In Everything Give Thanks

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18; NKJV) 

To give thanks is to express gratitude.  Thankfulness is gratefulness expressed to another.  Thanksgiving is the expression of gratitude.  Tis the season of thankgiving.  Our Heavenly Father is to be the recipient of our thanksgiving. 

Our GOD created us in His image (Genesis 1:26-27).  We share in His likeness.  He is worthy of praise because He is the Creator:  “You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created” (Revelation 4:11; NKJV).  Thank Him! 

Our GOD sustains us (Colossians 1:17).  In Him we “live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).  Apart from Him there is no life or breath (Acts 17:25).  He upholds us “by the word of His power” (Hebrews 1:3).  Thank Him! 

Our GOD has redeemed us through His dear Son (Revelation 5:9-10; Ephesians 1:3-14).  Created in His image with the ability to think, reason and choose, each of us has defaced that image by falling short of His glory (Romans 3:10-18, 23).  Sin defaces the image of GOD in our lives.  Love compels Him to restore His image in each of us:  “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8)!  Christ Jesus has “redeemed us to God” by His blood (Revelation 5:9).  Thank Him! 

Indeed, “Every good and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:17; NKJV).  It is all about Him, it is all from Him, it is all returning to Him!  Thank Him! 

Tis the season, therefore, let us thank Him!

Hidden in My Heart

"But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." (Jude 20-21; NKJV)

Does Not Sin

"Does not sin" is in the durative present tense in the Greek which means it is describing a walk, a lifestyle.  A literal translation would be, "Whoever abides in Him does not sin on and on."  Our Father doesn't expect us to never sin, but He does expect us to sin less and less.

1 John 3:4-9; NKJV

4 Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. 

5 And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. 

6 Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.

7 Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. 

8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 

9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.

We Shall Be Like Him

His Part - He will make us like Him!

Our Part -  Purify ourselves!

1 John 3:1-3; NKJV

1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 

2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 

3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

He Has Promised Us

 A lot of folks make a lot of promises.  Promises that they can't keep.  Promises, that if they were kept, would still be insufficient to meet our needs. 

This is the promise that the Father has promised us - eternal life.  If we abide in Him and His Son, we will keep this promise.  Eternal life with them is exactly what we need. 

1 John 2:24-29; NKJV

24 Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. 

25 And this is the promise that He has promised us — eternal life.

26 These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. 

27 But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.

28 And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. 

29 If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.

Those Who Go Out From Us

At times there are those among us who are not of us.  We may not know that they are not of us until they go out from us.  We only know that they are not of us when they no longer continue with us.

There are many antichrists.  The one who denies the Father and The Son is antichrist.  To deny Jesus as the Christ is to lie and make oneself a liar and an antichrist.

In this last hour, let us know through the anointing that we have from the Holy One that Jesus is the Christ and that we have a Father in Heaven who longs for us to overcome by faith.

1 John 2:18-23; NKJV

18 Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. 

19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.

20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.   

21 I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.

22 Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. 

23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

The World is Passing Away

You will never influence the world trying to be like it.  Don't love it.  Do the will of the God and abide forever.

1 John 2:15-17; NKJV

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 

16 For all that is in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — is not of the Father but is of the world. 

17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.