November 24, 2025

Thanks-Living Challenge & Free Gift for this Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving.  In 1863 during the Civil War,  President Abraham Lincoln set aside the fourth Thursday of November as a holiday, proclaiming “Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.”

On this Thanksgiving Week, a new Truth from a familiar verse jumped out during my quiet time.

Fall in my backyard.

“While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying “Take and eat; this is my body.’” –Matthew 26:26.

From the first Lord’s Supper to today’s Lord’s Supper, the same sentiment is expressed in each sacrament. Jesus took the bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it away.

1. May we give thanks for everything we are given, for every person, every circumstance in our life. May we have an attitude of gratitude. It’s hard to grumble when you’re grateful. So often I/we complain over what we don’t have instead of thanking God for the many blessings we do have. I am guilty of this.

2. Jesus broke the bread before He gave it away. Although Jesus could, He does not use anything or anyone unless the item or person is broken.

The bread was/is broken, not whole.

The wine came/comes from smushed, fermented grapes.

Even His own body had to be broken on the cross to save all of us from our sins.

He broke Himself in order to give Himself away. May it be so of us as we live each day giving thanks. Thanks-LIVING.

Jesus only uses us when we are broken and available to Him. Recently I have felt so weak and inadequate. His power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:10). Oh friend, I am desperately dependent on Him, and it’s so liberating.

God is a promise-keeping, miracle-working God. He wants us to rely on Him as we live each day with gratitude.

Thanks and Brokenness. Jesus both focused on gratitude and brokenness in life and in the sacrament of communion.

As we celebrate our national holiday of Thanksgiving, let’s use Jesus’ example to take and give thanks.  Will you take on the challenge with me to turn this Thanksgiving into Thanks-LIVING? Not just one day of the year, but every day.

Happy Thanks-Living, dear friend.  As a gift to you, please download this free 21-Day Gratitude Journal with different questions each day to prompt your gratitude. May we each have an Attitude of Gratitude.

Reflect:

  • How will you transform Thanksgiving into Thanks-Living?
  • For what, for whom are you thankful?

Renew:

  • “Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy; let them sing before the Lord, for He comes to judge the earth.” –Psalm 98:7-9.
  • “Enter his gates with Thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name.” –Psalm 100:4.
  • “He must become greater; I must become less.” –John 3:30
  • “He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness…for when I am weak, then I am strong.” –2 Corinthians 12:9a-10b.

Recharge:  

  • Let’s start our new Gratitude Journal this week and  list blessings daily.
  • Please let me know of some of your many blessings.

Resource:

September 9, 2025

Praying For Rest On All Sides

Autumn has begun in a whirlwind of activity. I pray as we serve the Lord daily for Him  to give me rest on all sides, in every aspect of my life. Tall order? I agree. I pray that huge prayer for you as well.

Is rest on all sides even a remote possibility in the midst of so much activity? I see so much scriptural backing to it. Here are four examples from:

  1. Joshua 21:44
  2. 2 Samuel 7:1
  3. 1 Kings 5:4
  4. 2 Chronicles 20:30

In all four examples, it seems a battle had just been fought with enemies and won.

In the book of Joshua, after the Lord led Joshua and the Israelites into the land of Canaan, there was so much more land to possess. The disagreement had been over land. Land was then given to all twelve tribes of Israel.

“Thus the Lord gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers. And they took possession of it, and they settled there And the Lord gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their fathers. Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the Lord had given all their enemies into their hands. Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.” –Joshua 21:43-45.

In 2 Samuel, the Lord made a covenant with David.

“Now when the king live in his house and the Lord had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, the king said to Nathan the prophet, ‘See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells ‘in a tent.’ And Nathan said to the king, ‘Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you.” –2 Samuel 7:1

Merely four chapters later, David rested perhaps TOO much and committed adultery with Bathsheba. In 2 Samuel 11, “In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful…”

David was supposed to be out in battle, “the time when kings go out to battle.” He sinned with so much idle time. Sometimes too much rest is a detriment and possibly a downfall to us. David repented, though. David was a man after God’s own heart.

When King David passed away, he had passed along instructions and wisdom to Solomon for building the temple. David had been in a battle with Saul and his enemies, and God protected him. Now Solomon has rest.

“Now Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon when he heard that they had anointed him king in place of his father, for Hiram always loved David. And Solomon sent word to Hiram, ‘You know that David my father could not build a house for the name of the Lord his God because of the warfare with which his enemies surrounded him, until the Lord put them under the soles of his feet. But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side. There is neither adversary nor misfortune…” –1 Kings 5:4

In the last example, In the lineage of kings of Judah and Israel, many were selfish and were not God-honoring. King Jehoshaphat was a refreshing, Spirit-filled King. He reigned in Judah and strengthened himself against Israel.

During battle, King Jehoshaphat prayed one of my favorite prayers in the Bible, one I say almost daily as a breath prayer.

