Did you remember........

[TheViking]

..... to thank the Lord today?
A while back I was called in as a P&W leader at a crusade in several suburbs and villages. The evangelist preached on and sitting on the platform day after day with him moved my spirit. He was so genuine, so sincere and had a real need to spread the word.
Several of these smaller churches seem like they survive from crusade to crusade only. It is like they wake up a week before the crusade gets there and keep awake for a week or so after it is ended. Having seen how the Lord had worked in several of the congregations we had been to, we were all filled with gratitude, but this one congregation shocked me. The small church was packed with people from every village around the church. People were singing, but there was no life, no spirit. After the evangelist had delivered words from the Almighty we opened up for prayer requests. They were plenty. We did a couple of songs and after that we opened up for people saying thanks to the Lord for what he done. Not a single soul got up. All of them sat there, no one could come up with anything to thank the Lord for. I was shocked.
We belong to a faith where we get saved by grace as a free gift. We belong to a Lord who died on a cross to save us from our own sin. We are children of the Almighty God, the creator and people who have been going in and out of churches for ages can’t find a single thing to be thankful for?
We have so much to be grateful for. We have every reason in the book to give praise. Even the times when we are down out and feeling low, we have a reason to rejoice. From that day on I started counting my blessings for real. I give glory to God for reaching out to his lost creation. I praise His name for all the good things I experience. I cry out to Him when life is hard thanking Him I know he is there and that his love and grace will always be there no matter what. I just want to ask you. Did you remember to thank Him today?

[stephen]

For getting up in the morning.

For every breath I take.

Every person, God puts in my path.

Every meal.

Every skipped meal.

Every Joy.

Every sorrow.

For not deserving His continual forgiveness, when I still mess up.

For saving me from the wrath to come.

For taking the beating and the death sentence that was all mine.

For the ridicule I take for His namesake.

For putting me face to face with the Father.

For the precious gift of the Holy Spirit.

For promising to bring me Home, when this world melts away.

For all of my brothers and sisters he has given me.

For being in His arms.

[refin]

For getting up in the morning.

For every breath I take.

Every person, God puts in my path.

Every meal.

Every skipped meal.

Every Joy.

Every sorrow.

For not deserving His continual forgiveness, when I still mess up.

For saving me from the wrath to come.

For taking the beating and the death sentence that was all mine.

For the ridicule I take for His namesake.

For putting me face to face with the Father.

For the precious gift of the Holy Spirit.

For promising to bring me Home, when this world melts away.

For all of my brothers and sisters he has given me.

For being in His arms.



...what he said....

[32203miracle]

March 22, 2003 (32203miracle) I had a massive heart attack at age 43. I flatlined both on the ground and in the helicopter that took me to the hospital. The emergency room doctor was surprised to see me come in alive, the chaplins had already been called in, and the helicopter pilot came in shaking his head and telling me how lucky I was. I told him it wasn't luck but the providence of God.

I am thankful for everyday I wake up. I sustained alot of damage to my heart that day which limits my physical abilities but I still have a voice that can praise the Lord. Viking is so right, we ought to wake each day in thankfulness. As much as I am grateful for my physical life I ought to be more grateful still for my spiritual life. I thank him and praise his name.

The old Puritan Richard Baxter prayed a prayer once which said "Help me to preach as a dying man preaching unto dying men." I have modified it to say "Help me to live this day as a dying man who walks among dying men."

I will stop rambling.
Hope you all have a blessed day
Everett

[stephen]

Everett,

Thank you so much for opening your life up like a book for all of us to see. You dont know how incredibly blessing that was for me to read!

And another thanks:
For all my brothers and sisters here on this board, giving there hearts out to all.

Thanks Ludwig, for starting this thread.