Christianity Oasis Forum

[cimi]

February 26
Tuesday


GIVING THANKS

READ:
John 11:41
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Jesus lifted up His
eyes and said, "Father,
I thank You that You
have heard Me."
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A tragedy left a family with a void that nothing could fill. A toddler chasing a cat wandered into the road and was run over by a delivery truck. A 4-year-old watched in shocked silence as her parents cradled the lifeless body of her little sister. For years, the cold emptiness of that moment encased the family in sadness. Feelings were frozen. The only comfort was a numbness. Relief was unimaginable.

Author Ann Voskamp was the 4-year-old, and the sorrow surrounding her sister's death formed her view of life and God. The world she grew up in had little concept of grace. Joy was an idea that had no basis in reality.

As a young mother, Voskamp set out to discover the elusive thing the Bible calls joy. The words for joy and grace come from the Greek word Chairo, which she found out is at the center of the Greek word for thanksgiving. Could it be that simple? she wondered. To test her discovery, Voskamp decided to give thanks for 1,000 gifts she already had. She started slowly but soon gratefulness was flowing freely.

Just as Jesus gave thanks before, not after, rasing Lazarus from the dead (John 11:41), Voskamp discovered that giving thanks brought to life feelings of joy that had died along with her sister. Joy comes from thanksgiving. __ Julie Ackerman Link

````````````Lord, I thank You that You have the power```````````````
````````````to raise the dead. May the feelings of joy```````````````
```````````that arise from our thanksgiving be seeds of``````````````
```````````````grace to those who are afraid to feel.```````````````
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The joy of living comes from a heart of thanksgiving.

*******************Today's Bible Reading __ John 11:32-34************************

32 Then, when Mary came
where Jesus was, and saw
Him, she fell down at His
feet, saying to Him, "Lord if
You had been here, my
brother would not have died."

33 Therefore, when Jesus
saw her weeping....He
groaned in the spirit and was
troubled. 34 And He said,
"Where have you laid him?"
They said to Him, "Lord,
come and see."

35 Jesus wept. 36 Then the
Jews said, "See how He
loved him!"

37 And some of them said,
"Could not this Man, who
opened the eyes of the blind,
also have kept this man from
dying?"

38 Then Jesus, again
groaning in Himself, came to
the tomb. It was a cave, and a
stone lay against it. 39 Jesus
said, "Take away the stone."

Martha, the sister of him
who was dead, said to Him,
"Lord, by this time there is a
stench, for he has been dead
four days."

40 Jesus said to her, "Did I
not say to you that if you
would believe you would see
the glory of God?" 41 Then
they took away the stone
from the place where the
dead man was lying. And
Jesus lifted up His eyes and
said, "Father, I thank You that
You have heard Me. 42 And
I know that You always hear
Me, but because of the
people who are standing by
I said this, that they may
believe that You sent Me."

43 Now when He had said
these things, He cried with a
loud voice, "Lazarus, come
forth!" 44 And he who had
died came out bound hand
and foot....Jesus said to
them, "Loose him, and let
him go."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Standing with one's eyes fixed heavenward is a common posture for
prayer (v.41; Ps. 121:1, 123:1; Mark 11:25; Luke 18:13; John 17:1).
We are to "look to the LORD our God, until He has mercy on us"
(Ps. 123:2).