An Authentic American Thanksgiving!

Psalm 107:1-9, The Pilgrim Psalm

  "Give thanks to the LORD , for He is good; His love endures forever.

Let the redeemed of the LORD tell their story -- those He redeemed from the hand of the foe, those He gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south.

Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle. They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away.

Then they called out to the LORD in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress.

He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle.

Let them give thanks to the LORD for His unfailing love and His wonderful deeds for mankind, for He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things."

This is a perfect time to read this whole Psalm - known for centuries as "The Pilgrim Psalm." It's easy to see why!

Notice how "They were hungry and thirsty and their lives ebbed away" and then their prayers were answered and their thirst was satisfied and they were filled with good things.

Psalm 107 was a favorite scripture of our pilgrim ancestors. From Governor Bradford's journal it appears it was the last psalm the Puritans recited together as they disembarked from the Mayflower! 

We Americans have so much to be thankful for!

Why not include this psalm in your celebration of this great holiday?

More on George Washington

 George Washington himself and his leadership is one of the great blessings God bestowed on this country.

I was just reading that in 1789 he and John Adams attended the graduation ceremony at Columbia University. Some soldiers who had survived our War for Independence were graduating and they wanted to honor them for their service to their country and for their graduation from Columbia!

Some were wounded warriors, but they had persevered and met the challenges!

I think Washington and Adams would be shocked to visit the Columbia campus today - students being coddled with canceled classes and delayed assignments and even presented with milk and cookies to help them face the "catastrophic crisis" of the "Trump election"!

What has happened to us? Columbia's original statement of purpose, written in 1753, says that their goal is to "Teach students to know God in Jesus Christ." Their official motto is from Psalm 36  -- "In Your light we see light."

The "light" they are acknowledging today has certainly dimmed...Columbia today, as so many other universities, a woke hotbed of antisemitism and  anti-intellectual humanism.

When and where did we go wrong and start choosing foolishness over wisdom? (From warriors to wimps?)

I'm so thankful God has not erased us from His kingdom program and is giving us another chance! An opportunity to again bring honor and glory to Him!

It's surely amazing grace!

George Washington Thanks God

 

"Whereas it becomes us humbly to approach the throne of the Almighty God, with gratitude and praise for the wonders which His goodness has wrought in conducting our fore-fathers to this western world, and, above all, that He hath diffused the glorious light of the gospel, whereby, through the merits of our glorious Redeemer, we may become the heirs of His eternal glory" (From Washington's "General Orders", November 7, 1779.

Words of George Washington, 245 years ago, during our war for Independence. Notice what He thanks God for. He is very specific.

I think it's time for us to do the same...today! Stop and thank God for how He has blessed this nation and provided for our eternal salvation through the work of His Son! 

                       Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow!

Pre-tuned Radios

I remember when....


When I was a child, missionaries often visited our church. I remember one couple who worked in Bible translation ministry in South America. They had translated a  tribal language and had small schools set up in the area to teach the residents how to read and write, in their own language,  and to be able to read for themselves  what the Bible said about Jesus.

Some of the tribal people could not come to the schools, however, and were out of contact most of the time.

And so these missionaries were raising money for pre-tuned portable radios to give out to them.

These radios were pre-tuned to the Christian radio station broadcasting the gospel in the native language - available 24 hours a day!

What a great way to reach these people with the gospel message.

Today we would call this an example of intentional evangelism.

Maybe we should ourselves be examples of intentional evangelism-- be pre-tuned to give out the gospel - always ready to broadcast the good news of Jesus - every time we leave the house and every time someone "tunes us in" -- it's the only message we have to share of any real importance!

Someone "turns us on" and we speak about Jesus!



But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you...1 Peter 3:15


Can you explain "the hope that is in you" to someone else?

Fill Up and Give Out - Gayle Rogers Foster

 From Front Porch Moments, by Gayle Rogers Foster

Thoughts from Day 2 --

"Yes, go on mission trips, but 99% of the people you are called to speak to are seated in the cubicle next to you or across the table from you.

Your responsibility is to consistently allow God to pour Himself into you each day.

You should have a constant awareness that whatever He has poured into you will, in turn, be needed by someone else who will become your Divine appointment in the very near future.

God's responsibility is to find the match. He will place those people into your path who need what He has purposely poured into you...your life should be a continual loop of filling up and pouring back out.

Live your life with the assumption that God is prescheduling specific people to cross your pathway each day.

When you are on the lookout for His assignments, as a servant and a steward, you will be overwhelmed by the way God will use you for His glory. Be spiritually prepared and instantly responsive."