Thankful for Jesus as my Savior

What are you thankful for?

As Christians we are called to prioritize God in our lives.  I find this very hard most days as I get caught up in the day to day grind of just life.  That being said, I always want to make God a priority, but follow through is hard.

With November and Thanksgiving here in the states, it's a reminder of all the things we should be thankful for.

My top reason I am thankful: God sending his Son, Jesus, to save us all.  Covering past, present and future sin.

If you are reading this and haven't fully committed to your beliefs, it may be time to dive deeper and find out what's holding you back.

Part of believing in a savior is knowing your need for him.  Do you realize how far from God you truly are and how much you need a savior?  I do, most every day I realize this fact and I am so grateful for his continuing Grace.  

When you are saved it's by faith alone, not Jesus AND, just Jesus.

That being said, we are called to move away from sin, leave those sins behind. To repent means to do a full 180 degrees, turn around.  As believers we should show some type of change.  Change isn't needed to be saved(except for the repentance aspect), but it certainly is a way to show that God is sanctifying you.

This topic is a big one, and I'm not going to get into it too much.  I will give you some good articles to read if you want to dig deeper.

How can I be Saved?

What is Sanctification?

Finally, if you are saved, how to you share that with others?  Check out my blog post here about sharing your hope in Jesus.


John 17:14-19

14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.


There are so many awesome songs about being saved, but today Forgiven by Crowder really spoke to me.

Thankful for Freedom of Religion, Freedom to Pray

Yesterday's post I put a link in to Voice of the Martyrs.  There are so many places today where you can't openly follow Jesus , to do so is to suffer persecution or even death.

I have a VOM calendar pinned to the wall next to me and I'll be the first to admit that I am not an on fire for prayer kind of person most days.  I have it there as a reminder to do just that, pray and most days I still don't.  I want that to change, so here goes putting it into practice today.  It's not that hard, it doesn't take a long time, but yet my selfishness gets in the way.  Do you see a theme here?

Anyway, today's prayer is for Myanmar, where a front line worker asks "Pray that I would be the man of God that He desires."  Oh such a prayer as this is so simple and I should be asking that daily for myself as well.  Knowing God's will can be complicated sometimes, other times it's written out for us in the Bible as clear as day.

Will you pray with me today for Myanmar and this front line worker, we may never know who he is , but God knows him and His heart?

....  Who else needs prayer around you?  Family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, people you see walking down the street next to you, people driving in front of you... there are endless people to pray for, pick one today and go from there.  Don't forget to pray for yourself as well.  Don't know how to pray, God lays out the foundation for it in The Lord's Prayer.  I never really liked reciting the Lord's Prayer because it felt very impersonal to me, that being said, knowing it allows to me to understand HOW God would like to see us pray.  Need more info on this, check it out here.

Who can you pray for right now, and for what?

1 Thessalonians 1:2
We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers.

Thankful for Worship Music

I don't know about the rest of you, but for me, Worship music helps me to be in tune with God.  I know, that sounded corny.  There is something about tuning into a radio station needing a pick me up, only to find the exact right song playing for what you need. I was looking back at music I've listened to through the years and I've found something interesting.  When I look at what I listened to, I was very much affected in one form or another by what was going on in my life at that time and how I was growing or not growing spiritually.

Music reaches into my soul like nothing else seems to. There is this connection that I can't explain.  It wakes me up, it helps me feel, it allows some form of release.  Music helps me to pour out my feelings.

I am not a natural music talent in any form. I have managed to pick up a few things and pluck a string or two, or blow a note or two, I can even sing a little, but I am so far from being capable of anything good.  That being said, when the right song is playing, it doesn't matter what I sound like, it just moves me.  There are some songs that I just can't shake off and some that hit me so deep I can't even sing them.  There are others that help me shout things to the rooftops.

Right now there are a lot of those rooftop songs, but one of them is below.  What is your shout it to the rooftop song?

Psalm 147:7
Sing to the Lord with Thanksgiving; make music to our God on the harp.

Gratefulness: What Happened to Thanksgiving?

When did we stop celebrating Thanksgiving?  Here's a little rant.  I wanted to just put this out there, for years now it has bothered me that most stores go from Halloween into Christmas and forget about Thanksgiving altogether, unless it's a grocery store.  When did schools stop talking about the Pilgrims, now it's all Happy Harvest Day and stuff like that?

Being Thankful is something that we, especially in America, have forgotten how to do.  Do we realize how lucky we are compared to the rest of the world?

I'm just as bad sometimes, I turn my eyes inward, I'm selfish, ungrateful, spoiled, complain a lot.

This month I want to focus on being Thankful.

The number 1 thing I am thankful for is Jesus.

That He came to save us all. That he gave his amazing grace to us, but when we personalize this, He loved ME so much that He saved me from all my sin.  It really is Amazing Grace.

There are places in the world that people can't believe what they wish to believe openly, they are persecuted for their beliefs.  If you haven't read about Voice of the Martyrs you can do so here.

1 Chronicles 29:13
Now our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.

What can you thank God for today, how can you praise His name?