Disciples Making Disciples

In Luke 17, the story is told of ten lepers who cried out for help. As they went by faith to the priests, as instructed by Jesus, they realized they were healed. Rotting flesh suddenly became whole and sound! One of them was so overcome with gratitude that he ran back to find Jesus; to worship and to say, “Thank You!”  Jesus marveled that he alone returned, wondering, “where are the other nine?!”

Give thanks In everything – 1 Thes. 5:18; for all things – Eph 5:20; for all men – 1 Tim 2:1. And Psalm 100 instructs us to enter God’s presence with thanksgiving; to be thankful to Him for His goodness! Given a review of these few verses, it seems that there is no time nor situation when we should not give thanks. Even in the face of tragedy or the most trying circumstances, we should thank God by faith. He is good and He is sovereign and never ceases to be so. So even when we can’t see past our pain, we can say through gritted teeth, “I thank You God by faith.”  And thanksgiving and praise bring us into His presence!

Being thankful (Col 3:15) This requires a humility that acknowledges, I deserve nothing, and I own nothing. Paul wrote to every disciple he’d crossed paths with, “I thank my God every time I remember you,” 1 Cor 1:14, Eph 1:16, Phil 1:3, Col 1:3. Can you say that about the people in your life? Consider how unique each of them is and the joy they give you. They are gifts! God delights in our freely enjoying those gifts, but He wonders, “where are the others to give thanks?”  We easily take all God’s blessings for granted especially if we want for nothing.

A Debt. We are bound – 2 Thes. 1:3, 2:13. This scripture captures the idea that gratitude is a debt. In Yoruba, my native language, there’s a proverb that says, ‘a person who fails to give thanks might as well have robbed you of your treasure.’ Can you think of anyone who you went to great lengths to help or serve who simply took the favor with delight but neglected to express thanks? How did you feel? Robbed? That’s why we teach our kids as soon as they can talk, “What do you say?” “Thank you.” “Good!”

Thanksgiving and Prayer: One of the easiest ways to practice gratitude, is in prayer. Philippians 4:6 coaches us through anxiety. First, don’t be anxious; pray about everything; be specific in your requests; and pray with thanksgiving. As we saw earlier, in the account of the lepers, we ought to thank God for answers to prayer. Luke 17:16. We can also thank God by faith for future answers to prayer. 1 John 5:14,15 states clearly that if we ask for anything that is in accordance with God’s will, we are guaranteed to receive it. By faith we can also trust God enough to thank Him for withheld answers to prayer since we do not know how to pray perfectly (Romans 8:26). Our relationship with God should be a thank fest, making melody in our hearts to our loving heavenly Father. Eph. 5:19

What are some Hindrances to gratitude?  The Bible speaks of a bad eye! Matthew 6:22,23. This is a pessimistic, negative view, having more faith in the devil’s wickedness than in God’s goodness. The glass is always half full. Another trap is covetousness: forever preferring what another possesses. Beware also of idolatry! Wanting something so badly that it turns your heart against God. The final hindrance that I want us to notice is God’s invisibility. He blesses us in such a myriad of ways that we just take the blessings for granted because we don’t see His face or His hand. As opposed to infants and toddlers, mature people are able to reckon on objects, thoughts, and actions which are not presently in the room.  Spend some time daily dwelling on these unseen kindnesses.

Helps for gratitude. We should make it our aim to practice being grateful. If you are born again – please see my earlier posts that will help you know; please do not assume – you have reason enough to be thankful from now until eternity. Even if receive nothing else from God! 2 Cor 9:15. Study and memorize the scriptures that command us to be grateful. The word of God converts our souls. Look about you. Look! Someone once said, “I can’t NOT see God everywhere I turn!” So, look! Think! Count your blessings! Know God well so you can know that all things are working in your favor (Romans 8:28) and that His goodness and mercy are in hot pursuit after you! (Psalm 23:6). If you have a hard time finding things to be thankful for you may need to camp out on one until you can see another reason emerge through the fog. Or better yet, ask for His help and then be watchful so you can give Him thanks!

God’s blessings are hiding in plain sight! Air, breath, water, life, our senses, colors, sounds, tastes, our loved ones, our earthly home, food, on and on and on. Your mailman, neighbors, your city, your country, opportunities to serve, other countries and cultures, your job.  So many of God’s blessings are available to all!

Brain health and gratitude. Finally, the blessings of God are all around us and present us with small doses of pleasure, or as Dr. Amen, a brain specialist expresses it, “Drops of Dopamine.” which make for a happier healthier brain.  A happier brain will ward off dementia and other brain ills.

