Thanksgiving in the Midst of Adversity

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Welcome to the InTouch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Thursday, November 27th. When the world is full of chaos and turmoil, the last thing you might think to do is say thank you. But that all depends on what you are grateful for. Here’s more on Thanksgiving in the midst of adversity.

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It’s one thing to be grateful when everything is going your way. But when everything is not going your way, what is your response? And sometimes we justify our wrong attitude, our ugly attitude, our ungrateful spirit by saying, well, God shouldn’t allow these things to happen to me. Or if God is who He says He is, He wouldn’t allow this to happen. And they may look in the Bible and tell you, well, there’s some parts of the Bible I don’t understand. And so instead of rejoicing and praising God and thanking Him for who He is and what He has done for you, sometimes we let doubts sort of scatter our thoughts of thanksgiving. But today I want you to listen very carefully because I want to talk to you about why you should be a very grateful person. What God is doing in your life and the consequences of what He’s doing in your life. And I want you to turn, if you will, to 1 Thessalonians. And Paul in 1 Thessalonians, in the fifth chapter, he’s ending up this epistle, and he comes to these latter verses, and he says a great deal in verse after verse. But when you come to the sixteenth verse, there’s sort of a triad here, and it says three things. He says, number one, rejoice always. Is that easy? No, it’s not. Then he says, pray without ceasing. Is that easy? Not really. Then he says, in everything, give thanks for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Is that easy? No, it’s not. Now, listen carefully. He says, in everything give thanks. That is, in every circumstance I can give thanks for what? That He’s my Savior, my Lord, my Master, my God. Lord, I don’t understand why You allowed this to happen. But in the midst of this, I’m going to give you thanks because I know that you’ll help me to survive. You’ll help me to be able to bear the pain, to get through the sorrow and the heartache and the loss and all the adversity I feel in my heart. I’m going to thank you that you’ll be with me in it. But I’m not thanking God for what happened. Anything that is inconsistent with who God is. We don’t thank Him for that. That’s not what Paul’s thinking about. He’s thinking about our relationship to Him and that we can give thanks for whatever God allows in our life because we’re giving thanks to Him, listen, because of who Christ is within us. Whatever He allows in our life, He will turn it for good because we read what else Paul said when he said, God causes all things to work together for good. Watch this. To those who love Him, to those who call according to His purpose, even the most difficult, trying, heartbreaking things, He will turn for our good. Do we always understand that? No. He didn’t say I had to understand it. In fact, there’s an old gospel hymn, we’ll understand it better by and by. By and by, not necessarily now. But now. Now, in the midst of all of this, we can be grateful to God. So, I think about that and think about things that people go through, and I hear about them probably most days, something somebody’s going through. And look at this verse, he says, “‘In everything I am grateful.'” Give thanks, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” What is God’s will? That I give thanks. Now, so what I want to do is I want us to think about why should we be grateful to God in everything? Number one, and I’m going to give you a list here. It keeps us continually aware that we are walking in His presence, which contributes to a godly life. By thanking Him in everything, I’m being continually reminded that I’m walking in His presence. I’m not walking alone. So, whatever I may hurt over, whatever I may weep over, whatever I may suffer loss about, I know this, that I’m walking in His presence, that I’m not doing it alone. He says He’ll be with us throughout entire life, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, and nothing can separate you from the love of Christ. So, one of the primary reasons how to be grateful to God is simply the fact that makes me aware that I’m walking in His presence, walking in His presence, it’ll contribute to living a godly life. Because when you wake up tomorrow morning and you’re aware of the fact that you take your first step, you’re walking in the presence of God. And when you begin your day aware that you are walking in His presence, that He’s living on the inside of you, that no matter what happens during the day, it’ll happen. presence of an all-loving, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, holy God. You’re walking in His presence. What could be finer than that? There’s a second reason. And that’s this, that being grateful motivates us to look for His purpose in everything that happens. If I’m grateful, I’m going to look for His purpose. God, I don’t understand that. And I think all of us can list some