"Thanksgiving"

PSALMS 118

 I know it might seem a little off, but I feel God is leading me to this today; besides, it is the next Psalm and I believe it is not so much about the date as much as it is about the time. In this Psalm there is one of my favorite questions, or statements, depending what your situation might be; the verse is found several times in the Bible, this one is verse six. Not to get too wrapped up in the numbers thing, but if six is the number of man, than this one is the one that I will claim for myself and for any situation or circumstance I might find myself in. This Psalm surely is a continuation of the last, in that it expresses all the reasons that we need to praise the LORD, regardless of whatever might be going on, whether it is in our lives or in our nations: God is on the Throne! Sure, the enemy might get to mess up some things here and there, but nothing is going to happen that God does not allow or already know about. That said, I do believe that there are things that are dependent upon prayer and intersection; whether those are predestined or overridden, I have no idea; only God knows what is what. We are only called to pray for those in power and to be ready to give an answer to the truth within us; beyond that, it is all going on in realms we can hardly ever see or know about. I believe Paul was enlightened by the Holy Spirit, so he could determine a little of what they were; but he did not hesitate saying how much a mystery that they were, but still making known there existence. It is no doubt that there are spiritual powers working against, not only the church, put the whole concept of God and what He represents. It is happening in every level of our societies and cultures; all the way up from the very first grade of school for our children, to the ending years of our elderly. We once took care of our own, instructing them in the truth, and ensuring they finished out there lives in dignity. Now, we seem to have entrusted the care of those we love to someone else; all to free up our own lives to do this or that; things that are mostly felt to be necessary for survival. One thing is for sure, the more control we give to the government, the more the government will control our lives. But I am beginning to think that more and more people are okay with that. The reason is easy to see, because more and more people do not believe in God, and they surely don't think He is in control...

"We prove ourselves by our purity, our understanding, our patience, our kindness, by the Holy Spirit within us, and by our sincere love. We faithfully preach the truth. God's power is working in us. We use the weapons of righteousness in the right hand for attacks and the left hand for defense. We serve God whether people honor us or despise us, whether they slander us or praise us. We are honest, but they call us imposters. We are ignored, even though we are well known. We live close to death, but we are still alive. We are beaten, but we have not been killed. Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything."
(2 Corinthians 6:6-10) NLT