Day Three
1 Thessalonians 5:16-19 Be happy [in your faith] and rejoice and be glad-hearted continually (always); be unceasing in prayer [praying perseveringly]; thank [God] in everything [no matter what the circumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks], for this is the will of God for you [who are] in Christ Jesus [the Revealer and Mediator of that will]. Do not quench (suppress or subdue) the [Holy] Spirit;…”

God’s Word Translation interprets verse nineteen as: “Don’t put out the Spirit’s fire.” Make the connection? Be joyful, happy in your faith, rejoicing and being glad-hearted continually, unceasing in prayer, and thanking God in everything. Want to pray continually? Give thanks. Want to be happy in your faith? Give thanks in and in spite of all circumstances. The result? Holy Spirit Fire! Do you desire to stoke those fires? Give thanks like your life depended on it. Give thanks for those unanswered prayers as if they are already a manifested reality.

Scottish minister Alexander Whyte was known for his uplifting prayers in the pulpit. He always found something for which to be grateful. One Sunday morning the weather was so gloomy that one church member thought to himself, “Certainly the preacher won’t think of anything for which to thank the Lord on a wretched day like this.” Much to his surprise, however, Whyte began by praying, “We thank Thee, O God, that it is not always like this.”

In Budapest, a man goes to the rabbi and complains, “Life is unbearable. There are nine of us living in one room. What can I do?” The rabbi answers, “Take your goat into the room with you.” The man in incredulous, but the rabbi insists. “Do as I say and come back in a week.”
A week later the man comes back looking more distraught than before. “We cannot stand it,” he tells the rabbi. “The goat is filthy.” The rabbi then tells him, “Go home and let the goat out. And come back in a week.” A radiant man returns to the rabbi a week later, exclaiming, “Life is beautiful. We enjoy every minute of it now that there’s no goat — only the nine of us.”

Todays Challenge: Give thanks that your not sleeping with a goat. In other words, give thanks today in spite of the negative circumstances that assail you. When you are tempted to be angry – give thanks. Irritated – give thanks. Hopeless and despairing – give thanks. Anxious or worried – give thanks. Thank God through it, in spite of it and remember and recall – your not sleeping with the goats.

What ten things are you, or could you be thankful for today?

Day One
Romans 1:24-25 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their [own] hearts to sexual impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves [abandoning them to the degrading power of sin], because they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, Who is blessed forever! Amen (so be it).

One of the scariest passages in the Bible: “Therefore God gave them up…”
But what were the reasons for God giving them up?
Romans 1:21 Because when they knew and recognized Him as God, they did not honor and glorify Him as God or give Him thanks.
Romans 1:28 And so, since they did not see fit to acknowledge God or approve of Him or consider Him worth the knowing, God gave them over to a base and condemned mind to do things not proper or decent but loathsome,…

They didn’t give thanks to God or think He was worth knowing. The emphasis of this fast is to seek God, and this weeks focus is on thanksgiving. Seeking God implies several things:
He can be found and discovered.
He can be known and encountered.

Truth be known He’s not lost, but we are. Quite simply when God calls to His people to seek Him it’s because they have quit looking to Him. In other words their trust has been misplaced. As good as some things are within the Church and Christianity when we begin to trust them instead of Him – we have misplaced our trust – and that misplaced trust is what the Bible would refer to as idolatry. Idols can be made of denominations, pastors, organizations, styles of music, and even the Bible. When listening to certain pastors you would think that the Holy Trinity is Father, Son, and Holy Bible – while the Person of the Holy Spirit is side-lined and ignored.

Two men were walking through a field one day when they spotted an enraged bull. Instantly they darted toward the nearest fence. The storming bull followed in hot pursuit, and it was soon apparent they wouldn’t make it. Terrified, the one shouted to the other, “Put up a prayer, John. We’re in for it!” John answered, “I can’t. I’ve never made a public prayer in my life.”
“But you must!” implored his companion. “The bull is catching up to us.” “All right,” panted John, “I’ll say the only prayer I know, the one my father used to repeat at the table: ‘O Lord, for what we are about to receive, make us truly thankful.'”

What ten things are you, or could you be thankful for today?