A Big Pile of Thanks
12-1-2023
C. Hayden
In a few days we will be entering into the advent season, celebrating one of Christianity’s most holy times of the
year. But before we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, marked by much gift giving and families gathering
around tables filled with yummy culinary delights, it behooves us to remember the many blessings we have already
received. I have been looking through the store circulars that the local paper (The Tab), brings us each month. I
look through these advertisements to find items that might be a good gift to buy for one of my family members
(mostly my grandchildren) for our Christmas gift-giving time. As I perused the ads, one thing I noticed. There
wasn’t much I found that I really wanted for myself, and there was absolutely nothing that I needed. God has so
sufficiently provided for my needs that every year I seem to have more and more difficulty what to tell others to
get me for Christmas. Not everyone is as fortunate as me. There are some real needs out there.
In this country, we have truly been blessed. This is just one reason that we should be thankful. Scripture
tells us again and again to give thanks unto the Lord. In fact, the concept of giving thanks is spoken of almost 150
times throughout the Old and New Testaments. Below is just a few:
Colossians 3:17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks
to God the Father through him.
Psalm 100:1-5 A Psalm for giving thanks. Make a joyful noise to the L ORD , all
the earth! Serve the L ORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know
that the L ORD , he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people,
and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with
praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the L ORD is good; his steadfast
love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.
Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Psalm 107:1 Oh give thanks to the L ORD , for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!
I know that all of us go through difficulty at times and some situations can make it difficult to be thankful.
But God isn’t asking us to be thankful FOR all things, He instructs us to be thankful IN all things. He knows that in
this world we will experience tribulation. But He also tells us to be of good cheer and many times be thankful, for
He has overcome this world, He has set the captives free, and He is coming back to set all things right (John 16:33,
Isaiah 61:1, Revelations 21:5).
Be blessed even more you wonderful children of God!!
Pastor Chris
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Spooky…?
11-1-2023
C. Hayden
In a week or so, millions of American children and adults will participate in one of the falls most prominent holiday,
Halloween. So, during October, we want to look at the reality of nefarious entities that actually exist in our world,
often going completely undetected by most human beings. Hollywood and pop culture has served to desensitize
us to the reality of the spiritual world. This often happens by making light of nefarious spirits (devils and demons)
through such TV shows like “Bewitched” and “Lucifer” or movies like “Little Nicky” and “Hellboy.” Well, that is
entertainment isn’t it.
At the other end of the spectrum, if pop culture is not showing you a silly representation of the real
spiritual world, they show an overblown exaggeration of these characters through many horror-filled, bombastic
films like “The Conjuring” or “Insidious.” This is not to say that demonic activity does not ever manifest itself in the
physical world of the real, it does. However, the film industry most often likes to display dark forces in our world
as a real competition to God’s power. If not thwarting the Lord at the film’s end, at least almost so.
The reality is that Satan and his minions (demons), do exist in the world, but
he is no match for God. He does not even have power to manifest physically except in
very limited instances and rare moments as God has allowed him to do. In those rare
moments when a possession actually happens (usually through a person who has
suffered, or through personal choice, severe ongoing trauma or occult exposure), God,
through His proxy servant angels and believing Disciples, always have power over His efforts. Many examples of
God’s crushing power over our enemy are given in the Scriptures.
In Luke 8:26-37, we read of the account of Jesus walking up to a demon possessed man. As soon as the
man saw Jesus, the demon’s cried out requesting (asking mind you), that Jesus not torment them. In Acts 16:16-18
we read, “ As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and
brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and us, crying out, ‘These men are servants
of the Most-High God, who proclaims to you the way of salvation.’ 18 And this she kept doing for many days. Paul,
having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, ‘I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come
out of her.’ And it came out that very hour.” So Paul had no problem casting out demons. Actually, the devil has no
power over the Believer in Christ but what is given to him by us. We need to always be cognizant of the fact that
“Greater is He who is in us than he (the devil) who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).
Be blessed even more you wonderful children of God!!
Pastor Chris
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Trouble
10-15-2023
C. Hayden
Copied From Devotionals for Men
2 Chronicles 20:1–19
Recommended Reading: Numbers 20:14–21; 2 Chronicles 20:20–30; Psalm 83:1–18
Trouble comes in threes, they say. But who’s counting? You’ve probably noticed that acknowledging and
investigating troubles seem to make them multiply. Consider your house, for example. The roof starts leaking. So
you climb into the attic to check it out and discover several bad spots, a rotten rafter, mold, mildew—and often the
repair bills mount from there.
Obviously, ignoring problems also makes them multiply. Ignoring the leak today leads to the living room ceiling
sitting in your lap tomorrow. So you face a dilemma: If your troubles multiply whether
you examine or ignore them, what should you do?
King Jehoshaphat found himself face-to-face with trouble. A huge army marched
toward Jerusalem, and the scouting reports didn’t hold out much hope. The
problem on the horizon promised to be enormous by the time it reached the king.
“Alarmed,” we read, “Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the LORD” ( 2 Chronicles 20:3 ).
He looked through the trouble. Faced with an overwhelming situation, the king
immediately turned to Someone who is never overwhelmed.
As we face trouble in our own lives, our prayer can be like Jehoshaphat’s: “Lord, I know you’re in charge. So I
choose to recognize this trouble as your problem, not just mine. I admit that I can’t handle this situation, yet it
needs to be resolved. What do you say, Lord?”
Notice how God responded to this prayer of faith. He answered, but he didn’t promise to help Judah win the
battle. Instead, he said he’d fight for his people. Could the king have anticipated this answer? There are times in
our lives as well when God’s good answers surprise us. But notice also that the king still had his marching orders:
God told him not to be afraid (twice), not to be discouraged (twice), to march out, to take positions and to go out
and face the enemy. By the time the people had completed God’s instructions, the battle was over.
Again we face a dilemma. We often find ourselves a little too close to our troubles—so close that we end up
wallowing in them. Or we find ourselves trying to avoid troubles—giving them the opportunity to pull a surprise
attack. But God calls us to trust him, to look through our troubles and toward him.
Be blessed even more you wonderful children of God!!
Pastor Chris
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