This month at The THRESHING FLOOR I opened the floor up to a solid time of discussion, and we really threshed. If you missed it, or you would like to thresh through this yourself, please take the time to reflect on the questions and process the discussion points.
For the purposes of this discussion, when we talk about sacrifices, we’re also reflecting on circumstances in our lives that require patient endurance and long-suffering.
Sacrifice is about laying things down before God while praise is about lifting things up.
To be healthy in sacrifices made and not become resentful, we must immediately and continually lift those sacrifices up to God in praise.
Sacrifice and praise is a spiritual mindset. We can't expect to have the capacity within ourselves to do this.
Let’s take a deep dive into how we do that. We will discover how thankfulness brings us close to His heart, that it's part of holiness, and why that's so important.
Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
Do most of us have to intentionally consider how to be thankful in long-suffering and sacrifice? Does it come easily or does it seem ludicrous when we are enduring something that strips us of an identity, expectations, or when we feel damaged and depleted?
Rooted and Grounded in Love
Where are your thoughts rooted?
Ephesians 3:16-18 (NLT)
I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.
Imagine your thoughts and emotions growing down into a pool of God’s pure love and strength. Imagine those thoughts and emotions are your roots. Imagine that pool of love as a crystal clear gel-like substance that holds your roots and keeps them stable and feeds your thoughts and emotions and well-being.
If you imagine God’s love as this type of pool where your thoughts and emotional roots draw energy from, do you think you would function from a different perspective? Do you think you would experience life differently?
Where are your thoughts normally rooted?
God’s purpose for us is to be restored, strengthened, confirmed and established in Him. So much of what we try and do within our own humanity, God means for us to do within Him. We try and do things from our own strength more often than we count every day, but God establishing us, means we can live beyond ourselves. Beyond our circumstances, beyond existing, beyond surviving, beyond sacrifice, into being rooted and grounded in His love, and flourishing.
Psalm 147:10-11 (NIV)
His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of the warrior; the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.
Hope in His unfailing love. Not in the outcome of sacrifices or circumstances. Just in His love.
God doesn’t want us to do things in our own strength. Our sacrifice is our will yielded to His will. Where we sacrifice our will, we can praise Him in advance, and be thankful that He will work things out for our good.
Have we mastered bringing praise where we sacrifice, or are we questioning and becoming bitter?
We only become bitter if we focus on our circumstances rather than on His unfailing love; His goodness. We cannot become anxious or bitter in our heart if we are being rooted and grounded in His love.
But that’s not of our nature. It’s of His Spirit. In Him, we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28).
What stops us from praising God?
An Ungrateful Heart
2 Timothy 3:2
For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,
Do you see how ungratefulness is listed along with unholiness? Everything else listed there, we could agree is unholy, but do we ever think about ungratefulness as being unholy?
Being ungrateful stops us from praise and thanksgiving. Does it follow then, that not being able to praise God, is an unholy act?
Hebrews 12:14
without holiness no one will see the Lord
Would you agree that our ingratitude keeps us from seeing the Lord in our circumstances? Would you agree that our ingratitude keeps us from walking closely with Him?
Should we not consider that our ingratitude may stop us from seeing the Lord at all?
What Makes Us Ungrateful?
We can struggle to praise God in our sacrifice or long-suffering if deep down we are angry at God. We can become angry at God for not ‘fixing things’ when they fall apart; for not overpowering the consequences of sin against us.
We don’t recognise the tie our circumstances have with sin. We don’t consider the long view of the journey God wants to take us on; how He will use what’s bad and turn it for good. God wants to use the mess to shift our thinking and our character. That can only happen when we know, and meditate on, His unfailing love.
God wants us to be thankful that He is with us, and for seeing and receiving the capacity He gives in whatever He asks us to do. In doing that, we grow in grace and meakness.
Be Careful What You Think
I’ve heard it said – if you know how to worry, you know how to meditate. You’re just meditating on the wrong things.
What do you meditate on?
The bible says what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart (Matthew 15:17).
What are you dwelling on, and speaking life into, that you really should be killing?
Sacrifice those things that we tend to dwell on at God’s altar, which damage our emotions, our relationships, and our conversations, and practise bringing praise instead. Praise Him for what He can do despite our weakness.
2 Timothy 2:16
Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly.
The bible also says we will be judged on every careless word spoken (Matthew 12:36) so curate a heart that is holy – not just stopping the words coming out of your mouth. That's just pretense.
How do you guard what you think on? Are you quick to reject thoughts that are not worthy of praise?
Proverbs 4:23 (NLT)
Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.
Our heart's posture needs to withstand the storms of ingratitude; not indulge in chatter that is damaging. Self-control is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).
If we lack self-control over our mind, what do we do?
We dwell on whatever is worthy of praise.
