Thanksgiving

Proverbs 22

Luke 9

1 Timothy 4

1 Timothy 5

Yesterday I helped my dad and my brother harvest cotton!  The LORD has blessed the crops so abundantly this year - more than any year before!  The dry-land is producing more than our irrigated usually does!  My brother and I have been praying a lot this year for the LORD to bless the fields, and my dad has been praying for over 25 years!  This is indeed an answer to our prayers.  The LORD is so kind and gracious! 

This Thanksgiving, I am especially thankful for: salvation through Jesus Christ, my sweet and beautiful wife, growing up in a Christian home, health and safety, peace and freedom, a warm house, food on the table, the opportunity of higher education, the physical and spiritual gifts the LORD has given me, Brothers and Sisters in Christ, friends, clean air to breath, clean water to drink, and my heartbeat that the LORD sustains.

I really love this scripture passage; it encourages me to continue forging ahead in my walk with Christ:

1 Tim. 4:10 This is why we work hard and continue to struggle, for our hope is in the living God, who is the Savior of all people and particularly of all believers.  11 Teach these things and insist that everyone learn them. 12 Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. 13 Until I get there, focus on reading the Scriptures to the church, encouraging the believers, and teaching them.  14 Do not neglect the spiritual gift you received through the prophecy spoken over you when the elders of the church laid their hands on you. 15 Give your complete attention to these matters. Throw yourself into your tasks so that everyone will see your progress. 16 Keep a close watch on how you live and on your teaching. Stay true to what is right for the sake of your own salvation and the salvation of those who hear you.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank you for your many blessings!  Thank you for the things I am ignorant of because your faithfulness and grace is beyond my comprehension.  Lord, I pray that you will lead me in a faithful life of obedience to you.  I pray that you will use me to demonstrate your love, faith, and purity.  I pray this in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.