Okay, we are going to continue on our study of prayer. We looked at Adoration Prayer Sheet, Confession Prayer Sheet, now this is the Thanksgiving Prayer Sheet. Let's go to the Lord in prayer, shall we? O Lord God, this is your holy word. We are your servants. Give us understanding that we might know your testimonies. You have prayed, O LORD, sanctify them in truth. Your word is truth. Use your holy, eternal, inerrant written word to set us apart to your service and to your glory. Show us now great and mighty things which we do not know. The sower sows the word. Let not your word go out and return empty, but accomplish that purpose for which you are sending it out and for which you have drawn us together. Protect us from Satan who will snatch your word. Protect us from the world's cares and the delight of wealth and the passion of other interests which enter in and choke your word. Protect us from a wrong reaction to difficulties and discouragements and persecutions which make our hearts hard and unresponsive to your word. Rather give us good soil, O Lord. Plow out now the hard ground of our hearts that your sown word would send roots downward and bear fruit upwards. Unsheath now the sword of your spirit, O Lord. Cut to dividing point of bone and marrow, soul and spirit. Judge now the thoughts and intention of each heart. Spread your word before us as a banquet table, O Lord. Grant grace that we might eat of the rich meat and drink of the sweet milk of the great doctrines of your word. Give us the heart of the prophet who cried to you. Thy words were found and I did eat them. And thy words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart from call by thy name, O Lord God of hosts. Oh Lord, we live in a dark and a wicked age. Broad is the way and many are on it, which leads to destruction. Make your word a lamp to our feet. Make your word a light to our path. Show us that narrow way that you would have us run. And Lord, as we run in the paths of your commandments, enlarge our hearts that in loving you we might be more obedient to your written word. Drop your word against our lives as a plumb line, O Lord. Grant grace that we might see how we deviate from its high and holy purposes. Make your word to us a mirror, O Lord. Grant grace that we might not be as those who look and go away and forget, but make us active doers, not forgetful listeners of your holy word. O Lord, because of our fealty to you, Because of our undying love and devotion to your Son, our resurrected Savior, we pledge to you our total submission to your holy, eternal, inerrant written word, and we pledge to you our unquestioning obedience to all of its commands. In the name of our Lord and resurrected Savior, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. Okay, great. Now, we looked first at adoration. And we are remembering that adoration is the praise of God without reference to man. I remember as a young Christian, I was struggling with the idea that things were so difficult, how could I praise God? Maybe I was sick, maybe having a bad day, everything was going wrong. Now I'm supposed to praise God. How could I do that? And I came to realize how selfish that is. We praise God for who and what He is, not who we are and what we are experiencing. No matter what your day is like, God is holy and worthy to be praised. He is righteous. He is just. He is omnipotent. He is omniscient. He is omnipresent. He is transcendent. He is the God of our salvation. He is gracious. He is merciful. His loving kindness endures forever and He can be praised for those things. So, God can be praised irrespective of our situation. It's like if your father was having a birthday banquet and they said, we would like you to come and give a testimonial about your father at the birthday banquet. You say, okay, I'll be happy to do that. And we want you to just say what a great father he is and how you were blessed by him. So, you go to the banquet. It's raining. So you get wet going to the banquet. You have a bad cold, so you're not feeling well going to the banquet. Your shoes got dirty going to the banquet. And so you arrive at the banquet. You're not feeling well. You're late. Your clothes are wet. Your shoes are muddy. And it comes time for you to give the testimonial at the birthday banquet about your father. and you stand up and say you know i've had a really bad day today i don't feel like saying anything nice about my father instead i would like to ask now publicly that my father give me a new pair of shoes that he pay for the cleaning and he gives me money for the doctor's appointment well that would be very selfish wouldn't it it doesn't matter how you're feeling if it is a banquet for your father and you were to give a testimonial for your father, then you would do that. Well, it is the same way in our relationship with God. It doesn't matter how we are feeling or what our circumstances are, we can still praise God and thank God. But you know, many people, if they don't feel well, if things are not going right, they will not only not praise and thank God, but they will start asking God for things instead. Well, it's perfectly alright to ask God for things. but we should make sure that praise and thanksgiving comes first. Well, thanksgiving is the same thing. The same principle applies. Whereas praise is the worship of God without reference to man, psalms and hymns and prayers of thanksgiving is the praise of God with reference to man. what God has done for you. If we praise God for His creation, we just simply praise Him. We thank you that you are a God of creation, that all things are held together by Jesus, that you spoke light into existence, and we praise you that you are a God who speaks and a God who creates. We can thank him for the same thing, but that's differently. Lord, I just want to thank you for this wonderful day. I want to thank you for the rain and the sun and the seasons. I want to thank you how you've blessed my garden and the bountiful