Happy Thanksgiving 

Today we celebrate the first Thanksgiving in 1621 of those who arrived on the Mayflower. It was declared a National Holiday by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. What are you thankful for?

I have a mentee who has declared the month of November as a time of mourning. She and her whole family mourn the loss of her baby she was forced to abort. She was 12 ~ a victim of incest. Are there unresolved skeletons in your family’s relationships?

2 Corinthians 5:17 reminds us that our past is passed. Whatever negatives we hold onto from our pasts are classified as unresolved issues. They remain unresolved because of our negative dialogues.

It is time to let them go and embrace God’s will. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

The amygdala part of our brain turns on fight or flight creating stress. Through brain scans they tracked how gratitude transferred from the amygdala to the frontal lobes which turned on relational circuits. Gratitude also releases oxytocin ~ social hormone. Embrace Psalm 100 today.

The moment we have feelings of despair, we need to make our next thought one of gratitude. It will take our eyes off ourselves, others, or circumstances onto the Lord. Here is the last verse of the new song Rejoicing Bones. 

“In You I can rejoice. For You are my strength. I look away from sin to the spotless Lamb. All my sins are cleansed in Your precious blood. My heart sings through a rush of love. Yes my heart is filled with joy in You that nothing can destroy. I rejoice in You my eternal strength. My joy is full when I look to You.”

Dismayed is despair’s cousin. It is anxiety from feeling desolate ~ dismal emptiness. Isaiah 41:10 helps us recognize afresh that the Lord is with us ~ always. Hebrews 13:5 says, “…I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Amy Carmichael, former missionary in India, said, “You are closer to me than air.” He dwells within us!

Ephesians 6:11 says that His armor will enable us to stand against ~ resist the wily deceptive, defeating, and undermining schemes of the devil!

Here is a verse from a new song called Rejoicing Bones. “When I thought about my circumstances I became gloomy inside.  My heart was getting heavy and my peace destroyed. Then in Your Word You revealed the secret of health. My bones are affected when my heart is in despair.”

Remember the words the house of Israel spoke? Ezekiel 37:11 says, “…Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!” What are you speaking over your own health? Are your words drying up your bones because you have lost hope?

Despair is an effective demonic weapon. It comes from fiery dart lies that we allowed to penetrate. We take them as our own and dialogue with them. Elijah despaired because Jezebel spoke death words over him. 1 Kings 19:4 says that he asked the Lord to take his life.

Then he laid down and slept. The Lord provided miraculously for him. In the strength of that food he went forty days and nights to the mountain of God. In verse 9 the Lord asked him what he was doing there.

James 3:2 reinforces what affects our health, sense of wellbeing, and that of those around us ~ death or grace imparting words. All words come from our thoughts. When we live with the awareness that Jesus bore our iniquities, we must conclude that we are the responsible party of what comes out of our mouths.

The devil uses fiery darts to undermine and destroy our faith. Ephesians 6:16. When we walk in the Spirit, our shield of faith will be consistently up. The Holy Spirit will check our spirit when a fiery dart is lobbed. He will bring to our remembrance implanted truths that are hidden in our hearts.

Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he…” What do you have in place as a governor or restraint over your thoughts? We become what we think. Proverbs 3:7-8 says to depart from iniquity, “It will be health to your flesh, and strength to your bones.”

Job 21:23 in the Amplified says, “…(his veins are filled with nourishment), and the morrow of his bones is fresh and moist.”

I memorized Psalm 103 as a child. When I went to quote it recently, I decided to meditate on it. Iniquities is largely an OT word. My working definition is doing anything independent of the Lord. Verse 3 says, “Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases.”

The Holy Spirit took me back to James 3:6. It says, “And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body…” The Greek word for iniquity is unrighteousness. 

Let’s pay attention to verse 2. In the Amplified it says, “For we all often stumble and fall and offend in many things. And if anyone does not offend in speech (never says the wrong things), he is a fully developed character and a perfect man, able to control his whole body and to curb his entire nature.” Perfect means mature.

Isaiah 53:6 says, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

Picture yourself in a hurry. You don’t want to be late for your appointment. You drop an egg. It splats all over the floor. Do you react in fleshly frustration, or respond with grace in your heart?

At salvation two irrevocable gifts were imparted to us ~ peace and joy. They dwell in us. Walking in the Spirit trains us to respond rather than react in our flesh. Galatians 5:16 says that walking in the Spirit is resisting our flesh.

Adverse situations always pop in unexpectedly without warning. The enemy of our soul seeks to derail us. He does that through temptations to sin. When our hearts are trained to fix our eyes on Jesus, we will honor Him with our responses.

After I cleaned the mess I made from my spilled smoothie, I began to sing a new song with joy in my heart. Psalm 68:1 says, “Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered.” The enemy of our soul hates praise. Verse 4 says, “Sing to God, sing praise to His name…” Colossians 3:16 says, “…singing with grace in your hearts…”

I spilled half of the liquid for my smoothie. I said, “I’m sorry Lord that I wasted it.” Immediately the Lord said, “A mistake is not failure.” I thought about that as I was cleaning up my mess.

A mistake is not sin because sin is willful disobedience. Mistakes give us the opportunity to course correct. Sin is a choice, mistakes are a mis-step, or an error in judgment. I might be using a pattern to cut something out, but I went beyond a line I was supposed to stop at. 

You might be driving along and mistakenly take the wrong exit. You might be baking something and grab the salt by mistake instead of the sugar. Years ago a large family had finished their Thanksgiving dinner. They bit into their store-bought pumpkin pie, and it was too salty to eat. The baker made a mistake.

The question becomes, how are we supposed to respond to a mistake? The answer would be with grace. Often our reaction leads to sin, such as calling ourselves derogatory names, or taking it out on others through our explosive anger.

Honey-Laced Words: imparting grace to the hearers is the title of Chapter 5 in my book called Victorious Heart. Proverbs 16:24 says, “Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones.”

Proverbs 3:7-8 helps us understand something about our bone health. It says, “Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, and strength to your bones.”

Matthew 15:18-19 described inner defilement as, “…those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts…”

Here are some areas that cause inner defilement: pronouncements, bitter root judgments, negative thoughts, gossip. resentment, self-hatred, and self rejection. Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he…” All toxic thoughts come from negative inner dialogues about ourselves, others, or our circumstances.

Proverbs 18:21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” Christ-centered thoughts bear succulent fruit.

I was checking to see if I remembered the fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23. As I was going down each one I stopped at gentleness. Unless our lives are lived out under the control of the Holy Spirit, we will lack this fruit.

We are called to exemplify the Lord in every aspect of our lives. Is the character quality of gentleness evident in yours? Here is Strong’s definition: a disposition that is even-tempered, tranquil, balanced in spirit, unpretentious, and that has the passions under control.

Remember when Jesus described Himself in Matthew 11:29? It says, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” In Psalm 18:35 David wrote, “…Your gentleness has made me great.”

Psalm 45:2 says of the Lord, “You are fairer than the sons of men; grace is poured upon Your lips; therefore God has blessed You forever.” Gracious words come from a gentle spirit. Ephesians 4:29 admonishes us to, “…impart grace to the hearers.”

I am thinking of Titus 3:5. It says, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.”

That brings me to Ephesians 2:2. It helps us remember where we came from ~ bound to satan’s slave block of sin. It says, “In which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.” A sin-filled lifestyle was all we knew.

Then verse 4 says, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us.” Jeremiah 31:3 says, “…Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.”

Ephesians 1:7 says, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” Philippians 4:19 says, “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”