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“But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” Galatians‬ ‭6:14‬ ‭KJV‬‬. If any man had reason to glory, or boast, on a human level it would have been the Apostle Paul. And yet he refuses to boast in anything he has done or who he has become. He refuses to boast of great accomplishments or of exalted spiritual experiences. To Paul, it was a shame, so much that he said “God forbid it…”, that he or anyone would boast in themselves. But the one thing he will boast in is the cross of Jesus Christ and what that cross represents to God’s true children. He was so different than many religious leaders today who are filled with pride and egotism, desiring the praise of men. Today it has become a mark of greatness for a person to brag on themselves. But may God help us to understand, this is not how true Christians act, not on the ball field or in the pulpit. We should realize that none of us have anything at all to boast in regarding ourselves. For anything good that comes from our lives, all the glory belongs to Jesus. The Bible makes very clear, that true love is not boastful or arrogant. By God’s grace, let our only boasting be in Jesus Christ and what He accomplished for us on that old rugged cross.

“I have set the LORD always before me: Because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.”Psalm‬ ‭16:8‬ ‭KJV‬‬. For us to ‘set the Lord always before us’ means two specific things. First of all, it means that we keep Jesus Christ in a place where our focus is always upon Him. He is to be the One we are looking to and following. He is the One Who leads us, comforts us and protects us along life’s pathway. And we don’t just take an occasional glance at Him on Sunday morning, but we always keep our attention upon Him. Like the traveler following the star, we must always keep Jesus Christ before us, or we will go astray. But also, this means that we ‘set Him before us’ in regards to our choices and priorities in life. It means His will is more important than our will. It means what He desires is before our own human desires. This is where so many go wrong in this watered down religious generation. They imagine that once they ‘believe’ in Jesus that everything is done. But the reality is, true belief starts us on a new path with a totally new priority in life. It is a choice to place Jesus Christ before me! And the wonderful thing is, when He is before us, we will be secure! When He is before us, we can sing ‘I shall not be, I shall not be moved’.

“And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare His works with rejoicing.” Psalm‬ ‭107‬:‭22‬ ‭KJV‬‬. In the preceding verses of this psalm, the writer has been expressing what is the common experience of God’s true children. He delivered them, saved them out of their distress and broke their bonds. He satisfied their longing souls. He sent His Word and healed them. And with all this in mind, the obvious response is to give praise and thanks to God. But here he uses the phrase ‘the sacrifices of thanksgiving’. Let us consider one reason why giving thanks is described as a sacrifice. It may be unsettling for us to acknowledge, but giving thanks is not natural for us as fallen human beings. We know from God’s Word, it is a command that is often repeated. And yet, it continues to be something most believers struggle with. Naturally, we are all prone to grumbling and complaining. It takes a miracle in our hearts to cause us to be truly thankful people. But even when God changes our hearts it is still something we must continually work at. Very easily we fall back into our natural tendency to complain. So we should understand that giving thanks requires discipline and effort. By God’s grace, let us be diligent and consistent in giving thanks to God.

“Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift.” 2 Cor.‬ ‭9‬:‭15‬ ‭KJV‬‬. As Paul is encouraging the believers to generous giving, he concludes this chapter by giving thanks unto God. He reminds us that all of our giving is the result of the incredible gift which God has given to us. There is no question that this ‘Unspeakable Gift’ Paul refers to is Jesus Christ, our blessed Lord and Saviour. The Father gave Him for our unworthy souls because He so loved us. Here we see the very foundation of our command to give thanks to God. Here we have the most incredible gift ever given to the most unworthy recipients. Let this be an example of how we should give thanks. Too often our giving of thanks is lacking because we are focusing on the wrong things. We get our attention so much on the things of this material world which are always changing. When they are good, we are thankful. But then they change we are no longer thankful. Instead, let us focus our giving of thanks on those things which are eternal and unchangeable! Let us thank God every day for the Unspeakable Gift of His Son. For every true believer, this precious Gift is a reason to give thanks every day. By God’s grace, let us not fail to give thanks for Jesus.

“We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers;” 1 Thess. 1:2 KJV. As we consider things to be thankful for we should be reminded to always give thanks for the family of God. One of the great joys of Christian life in this world is that we have spiritual brothers and sisters who are on this journey with us. We pray for one another and help bear each other’s burdens. We are workers together in the greatest cause in this world, which is to promote the kingdom of our God. Too many miss out on this blessing and are not thankful for God’s family because they continually think of them with a critical spirit. Instead of seeing through eyes of love and compassion, they see only shortcomings in others. But may we realize, every one of them are facing challenges and struggles like we are. Every one of us is in the same spiritual battle. No, they are not perfect, but they are our family. They are loved by our Father with an everlasting love. And they are a blessing to us in many ways. As we think of them in the proper way, we will give thanks to God for them. Let us determine, that we will give thanks for the family of God.

