Skip to content

Scripture Theme for November

OUR Theme Scripture for the month of November is I Thessalonians 5:16-18. I challenge you to start reading it every day as you work to commit it to memory.

SCRIPTURE: I THESSALONIANS 5:16-18

Rejoice always;
Pray without ceasing;
In everything give thanks;
For this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

NOTE the “in everything give thanks” phrase. The “giving thanks in EVERYTHING” is the difficult part. It’s easy to “give thanks” for the blessings during good times but not so much when we struggle with health issues, family problems, loss of job, over commitments, or other personal crisis. When we rest in the fact that our life is not filled with “happen chances” or “misdirected interruptions” but rather “divine appointments” it helps bring a sense of purpose and calm to our otherwise haphazard, frenetic routine. GOD has a plan and we are a part of that divine plan — that is pretty awesome! When we start “thanking Him” for the struggles as well as the blessings we find deeper, richer meaning to our existence. Through the struggles we find it necessary to FOCUS on Him or be crushed by the struggle.

It takes an “Attitudinal Shift!” Is that easy? …Certainly not! Is it automatic?… No, not at first but it can be. Is it fulfilling? …ABSOLUTELY! However, WE must be purposeful and intentional in where we direct our attention in troubling times. As one writer said (Keith’s paraphrase of the quote) “Focus on your struggle and you stumble. Focus on God and your struggles tumble.”

Today – be intentional to FOCUS on GOD not your stresses or problems and see what happens!

Share this post

Related posts

FOCUSED

One of the casualties of aging to which I find myself a victim is the dimming of the eyes.  Ecclesiastes 12 counsels the young person to remember God, their Creator, in their youth before the aging process takes over and various faculties, as listed in verses 1-7, are diminished.

Clear eyesight when we are young may be something we take for granted. However, as we age the realization that our vision is not as sharp as it once was takes hold. “Readers” become standard fare for all intricate tasks. Our once keen laser sharp focus is now blurry and in need of help to restore its youthfulness. That restoration is found through glasses or some sort of rejuvenating surgery. Especially in the early stages of this degenerative eye problem we may be able to fake it and get by, but eventually we must relent and do something to correct the problem.

There is a parallel between physical and spiritual vision. “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” was written in the early 20th century. The hymn writer, Helen Lemmel, was strongly influenced by the artist and later little-known missionary, Lilias Trotter. Miss Trotter started off as an aspiring artist but early on felt a call from God to reach the lost. She began her ministry by rescuing prostitutes from the streets of London. Later she went to Africa, without missionary funding, and served for over forty years. While there she penned a poem that would greatly influence the writing of the hymn “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.”  The poem was entitled “Focused: A Story and Song.” 

The poem centers around focusing one’s attentions fully and completely upon God. She writes that Satan knows that if a person uses all their powers of concentration on being led by God’s Spirit, they will have a great intensity and impact upon those to whom they are called to minister. Lilias Trotter, writing in a more formal use of the English language than we are accustomed, shares some timeless insights which could very easily have been written today but with a different accent. She writes: “Never has it been so easy to live in half a dozen good harmless worlds at once—art, music, social science, games, motoring, the following of some profession, and so on. And between them we run the risk of drifting about, the ‘good’ hiding the ‘best’ even more effectually than it could be hidden downright frivolity with its smothered heartache at its own emptiness.”

The “good” hiding the “best” leads us to emptiness.  Could this be true of us today especially as American Christians? Have we sought the “good” while missing the “best”? The chorus of the hymn, which we will be singing in worship this Sunday, says it best.

                Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face,                                                                                                                                        And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.

Keith Pate

God Leads Us

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge…

God is Enough

Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd.…