Pleasing God, Making Disciples of Jesus Christ

Count The Blessings Not The Troubles

PSALM 103:1-5 – Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”

 

THEME OF THE DAY:  COUNT THE BLESSINGS NOT THE TROUBLES.   We are so prone NOT TO DO the theme of today’s nugget.  It is so easy to focus, then complain about the troubles in our lives and fall into “spiritual amnesia” forgetting God’s blessings. And nothing will take away our joy, the sense of God’s comforting presence, and power to live the Christian life quicker than a complaining spirit that counts the difficulties in life more than God’s rich blessings in life. But this “condition” of “spiritual amnesia” is curable.  Let me offer a couple “doses of scriptural medicines” to cure us.

 

First, start the day, before we even roll out of bed, with a prayer of thanksgiving.  Look to heaven and thank God for the new day.  In fact, use the familiar words of the prophet Jeremiah from the Old Testament book of Lamentations as a basis to greet the Lord as we greet the morning – The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness (Lamentations 3:22-23). Thank Him for new day mercies, the promise of His steadfast love throughout the day, and of His faithfulness to walk close to You.  By starting the day giving thanks, we can take the “second dose” of medicine to cure spiritual amnesia – getting our minds and hearts off ourselves.

 

As we develop a heart and life of thanksgiving, we slowly, but surely, shift our attention to the Lord, not ourselves. And the more we remember Him, the more we become aware of His rich blessings in our lives.  Even in the simple things.  We will thank Him for life.  We will thank Him for safety as we run our errands.  We will thank Him for our homes, family, provision, jobs, and everything else that unfolds in daily living.  But it will go beyond the things in the temporal world.  We will find ourselves remembering the spiritual truths in today’s scripture which intensifies our giving of thanks. And when we start to fix our hearts and minds on the rich spiritual blessings from the Lord, the sins of complaining and counting our troubles will dissipate.  We will then begin to enjoy our freedom in Christ; a freedom that moves us to count all the many blessings He daily and eternally has given us!

 

PRAYER: “Father, forgive me for the times I complain over my troubles and do not count my blessings.”

 

QUOTE: “When we count God’s many blessings in our lives, we focus away from our spiritual foe of self.”

 

Because of Him,

 

Pastor Jim