In closing, I thank God for you. If what I write is of any use, you give me a reason for being.

Blessings!

ps: I have not posted in a long time! Pray for me as I’m trusting God for help. I thank Him for the grace to post this blog!

MEDITATION

Have you ever seen sheep or cows chewing on and on? This is called ruminating. A person is said to be ruminating when they are turning something over in their mind; thinking deeply about it. This is exactly what we need to do with God’s word. Read Isaiah 28:9, 10 – We acquire knowledge, “little by little; principle by principle; here a little, there a little”. So much to say about this . . . how about 5-W’s and an H to make it simpler.

Q. I want to start with Why? A. Joshua 1:8 and Psalm 1 both promise that if we meditate on God’s word – DAY AND NIGHT – we will prosper and have good success. One might wonder, “what is bad success?” I would venture that bad success is that success that is not according to God’s ways and thoughts. As an example, Solomon was one of the most successful men on the planet, full of Godly wisdom, until he started to disobey God’s precepts. So we can have real success in everything we do if we exchange our sinful ideas for God’s. This may be the mysterious thing that has been in your way of success.

Q. What is meditation? A. By looking at the root words we can better understand what it is. Hebrew word hāg̱āh: A verb meaning to growl, to groan, to sigh, to mutter, to speak; used figuratively: to meditate, to ponder. The Greek word μελετάω meletáō: means to care about, meditation, to be of interest, to concern oneself. To consider, weigh or ponder over something so as to be able to perform well. This suggests one pondering something, turning it over in the mind, till they sigh, speak to themselves, ask the Lord a question . . . all done subconsciously but deliberately, so as to be able to act with understanding.

Q. Who needs to meditate? A. The scriptures show that people of God – both in the Old Covenant and the New – who desire God’s best and fear Him, need to pay attention to His word and seek diligently by prayerful meditation, coupled with prayer, study, and other disciplines, so they can obey Him. This is being written to disciples. People who have repented, have been baptized, and filled with God’s Spirit. People who desire to follow Jesus and as such find the Word of God of inestimable value. They need no coaxing, they understand, their very lives depend on everything it contains. People who as Jesus says in John 15, ‘abide in Christ, and His word abides in them’.

Q. When do we meditate? A. Day and night! 24 x 7! The human mind never stops! Even when we sleep, our minds are still active. This is why we worry all night and wake up exhausted. That is exactly what meditation is, except in those instances we are meditating on our fears, the devil’s lies and accusations, and his fortune telling, rather than on the truth.

Q. Where should I meditate? A. Anywhere! On your bed (especially at night); you may choose to find a quiet place; go for a walk; in traffic. Literally anywhere you can think quietly. If you always have noise in your life – music, yak yak yak on the phone, facebook etc., you will have a hard time meditating meaningfully.

Q. And finally How do I meditate? A. The first thing about meditation is choosing very carefully what you allow in your mind to ponder. Philippians 4:6-8 gives us a checklist by which to assess if something should be in our minds. Use this list to assess music, literature, news sources, social media, . . . any thing that can introduce thoughts into our minds. It should come as no surprise that a child that is fed 50% poison and 50% breastmilk is sickly and stunted in his or her growth. Why then are we bewildered when we take in 10% of God’s word and 90% of worldly ideas about everything important – our value, our identity, our future, our calling, our relationships – EVERTHING! and our lives fall short of the biblical ideals?

Before I wrap up, I want to link meditating to ‘renewing our minds’. Our minds are like a computer, and our habits, thoughts and memories make up the software and input. When we are baptized into Christ the power of demons is broken in our lives. Now we have the power to say “No!” to sin. However, we still need to change the way we think. God will not do this for us because then we would be robots! That’s the very reason He did not override the free will of Adam and Eve. The bible teaches that we acquire God’s knowledge ‘line upon line, precept upon precept’.

That means that renewing the mind is a process in which we discern and capture our principles as we see their opposition to God’s. Then we reject ours and adopt His! It is DELIBERATE mind work. It results in us becoming more like our Savior, AND results in our success, good success! Success as a whole person – our personal peace and prosperity of our soul, victory in every area of our lives – spiritual, intellectual, relational, emotional, physical . . . EVERY aspect of our lives changes.

Please watch my youtube video on this subject for a more complete picture. There’s coming a Part II.

https://youtu.be/Uh-p7Av3a5c

God bless you!