Philippians 4:8 (NIV)
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
When we dwell on the things of the Spirit and on whatever is good, those other thoughts stop dwelling in us. It is a cure-all. What good are those thoughts if they embitter us, make us moody, offended, depressed, angry, anxious and unhappy? Those thoughts feed on hopelessness. They cripple us.
If you want to change, will you commit to taking the medicine that the bible gives?
God’s Word has the answers for us to live well, but we must be prepared to apply what it says, consistently, doggedly, without reservation or excuse.
Do you worship God’s words or your own thoughts? Think About These Things for further reading.
Complaints and Honesty
Don't leave a conversation at the point of complaint.
Complaints are a natural state of fallen man, but that doesn't justify the behaviour any more than swearing, stealing, lying or fudging the truth. God doesn't want us to wallow in a dirty pool of complaints. We need to stay in communion with Him. God will mould us, shape us, strengthen us, and grow us through the pain of the process if we don’t leave the conversation at the point of the complaint.
Do you take your complaints to God? Do you allow God to carry the conversation past those complaints?
We never read of Joseph’s emotional or mental anguish but when his brothers turned up in Egypt decades after they betrayed him, the grief he’d carried for decades heaved from him in uncontrollable weeping that was so loud it resonated throughout the palace.
Abraham negotiated with God, Jacob wrestled with God, David felt abandoned by God, Jeremiah said God tricked him, Moses complained to God about the burden of his responsibility, Job became resentful, Naomi was bitter, Esther was scared, Hannah was desperate. They all felt forsaken at some point!
God was willing to hear their honesty. But that wasn’t the end of their conversations with Him. They continued walking with Him despite their feelings until God made Himself known to them. They went through years, even decades, of uncertainty and long-suffering.
We have to be prepared to walk through the process of pain and sit in the seat of meakness until God makes Himself known there.
Glorify God
Joseph was already resolved in his mind by the time his brothers showed up. He knew what they had meant for evil, the Lord had meant for good. It took 22 years of suffering and humbling for that appointment as Pharaoh's 2IC to be sealed. What enabled him?
We don't read of him complaining or lamenting. Something he’d seen in dreams as a young man carried him through and caused his tenacious belief in God. But even when God promoted him to be the second most powerful man in the world, God wasn’t finished. Joseph missed his father and endured the burden of his dad thinking he was dead. Finally, God justified all the wrongs done to him, bringing his father and his whole family to live with him where they all prospered. That took his entire lifetime! But look at how God remembered Joseph even after he died. God ensured his bones were carried back to his homeland long after his death, not left in the land of his slavery. Yes. He was still in the land of his slavery even while he ruled. God's purposes were vastly different to his own expectations, but he fulfilled what God had planned and he flourished.
Wrong Conclusions
When we don’t give glory to God and give Him thanks, our thoughts become darkened and we come to wrong conclusions.
Romans 1:21
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Do you think you experience lack in your life? - Relationships? Unmet expectations? Unfulfilled hope?
When you perceive lack in your life do you give thanks to God that He is able to restore what has been lost, or what is your conversation like with Him? Do you even have conversation with Him that goes beyond complaint; that is restorative?
Underneath our inability to give thanks in all circumstances is an unwillingness to give God glory because we perceive there is lack. We must acknowledge if we harbour offense against God. Anger through unmet expectations is a real thing, but it’s dangerous to stay in that place.
How do we change that buried thinking?
Romans 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.
Do we trust Him with our future?
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Only when we trust Him, can we surrender enough to thank Him in all circumstances. Only then can we praise His ability to strengthen our back to bear it and be able to see how He will work it out.
Mark 14:38
Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Instead of asking why? Ask, what do you want me to learn?
Are we living for our purpose or His?
We don't need to beat ourselves up about the condition of our thoughts. Rather, we need to be concerned about the condition of our heart toward Christ, deep down. Ask Him to heal any wounded places or resentments we carry toward Him – and then our thoughts will change. It is not within our human capability to change our own spirit. We need the Holy Spirit to become sufficient in Him. If our heart is pure, our thoughts, and our tongue will follow.
Let's take a minute to reflect on things that have come up for us. Quietly talk with God, hand them over, repent of anger, distrust, or wrong thinking, and ask the Holy Spirit to be our sufficiency.
Romans 12:1
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
Here again, is a connection to holiness. Our love for the master, Jesus, is best seen by how easily we lay down our will, with thanksgiving and praise, in worship in view of God's mercy. It’s that sacrifice that delights God’s heart. Relationship with, and devotion to Him, is at the core.
Our thanksgiving in sacrifice is itself the sacrifice.
Our thanksgiving in sacrifice is like a sweet aroma to God, because He knows what it takes out of us.
Psalm 50:23
The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!”
What will you shake off that is not useful, and what will you take away now, that is unshakable?
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