Faith says, "Thank you."

On this beautiful, sunny, cloudless morning in Erseka, Albania, I am sitting here thinking about what this day, Thanksgiving, should me to me as a follower of the person of Christ:

Throughout the Gospels, Jesus continually says, "I can do nothing with out the Father." Along with that, He says, in John 15:5, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, He will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." In other words, we can do no more without Jesus than He could do without the Father. And how much, than, can the Father do through Jesus? Everything! Because Jesus made Him self available to Him each and everyday. "It please the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell." Colossians 1:19 In that sense, how much can Christ do through us? Everything! It all depends on how much of ourselves we give to Him to use! "For in Christ all the fullness of Deity lives in bodily form and you have been given fullness in Christ." Colossians 2:9-10 As Major Ian Thomas puts so well, "How may you be saved by His life, as you have already claimed to be redeemed by His death? This is the critical question of Christian experience, and the answer is simple ­ "The just shall live by faith" (Romans 1:17)." Faith. It is that simple. Faith that trust in Him. Faith that says, "Thank you" That makes me think about today, being Thanksgiving. We are told that today is a day to give thanks to anyone and everyone. But I believe it is so much more than that. Today should remind us that each and everyday should be lived by saying "Thank you". I am not meaning to say thank you to every living person, which wouldn't be bad, but to say thank you to our Father. Paul says it in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 ­ "In everything give thanks!" In what? In everything.

With this in mind, shouldn't we say thank you to every situation that we are in? That is living by faith. Know that Jesus, in all of His fullness, can take care of our problem. He is bigger than our problem that we are facing at the moment. If you don't think He is, look outside at creation, look at the stars in the sky and think again. That is the true meaning of Thanksgiving. And should be carried on to our everyday lives. Start the day with this prayer, "Dear Lord, thank You for Your Holy Spirit. I yield my will to Him, and by His gracious presence I share Your life and Your victory. I know I cannot ... See Moreovercome the principle of sin within me, nor put my flesh to death, but I thank You that You can and You did, when You died upon the cross and I died with you. Thank you for your Holy Spirit, for He alone can make this real in my experience, mortifying those deeds of my bod which have their origin in Satan. I am willing for You to invade my soul, to control my mind, to control my emotions, and to control my will, so that every decision within my soul will be in perfect harmony with my spirit, and my spirit in perfect harmony with You, so that my whole being may declare Your praise. Lord Jesus, I can't, but You can! Thank you so much."- Major Ian Thomas, The Indwelling Life of Christ.

"Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our 'God is a consuming fire.'" -Hebrews 12:28-29