There are some words in the English language which carry great meaning although seeming very small and insignificant. Paul in 2 Corinth 11 : 3 says “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ”.
When the Holy Spirit opens my understanding to the scriptures, there is a simplicity which can be lost through my own or man’s attempt, to theologise my walk with Jesus.
Some words cannot be changed from the present tense. Psalm 95 : 7 TODAY if you will hear his voice, harden not your heart. The same phrase is repeated again in Heb 3 : 7 Wherefore as the Holy Ghost says, ” Today if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness, when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said they do always err in their heart; and they have not known my ways”.
We cannot make TODAY yesterday or tomorrow! Today will always mean Today! John 10 : 27 Jesus says “I am the way, the truth and the light”, not I will be! If I am a child of his Kingdom I should be living in his presence, and walking and communing with him on a daily basis.
The place that I lose the sense of his presence is always where I err in my heart. As we have mentioned, in the wilderness they could not enter in because of unbelief. Unbelief will always cause me to murmur and complain.
Look at the word Now. How can we change the meaning of Now to then?. 2 Corinth 2 : 14… Now thanks be unto God, which always causing me to triumph in Christ, and makes manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. A thankful heart causes me to triumph and cannot err because of unbelief.
Consider the word ALWAYS. 2 Corinth 4 : 7-18. The treasure we carry in our earthen vessels is the life of Christ, by the Holy Spirit that the excellency of the power within is of God, and not of us. But though we are troubled on every side, we are not distressed, though we are perplexed, we are not in despair, though we are persecuted we are not forsaken, though we are cast down, we are not destroyed. ALWAYS bearing about in our bodies the dying of our Lord Jesus, that his life might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are ALWAYS delivered unto death, that his life might be manifest in our body.
Heb 3:10 God accuses his people of not knowing his ways. Do I? Do you? The resurrected life of Jesus will only come forth as I understand that I am ALWAYS delivered unto death. When I am thankful in every circumstance that appears in my life then: a thankful heart causes me to triumph in Christ. There is no place for unbelief in a thankful heart.
Jesus declares that he is the way. Yet God said his people did not know his ways. Jesus was not a victim at Calvary. He could have called for 12 legions of angels to destroy his enemies but chose his Fathers will. The servant is not greater than his master, and I too can choose to see God in my circumstances and see that I am not a victim of circumstances, and change my attitude of heart to one of thankfulness, which ALWAYS causes me to triumph in Christ. Jesus endured the cross for the joy that was set before him.
Am I fully persuaded that as is declared in Rom 8: 30-38 that nothing can separate me from the love of my heavenly Father.
Live Loved.
Thanksgiving always causes us to triumph in every way! When we give thanks we open the door for break through in all our trials and blessings follow! Amen.