“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” 1 Thes. ‭5‬:‭18‬ ‭KJV‬‬. As we celebrate another Thanksgiving Day, we should pause to consider why God has commanded us to give thanks. Paul makes very clear in this verse that ‘giving thanks’ is God’s will for all of His children. 44 times in the Word of God we are commanded to give thanks. We know that God gives us commands for our good and so that our lives can bring glory to Him. In the scientific community, there have been many studies made of the heath benefits of being thankful. Simple obedience to this command improves our mental health, our emotional health and even our physical health. But disobedience brings misery into our lives. And the greatest benefit is that being thankful strengthens our spiritual life. It opens the door for God’s blessings to flow into our lives in a greater way. It brings gladness into our souls as we focus on giving thanks. On the other hand, the Bible tells us that being unthankful causes us to be unholy. Perhaps the most miserable people are those who do not give thanks to God. But our greatest motivation should be, to give thanks because we love God and desire to please Him. We should want Him to know that we are thankful for all of His goodness and mercies to us. By God’s grace, let us give thanks to our gracious Heavenly Father.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love…” Galatians‬ ‭5:22‬ ‭KJV‬‬. In this verse Paul is writing about THE fruit of the Spirit. It is not ‘fruits’ as most imagine. It is THE fruit of divine love, which the Holy Spirit sheds abroad in our hearts. The reality is, that every virtue, every good gift, every desirable quality, has its origin and value in love. Paul describes in 1 Corin. 13, how even the most desirable spiritual gifts are nothing without love. He reminds us that all of our good works are nothing without love. Nothing we do has any merit or value apart from love. God’s divine love in us is the root, the very cause and life of all that is good, because His love is the greatest and most important thing of all! If we have God’s love in our hearts, we have the one thing that matters above all. But if we have everything else and lack love, then we have nothing. This is the great need in the Body of Christ today, to have God’s love working in us and flowing through our lives. Our human love will never be sufficient. May we humble ourselves and confess, this is the love we need. This is the spiritual fruit God seeks in His children. By His grace, let us live a life of love.

“…by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” Galatians 5:13-14 KJV. Every part of God’s moral law, in regards to how we treat our fellow man, is fulfilled when we truly love as we are called to do. This is true because love only does what is right and best. Love does not settle for what is good or decent, but seeks for what is best. Love does not lower itself to what is fun or easy, but always seeks for the spiritual and eternal best for those we love. Love is not selfish, putting our own desires ahead of other’s needs and spiritual well being. And so, when we truly love others with the love of God, we never do anything to harm them. We don’t lie to them, steal from them or gossip about them. We treat them how we want to be treated. We don’t pull them away from the things of God for lesser things. When God’s love is in our hearts we have the attitude of servants, desiring to please Him as we serve others in love. We do not think ourselves better than others. We don’t set out to prove our superiority. Love is humble. This life of love is the life every child of God is called to. Without this divine love working in us our life and the things we do will all be in vain. By God’s grace, let us serve Him and others with a heart of love.

(Note: I am leaving on a mission trip today and will not be able to send devos the next week) “For I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me.” John‬ ‭6:38‬ ‭KJV‬‬. Jesus is stating here that His life as a Man, was not lived to do whatever His human body desired. He did not live to please Himself as other men do. He left the glories of Heaven, to come here for the purpose of doing His Father’s will in all things. But let us ask ourselves, whose will and purpose are we accomplishing? Are we living to please ourselves or to do the will of God in all things? While Jesus came from Heaven to do His Father’s will, it seems that most church members are set on doing their own will. In fact, most professing believers today do not even come to God’s house, usually because they are more interested in doing their own will than the Father’s. But we should realize, this is one of the distinguishing marks of a real Christian. We live to do God’s will! This is proof of the life and Spirit of Christ in us. We don’t try to obey God occasionally, but we seek to do His will all the time and in all things. May God help us, to leave the life of self will, so we can do our Father’s will. Only in His will can we find the joy and peace our souls need.

“For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, Now will I arise, saith the LORD; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him.” Psalm‬ ‭12:5‬ ‭KJV‬‬. These words remind us of God’s merciful attitude towards the poor and needy, as well as His attitude against those who are their adversaries. However, most of the blessing from these words is lost because we don’t like to acknowledge that spiritually, these words describe us. We are supposed to be those who are poor in spirit! We are supposed to be those who recognize our condition as needy souls. And it’s only when we humble ourselves like this that God will become our Protector and Defender. Most in religion today have become like the church at Laodicea. In their minds, they see themselves spiritually as, ‘rich and increased in goods and have need of nothing’. (Rev. 3:17) They despise the thought of being either ‘poor or needy’. But this is everyone of us when we are awakened to see our true spiritual condition. On our own, we are spiritual paupers and in constant need of God’s help. But thank God, when we humble ourselves to admit our need, He will rise up in our defense and keep our souls safe from those who would harm and try to destroy us. By God’s grace, let us acknowledge our condition and constant need of Him.