things in our life that have happened to us that we’d say, well, God, what are You up to? He doesn’t, watch this, He doesn’t expect us to figure that out. In other words, God will sometimes reveal His purpose and sometimes He doesn’t. Probably at some point in life He will, but oftentimes you and I face circumstances that are a shock to us. God, I didn’t expect that. I didn’t anticipate that. Does that mean that God has forgotten you? No. Does that mean I’m to be grateful? Yes, I am. Even though I don’t understand His purpose, I’m still to be grateful because God causes all things. That’s what happened to you. That’s what happened to you. He causes all things to work together for good. That is, He’ll turn the worst kind of things for good if I trust Him. And if I’m able to just say, Well, God, I don’t understand it. I don’t like it. It’s painful. I feel the loss. This doesn’t fit what I think about You, but I’m going to trust You. Because you’re a loving God, and I’m going to thank you in spite of everything I feel. You say, oh, that’s not real. You know when you’ll find that it’s real? When you do it. And sometimes we think, well, because I don’t feel it, it’s not true. Listen, God is the same when things are good. He’s the same when things are bad. He doesn’t change. When He makes a promise, He keeps His promise. There’s a third reason for giving thanks. It brings us into submission to His will when we are suffering pain and heartache. In other words, we’re going through some very painful thing. It may be emotionally because of your family and so forth. It may be something physical, whatever it might be. And it does something to my pain and my hurt when I’m able to thank Him even in the midst of it. God, I don’t understand it. Only You know how I’m hurting. The wonderful thing about a loving God is this. When I can’t even express it, When I feel so shut out, so rejected, so hurt, so full of pain, and maybe it’s physical pain, when my physical pain shouts louder than I can speak, one thing I know for sure, God hears me, though nobody else can. I can thank Him. I can thank Him no matter what. Watch this. I can thank Him with my lips. And that counts until I can thank Him with my heart, my soul, my spirit, my very being. It all counts with Him because He understands the depth of our hurt. There is something powerful about thanking God. Watch this carefully. When you don’t feel it, you say, that’s hypocritical. No, it’s not. That’s being human. There’s something awesome about thanking God because here’s what will happen. I just want to say hallelujah. Here’s what happens. You keep thanking Him before long, the anxiety is gone and there’s this awesome sense of peace. And you know the interesting thing about the Greek word peace? The Greek word is irene, which means to bind together. And so, when I think about the peace of God, we’re bound with Him. When I think about the awesome sense of His presence and power in our life, bound together. And when we’re able to thank Him, something happens on the inside. What happens is the anxiety crumbles within us and the peace of God just fills us up. Watch this carefully. Nothing else may have changed. I may still be physically feeling what I’m feeling. I could be emotionally feeling what I’m feeling when I think about it. But there’s an overwhelming sense of indescribable peace that only comes through a personal, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. So, what’s the wisest thing? When you go through some trauma, you have to get out the bottle and drink, or smoke, or chew, or have an affair, or run away from the circumstance. Now, what’s your response? When you turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, you may not feel it at first. You may not even know how to say it. You may just tell God, I don’t even know how to pray. It’s okay. He knows your heart. You tell Him. You keep talking to Him. Before long, you’ll be thanking God, surprising yourself, because that’s the work of the Holy Spirit, to mellow up our heart, to help us to see. What did Paul say also in his epistles? Don’t be anxious about anything. But in everything about prayer and supplication, does he mean no anxiety? No, he doesn’t mean that because sometimes we’re hit with anxiety immediately. But don’t stay there. I’m anxious about it now, but Lord, when I start praying and thanking God amidst my anxiety, my anxiety turns to peace. And sometimes when we read the Scripture, we say, that’s what it meant. Well, that doesn’t mean that you won’t ever be anxious. But when we are, we turn to Him and the anxiety is replaced by peace. I don’t understand it, God, but I want to thank You that You’re in control. I want to thank You that You know all about it. I want to thank You that You know my future. I want to thank You that You have a will for my life. I want to thank You that You’re going to work all this out. I don’t like it. I don’t understand it. Lord, it’s hurting me terribly, but I want to thank You, thank You, thank You that You haven’t left me to myself. You’re going to help me through this. And He will. Thanksgiving is a part of that. And then this is one of the hardest things to do when you’re really