In Everything Give Thanks

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Philippians 4:6

Have you every been anxious about something? Now, don't lie... Have you every been consumed by worry? For me, it was eight months of unemployment. Surviving only by freelancing, and by God's provision and grace. I was anxious. Anxious for the approval of men -- approval of my girlfriend's parent's; approval from an employer; approval from my peers. But here we have in the word of God a direct command, "DO NOT WORRY!" I know how much you have a propensity to worry, so I'll give you a formula. In all things, vent your nervous energy by prayer and petition (But do it with thanksgiving, to keep you on the safe side of worry.) present your requests to God.

What strikes me about this is that, just as you cannot hope for something you already have, you cannot be thankful about what you do not. I can only be thankful for that which I have experienced. So in the midst of this command on anxiousness, God introduces the one element that disstablizes worry -- thankfulness. We worry for what is uncertain, for what we do not know, We are thankful for what is certain, for that which is already ours, for that which I have already experienced. As I remember the provision of God in my life, worry dissolves. As I choose to be thankful for what I have, what I do not have pales in comparison.

Today I am thankful. I have a job. God provided miraculously for me. I have a good job, I have a well-paying job. And all the things that I could worry about today, all the things that remain uncertain, will be put in perspective by the things that are mine to enjoy. For these things, I am thankful.

The Search for the Holy Frail.

I don't have a scripture to give you today. But what I am about to unveil is the first and most difficult step in accepting Christ. It is the Holy Grail of personal discoveries. Are you ready? "I need Jesus."

Disappointed? Were you hoping for something a bit more substantial? I knew this, and have known it. My life was a wreck, I needed Jesus. He saved me from my sinful habits and made me the Righteousness of God in Christ. Past, finished, completed, perfected! Right?

But right now at 4:28 pm on the nineteenth day of November in 2004, listening to an amazing rendition of the Doxology, I sit in silence trying to hold on to the physical feeling of frailty that has overcome me. In two-and-a-half hours I will lead worship for a group of people from my church. I will lead them into the presence of God. Yet, I am frail. I am but a flimsy piece of paper that couldn't stand up to a gentle breeze. I need the strength of Jesus to make it through the rest of this day. Today, I need Jesus. This is more than a one-time acknowledgement that I need him. I must recognize that my need of him is not a one time "fix," I continually need Jesus. If I am ever to make it from strength to strength then He must increase, and I decrease. Yesterday I spoke in a rare flash of might, that I must embrace my weakness and rely on Christ for my strength. Today I keenly feel my frailty, and I want to escape it. But here I sit at 4:33 p.m. quietly listening to "Fairest Lord Jesus. Today I won't allow myself to escape my frailty. I turn and acknowledge that which I have blamed for the evil in my life and embrace what is, in reality, the Holy frail.

Strength to Strength.

Psalm 84
5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
6 As they go through the Valley of Baca
they make it a place of springs;
the early rain also covers it with pools.
7 They go from strength to strength;
each one appears before God in Zion.

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"They go from strength to strength."

How is your life defined? When you look at the events of your life, what are the keystones in the timeline? For me, my life has peen punctuated by my failures. As I have reflected on my memories, the snapshots that have stood out have been those that I am ashamed of. I have traveled through life from weakness to weakness, from sin to sin, from shame to shame. Always I have had the hope that I would have some great success from which to proceed. Now it isn't that I have felt like a complete failure. I have had my successes. They have just seemed to be nestled snugly between my failures.

As you read the previous paragraph, it may seem like I'm a pessimist, or a depressed person, but I'm not. However, my sanity has been at the expense of suppressing a deep part of me. I have always dreamed of the future and hated my past. Over the last year and a half, God has been reconciling my past and my future. I have been learning the joy of living in "the now." I have learned to embrace my weaknesses rather than trying to cover them up. God knows my weaknesses, and through them is able to demonstrate His power.

Even as I have learned these truths, I have been hard pressed to look with satisfaction on my past. "It has made me who I am now," is all I have been able to muster. But this Psalm promises more. "Blessed are those whose strength is in You." Blessed are those who understand their weaknesses to the point they realize their only hope for strength is in You. Blessed are those who are honest with themselves and others, and acknowledge You as their only strength. Blessed. Blessed!

"Blessed are those in whose heart are the pathways to Zion," Blessed are those whose deepest instinct is to walk in the ways that move them toward the place God dwells.

"as they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools. When these God-strengthened folks travel through the "Valley of Tears," this place of weeping and deep sorrow, they cause life to spring out of death. The salt of the tears is washed away by the fresh water of life both that springs out of them, and that comes down from above. Not only is the salt washed away but the fresh water of life pools together, to leave an oasis for those that follow.

"They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion." Their life is defined by success, they remember the moments in life where they overcame temptation, fear, strife, obstacles, etc. As they look back they see where God carried them in strength through their trials. Not only that, but they all stand unashamed before God in the place where He dwells. They aren't fearful or nervous even to stand in the presence of God's holiness!

As I read this Psalm today it stood out to me. Strength to strength. It resonated deep in my spirit like sounding of a bell. First as a deep desire. "God, I want the rest of my life to be defined by strength found in You. I want the outstanding moments to be moments of success, moments of overcoming." But then an overtone grew in stregth and took the forefront of my attention. I have been focused on God redeeming me out of my past and into my future. But what if God wanted to do more than redeem me "out of" my past, and actually wanted to redeem my past. What if he wanted to shift my perspective from my own failures, to how He used those weak moments to display His strength and bring me into wholeness. Every trial, every temptation, every failure, by His grace has made me who I am today. I am able to recognize struggle in others, and to speak relevant encouragement to them. Why? Because I understand the sting of failure, and know the rush of victory. And I know the steps that one must take to get there.

You see, I have messed up considerably in my life, but all that was wrong has been made right; redeemed by the blood shed on the cross. His strengh transports me from strength to strength; and I, in my weakness, can rest in that promise.