kind of gratitude – beginning today.

from Dr. David Jeremiah’s “Today’s Turning Point” daily devotional. www.TurningPointOnline.org

go-ahead Go ahead. Give thanks. It won’t hurt.

by Joe McKeever

“Thank you” may not be the most profound thing you will hear or speak today. The person you direct those words to – let’s be honest – will not find them the most rewarding of utterances they receive throughout the day. In our society, they’re rather routine.

However, and this is what keeps us coming back to reminding ourselves to give thanks, the absence of those two words creates a deafening silence that may wound good people who have served well.

Thanksgiving can be trite or it can be a treasure. How we give it, the way we speak it, the smile on our countenance, and the sincerity in our voice, these infuse it with authenticity or diminish its worth.

Though I have the gift of eloquence and can move great audiences with the force of my words and have not thanks, I am become a self-righteous prig and an insufferable elitist.

Though I give the gift of great sacrifice and cause institutions to erect buildings in my honor and have not thanks for what others gave to me, I am become a royal pain and a Pharisee of the first order.

Thanks becometh the wearer, charms the receiver, softens the character, and eases the burdens of life. A grateful spirit is better adornment than jewels, a finer treasure than gold, and a greater attainment than all honors.

Thanks is not just words, but is imperfect until put into words. Thanks is more than an attitude, yet it is the best attitude.

Thanks is not godlike, for the God of the universe is beholden to no one and owes gratitude to none. And yet, we become most like our Heavenly Father when we acknowledge our debt to others and confess their contributions to our lives.

Thanks frees others up to do more, encourages them to do better, liberates our spirits to give more, and inspires everyone to his highest ideals.

Thanksgiving builds bridges between the estranged, maintains highways between friends, and erects barriers against pride.

So, go ahead. Give thanks today. It can’t hurt, and it might make a lasting difference in someone’s day.

proper Proper Thanksgiving Perspective

The following is an excerpt from Charles Spurgeon’s sermon “Always and for All Things,” written on February 2, 1873 –

Every hour, yes, every moment has brought a favor upon its wings. Look downward and give thanks, for you are saved from Hell! Look on the right hand and give thanks, for you are enriched with gracious gifts! Look on the left hand and give thanks, for you are shielded from deadly ills! Look above you and give thanks, for Heaven awaits you! Nor is it alone for great and eternal benefits, but even for minor and temporary benefits we ought to give thanks.

There ought not to be brought into the house a loaf of bread without thanksgiving. Nor should we cast a coal upon the fire without gratitude. We eat like dogs if we sit down to our meals without devoutly blessing God! We live like serpents if we never rise to devout recognition of the Lord’s kindness! We ought not to put on our garments without adoring God, or take them off to rest in our beds without praising Him! Each breath of air should inspire us with thanks and the blood in our veins should circulate gratitude throughout our system.

prayer A Thanksgiving Prayer

by Rubel Shelly

Gracious God, Giver of Every Good Gift,

We acknowledge that life, health, and joy
• Are your pleasant favors to us.
• Thus we thank you for parents, mates, and children,
• For siblings, friends, and colleagues who bless our lives.
We affirm your greatness at sunrise and sunset,
• Praise you for productive days and the sweet rest that follows.
• Yours is the glory and honor and majesty
• For all the things we seek and enjoy and savor.
We understand that work, responsibility, and the power to earn
• Are granted to us by your sovereign goodness.
• We praise you for all that has been provided to us
• And for all you have enabled us to provide for others.

We also recognize the deep distress that life brings to all
• In the forms of loss and illness, lack and heartache.
• While these are neither your intent nor work in our lives,
• Even there we honor you for your faithfulness as our God.
We sense your strength when we are at our weakest,
• And we experience your fullness best in our emptiness.
• Thus we dare to sing in prison cells and laugh at death,
• For you are the God of life beyond these mortal limitations.
If we sensed no pain, would we flee to you for comfort?
• If no imperfection, could we marvel at your excellence?
• If no insecurity, would we worship any gods but ourselves?
• If no sting of sin, would we ever seek the path of redemption?

On this Thanksgiving Day, then, we thank you for sunshine and storm,
• For Eden that gave us a glimpse of your beauty and holiness,
• For Egypt that made us desire a Land of Promise,
• For Gethsemane that revealed to us a sympathetic High Priest.
Whatever the life situation with any one of us today,
• Teach us the spirit of thanksgiving and gratitude and joy.
• For all that we have and hope for, we praise you;
• For all that compels us to seek you, we praise you even more.

In the Blessed and Holy Name of Jesus our Savior we pray. Amen.

power The Power of Thanksgiving

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 4:6-7

University psychologists recently conducted a research project on gratitude and thanksgiving. They divided participants into three groups. People in the first group practiced daily exercises like writing in a gratitude journal. They reported higher levels of alertness, determination, optimism, energy, and less depression and stress than the control group. Unsurprisingly, they were also a lot happier than the participants who were told to keep an account of all the bad things that happened each day.

One of the psychologists concluded that though a practice of gratitude is a key to most religions, its benefits extend to the general population, regardless of faith or no faith. He suggested that anyone can increase his sense of well-being just from counting his blessings.

As William Shakespeare said so eloquently, “Let never day nor night unhallowed pass, But still remember what the Lord hath done.” To those words I would add a very hearty amen!

May God give us thankful hearts, and may words of thanksgiving be always in our heart and never far from our lips, and help us always to live in an attitude of gratitude.

last The Last Impression

Twas the night of Thanksgiving, But I just couldn’t sleep.
I tried counting backwards, I tried counting sheep
The leftovers beckoned – The dark meat and white,
But I fought the temptation with all of my might.

Tossing and turning with anticipation
The thought of a snack became infatuation.
So I raced to the kitchen, Flung open the door,
And gazed at the fridge full of goodies galore.
I gobbled up turkey and buttered potatoes,
Pickles and carrots, beans and tomatoes.

I felt myself swelling so plump and so round,
Till all of a sudden, I rose off the ground!

I crashed through the ceiling. Floating into the sky...
With a mouthful of pudding and a handful of pie,
But I managed to yell as I soared past the trees...

Happy eating to all!
Pass the cranberries please!

In less than a week, we will be celebrating Thanksgiving. But, we should be giving thanks every day of our lives to our heavenly Father for His grace and mercy in our lives. You are invited to join us this Sunday at WFA, as we “enter His gates with thanksgiving in our hearts, and give Him praise!”