“We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” –2 Chronicles 20:12

Then the Lord delivered a victory in Jerusalem.

“They came to Jerusalem with harps and lyres and trumpets, to the house of the Lord. And the fear of God came on all the kingdoms of the countries when they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel. So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet, for his God gave him rest all around.” –2 Chronicles 20:28-30

Now we have seen four different vignettes of rest on all sides, four different battles. What lessons can we learn from these five examples as we pray for rest on all sides, all aspects of our life?

  1. Pray for God’s favor and protection
  2. Be teachable and not stubborn– Surrender your will
  3. Be humble, not prideful
  4. Be nimble to change plans as the Holy Spirit leads
  5. Pray for your enemies but be prepared for battle

Friend, these five steps are not easy. You are a leader. you can do it, friend.

Each takes surrender and guidance by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Rest on all sides is possible. May it be so in each of us. May it be so.

May we nestle, not wrestle with God.

Respond:

  1. Which of these five steps can you work on?
  2. Nestle, don’t wrestle with God.
September 6, 2025

So Close and Yet So Far: Four Signs You May Be Settling as a Leader  

With the kickoff of the Fall season, I pray this message encourages you.

Leaders like to set goals. I confess to you that sometimes when I set a goal,  I get about 80-90 percent of the way there, then find myself moving on to the next goal without crossing the finish line. Consistency, tenacity and perseverance are daily, prayerful practice. 

Recently I’ve learned some signs from the Israelites to avoid settling as a leader. One of my favorite stories in the Old Testament is about Moses and the Israelites’ exodus and their 40-year journey into the Promised Land of Canaan. They persevered and Moses led them. Joshua was chosen to lead the final way into the Promised Land.

What would normally have been an 11-day trip took 40 years as they wandered into the wilderness. This time reading this story I discovered an added twist to the plot of this story that I continue to ponder.

What I did not realize is that about 15 months into the journey from Mount Sinai to the Promised Land of Canaan all the Israelites landed in Kadesh Barnea. Remember when the 12 spies surveyed the Promised Land (Numbers 13)? Their home base was Kadesh. It was at the base of the Promised Land of Canaan. It had a water supply, livestock and vegetation there. They had “just enough.” They had found complacency without the fruitfulness of the Promised Land.

“And the time from our leaving Kadesh-barnea until we crossed the brook Zered was 38 years, until the entire generation that is, the men of war, had perished from the camp, as the Lord had sworn to them. For indeed the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them from the camp, until they had perished.” –Deuteronomy 2:14-15.

In fact, two and one-half tribes—the tribes of Gad, Reuben and half of Manasseh—liked Kadesh Barnea so much there they CHOSE to settle east of the Jordan and not go into the Promised Land! What?

The beginning of the journey from Mount Sinai to Kadesh was swift and jubilant. Sad doubt and delay soon followed. Israelites were hesitant and plunged down into wasted years of wandering in the wilderness.

Moses interceded for them over and over.

The wilderness is not the barrier to the Promised Land.

Wandering in the wilderness is the barrier to the Promised Land.

 The Promised Land “Canaan” Allotment of Land Among the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Note that Reuben, Gad and half of Manasseh settled to the right/east of the Jordan. 

Kadesh Barnea is a beautiful oasis. Ruins of the ancient city can be found today. Kadesh could even be considered to be an “Oasis of Complacency.”

Kadesh is where Moses struck the rock and water gushed out. Moses’ patience had worn thin. The Israelites had complained about everything. In a fit of anger Moses called them rebels and struck the rock instead of speaking to it. Water gushed out . God was faithful and kept His promise, even though Moses disobeyed. Because of striking that rock, Moses was not permitted to enter the Promised Land. He was able to see it from a distance before he died at 120 years old.

“Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan, all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah, as far as the western sea…This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to your offspring. I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there. So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab…” –Deuteronomy 34:1-5

Can you imagine being so close to seeing your dreams and goals fulfilled as a leader that you settle at the brink of your “Promised Land”?

What are some signs that you are settling in “Kadesh Barnea,” for less than your Promised Land?

  1. Your fear of risk outweighs your faith.
  2. You are satisfied and don’t want more.
  3. Your passion wanes.
  4. Spiritual warfare seems to be quieted.

Ouch. I am so convicted by these four signs  and can trace back in my faith journey the times I’ve settled in my Kadesh Barnea before getting to my Promised Land God-sized vision/goal line.  

The enemy can’t destroy us but he will certainly try to distract. If the enemy is on your  trail, you are still on God’s journey.

One of my favorite Charles Spurgeon quotes is, “By perseverance, the snail reached the ark.”

Friend, keep pursuing and persevering toward your Promised Land of dreams and God-sized vision on earth and toward heaven for eternity.

Reflection: 

How does this message resonate with you? 

Recharge: 

What actions will you take to keep persevering through Kadesh Barnea to get to the Promised Land of your God-sized vision and goals.

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