“Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, [and] into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, [and] bless his name. the LORD [is] good; his mercy [is] everlasting; and his truth [endureth] to all generations.” (Ps. 100:4-5 KJV)

This morning I was reading about people who have been through great afflictions, trials and sicknesses. One man was told he would not live very long because of cancer but after chemotherapy he has lived on for seven years and each day lived is not taken for granted. Each day is special to him. A woman had lost five babies, two of the children she had have serious disabilities and she was in an abusive marriage for twenty years which she escaped and the list goes on. The common factor
between all these people telling their life experiences is that they all find life worth living. What an encouraging, refreshing read it was and none of them even mentioned their faith and I felt many were not Christians. Most people whatever faith they are, value life more after they have been through extreme difficulties and overcomes.

I and I am sure several people have been greatly saddened by the fact that assisted suicide (right to die) has been legalized or is being promoted not only in Switzerland where it was made famous but now in other western nations. In fact in one country I read about you don’t even have to be terminally ill, as one woman said that she had never wanted to live and so requested that her decision to die be granted and it was.

Sisters and brothers, this is clearly one of the several marks of the final hour before the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The abuse, disrespect of self and then life itself knows no bounds! A great affront to our Creator and life giver God if ever there was one!

This is a time when we as a church should be reaching out more than ever before to the lost, for while there are some who value life having been through tragedies and gained the emotional strength or healing to overcome, there are those who never overcome or they give up on life and become bitter and angry at times expressing how they feel by abusing or making life difficult for others.

Even as believers in our Lord Jesus, life can deal us with extreme blows which may cause us to doubt God and want to give up. I have been given a remedy to counteract discouragement prescribed by our great physician Jesus Christ. In fact it is one that is not uniquely mine, it is just that I have taken great doses daily for sometime out of obedience and I feel compelled to remind and encourage others to do the same. There is no limit as to how much of it one should take daily.

I have seen how much it has made a way for me to be more open to God by focusing on who He is to me and who I am to Him through Jesus Christ my Lord and Saviour. Want to take a guess what this “remedy” against discouragement  is?

It is thankfulness! Being thankful every day to God for my life, that I have overcome difficulties and I am still standing.

The key to contentment and peace is developing the habit of always being thankful to The LORD in every circumstance.

Brothers and sisters, if unbelievers in Jesus, people of other faiths or none are able to find life worth living how much more us Christians who believe in him who died to give us abundant and eternal life?

Jesus said
“I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:…” (John 11:25 KJV).

“I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” (John 8:12 KJV).

Jesus further spoke of his words being “Spirit and life”(John 6:63).

The first Adam brought death through disobedience but Christ is referred to by the apostle Paul as “the second Adam ” and “life-giving Spirit” (1 Corinth 15:45).

The Spirit that rose Jesus from the dead is in every true believer in Jesus and Paul says that as a result we have the life of God in our mortal bodies (Romans 8:11 KJV).

All this affirmation of having the life of God in us, as new covenant believers ought to excite us and encourage us to be thankful that this is our inheritance as a result of our new life or birth in Him:

1.We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. (Phil 4.13 KJV)

2.No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue [that] shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This [is] the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness [is] of me, saith the LORD.” (Is.54:17 KJV)

We are more than conquerors through him (Jesus) who loves us (Romans 8:37)

3.When we go through trials, “fire” He is with us (Isaiah 43:2/James 1:2-3) and molding our character as well as teaching us to be solely dependent on Him.

Life is truly worth living!

Let us be thankful daily for the fact that we are alive at such a time as this belonging to and serving God who says

“…giving thanks is a sacrifice that truly honors me, if you keep to my path I will reveal to you the salvation of God”(Ps. 50:23 NLT)

Dear Father
We thank you for your immense love for us and taking us out of darkness into your kingdom of light. Forgive us when we have taken our lives for granted and even complained rather than give thanks.
Help us to remember that thanksgiving should be the order of the day in our lives and how much it glorifies you when we are thankful to you.
Father we cry out on behalf of the brethren who are ill, weak emotionally and are struggling in many ways that you will miraculously heal and deliver them and give them hope for the future in a way only you can.
We also lift up the unsaved including those who have a new zeal for life having overcome many tragedies that you would in this time create a thirst in their hearts, unquenchable until they find you, the only source of redemptive life.
In Jesus Name, Amen

“You are blessed, determine to stay blessed”

Deborah Esther x
©Deborah E. Nyamekye 23/11/2015