hurt. Something’s going on inside. And that’s to focus on Him rather than the circumstances. If I focus on the circumstances, here’s what happens. The pain becomes more unbearable. Peace eludes me. Nothing seems to work out right. If I’m focusing on what’s happening and focusing on what I think the situation is, the circumstances, if that’s my focus, I’m not going to have any peace. If that’s my focus, I’m not going to have any thanksgiving. But I’m to focus on what I know is real. Watch this carefully. Whatever you’re facing, this is real. If you are a follower of Jesus Christ and you’re going through some terrible time in your life, whatever it may be, here’s what you know for certain. Number one, you’re not alone. Number two, He’s with you. Number three, He loves you. Number four, you’re eternally secure. Number five, He’s going to walk with you through it. Number six, He’s going to bring you through it. Number seven, He’s going to turn this into something profitable in your life. And I could just go on and on and on of what happens when you and I begin to see it from God’s perspective. Now, if you don’t have Jesus, then what? What do you have to hold on to? I can tell you, without Jesus, you don’t have anything to hold on to. And all of a sudden, you have to face the reality that your life of independence and disobedience before Almighty God and your unbelief has brought you to nothing. And you’re facing what the Bible says, it is appointed unto man once to die, once to die, once to die, and after this, the judgment. There’s something awesome about living a life of gratitude and thanksgiving to God that equips you for the most difficult moments in life. Then I would just say one other last thing. There’s something energizing. Something happens to us physically, emotionally, spiritually when we’re thanking God in difficult times. When I say energizing, I mean it physically energizes us. And when I think about what pain and suffering and hurt and disappointment and unbelief does, it drains us. But then when you are trusting the Lord and looking to Him and thanking Him, it’s the presence of the living God within you. that absolutely physically, emotionally, spiritually, but physically energizes you. And you feel different. You can walk further. You can run longer. You can do more. You think differently. You rejoice more. You can sing. Something happens when you’re able to thank Him. When nothing around you looks like, it’s worth thanking God for. Amen? I don’t know where you are in life, but I do know this. You’re not anywhere beyond the reach of a loving Father who loves you enough that He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for you. Listen carefully. Whenever you think God doesn’t care, Think about the cross. That’s God’s heralding to the world, I love you, I love you, I love you, and this is the way to eternal life. He’s willing to forgive you of your sins no matter what you’ve done. He’s willing to turn your life around. He’s willing to turn the worst kind of bitterness and resentment and hostility toward God into something fantastic when you surrender your life to Him. Only two ways to live. With Him or without Him? Without Him, life’s not worth living. With Him, you can’t lose. It’s a choice you make. And if you’ve never trusted Jesus as your personal Savior, this is the perfect time to do it. You say, what do I do? Well, first of all, you tell Him that you believe He is. God, I believe you are. I believe the testimony of Scripture that you sent Jesus into the world for the primary purpose of dying on the cross, that His death made it possible for you to forgive me of my sins. That’s what happened. When He shed His blood, that was His life, He laid it down. So when you call upon Him to ask Him to forgive you of your sin, He will do so. You don’t have to beg and plead, make promises, you’re going to do this. No, you ask Him. He says if we confess our sins, He’s faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And then He says, we’re forgiven. He writes our name in the Lamb’s Book of Life. That’s the eternal book. When you die, you’re going to heaven, not because you’re perfect, but because His perfect Son paid the perfect price for you to be forgiven of your sin. He’ll change your eternal future if you’ll do that sincerely. And that’s my prayer for you. Father, how very, very, very, very grateful we are. And while we could list many things, one is sufficient. Very grateful for Jesus, through whom every blessing comes. I pray that every person who hears this message would receive Christ as their Savior. And every person going through difficulty, hardship, and pain, and suffering, and all kinds of adversity would be willing, not by feeling, but by choice, willing to start thanking you for what you’re doing. Whatever your reasoning may be, thanking you for your purpose in their life. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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Thank you for listening to Thanksgiving in the midst of adversity. For more inspirational messages like this one, visit our 24-7 online station. And if you’d like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.