fruit we have. We just thank you for your provision. You see, one was praise. The other was thanksgiving. But just as if we go to a banquet to give praise and thanksgiving to our Father, Earthly Father, without reference to wanting Him to do things for us, so when we go in prayer and we are praising and thanking God, we are praising Him and thanking God Him for who and what He is and what He has done. In my prayer notebook here, notice I have a reminder to myself. Not thankful that you have them, but rather thankful that God would deem to give them. We're not greedy before God. We are thankful that God would even listen to us. We are thankful that God would even allow us to present our request to Him. He doesn't have to do that, does He? God could say, you know, Christians, Isaiah 53, 6, All you like sheep have gone astray, each of you have turned to his own way. But I have laid upon Jesus the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 58 John 3.16 I so loved the world that I gave my only Son that whosoever believes in Him would have eternal life. Romans 5.8 I showed my love for you in that while you were yet sinners Christ died for you. I have given you my only Son, and you weren't even asking for it. He hung on the cross. Your sins were placed upon Him. Your sins were punished in His body. He died, He rose, and ascended. That's enough. Then I gave you the Holy Spirit, and you became the temple of God. and you are sealed for the day of your redemption. You cannot lose the Holy Spirit or your salvation. And then I gave you the word of God. It is Psalm 119, 105 says, a lamp to your feet and a light to your path. So that's enough. That will keep you busy. Don't bring anything else to me. I gave you my son. I've granted you forgiveness of sins because of His suffering. I gave you the Holy Spirit. I gave you the Word of God. That's enough. And that should be enough, isn't it? And He said, for the rest of your life, you will simply praise, thank, and confess. No asking for anything. You have more than enough already. But he doesn't say that, does he? And that should make us all the more thankful that God would actually bless us and give that to us. That should be enough. So I have some meditations on thankfulness here. Psalm 107.43, who is wise, let him give heed to these things and consider the loving kindness of the Lord. So in our prayer notebook, one of the things that we are going to be listing and looking at is all of the good things that God has done for us, all His love that He has shown us in our Thanksgiving section. No matter what circumstances we find ourselves on, we can reflect on the goodness of God in our lives and give thanks. No matter how bad our life is, we are not going to spend eternity in hell. That should be enough. Well, I just don't feel thankful today. You're not going to hell. Of course you should feel thankful. Psalm 92-1 says, It is good to give thanks to the Lord and to sing praises to your name most high. It is the good thing to do. It is the right thing to do. Psalm 103 to bless the Lord oh my soul and forget none of his benefits so our Thanksgiving section should be a section that reflects the benefits that God has given us and so my Thanksgiving section of my prayer notebook is continually growing it's growing because as time passes God does more good things for me I receive more of his benefits and as I grow spiritually I reflect back and understand more clearly his benefits. So I have here in my prayer notebook this statement, no whining zone. And I have here, who do you think you are, Billy Graham? Where do I get off complaining? It would be one thing if my ministry was like Billy Graham. I could say, wow, look at all I'm doing for you, Lord. Shouldn't I have an easier life? But no, I'm not Billy Graham. I'm not the Apostle Paul. I'm nobody. Nobody's writing any books about me. and after I'm dead no one will remember me and that's the way it should be because it's all about Jesus but it's true. Do you know the names of the Cameroonian missionaries who came to Cameroon and lived and died that the gospel should come to Cameroon? Do you know their names? No and I don't either. and it will be the same thing for us and that should create humility in our lives that we minister in anonymity for the glory of God not for the glory of man this is my compare and contrast verse Deuteronomy 28 47 and 48 because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and a glad heart for the abundance of all things therefore you will serve your enemies and we don't want to find ourselves in that situation Israel was complaining the Lord said, oh I can give you something to complain about if you want to know what is worthy of having a complaint. I can let you serve under the Philistines for a while. And we don't want to find ourselves in that position. We serve the Lord with joy and a glad heart for the abundance of all things. Notice it says all things, doesn't it? Does it say the immediate things? No, so even if our circumstances are bad now, that doesn't mean our circumstances have always been bad, have they? And we should be thankful. God says in Numbers 14, 27, how long shall I bear with this evil congregation who are grumbling against me? I have heard the complaints of the son of Israel which they are making against me. And we should remember that when we grumble and complain with one another, those are prayers ascending to God. God hears them. Numbers 16.9 begins, is it not enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the congregation of Israel to bring you near to himself to do the service of the tabernacle of the Lord and to stand before the congregation to minister to them? How much is enough? Isn't that enough? I gave you my only son. He died on the cross in your place. You were washed with his blood and cleansed. I gave you the Holy Spirit. He sealed you. You've been born again. You're a child of God. You have the word of God. Is it not enough? And for a lot of people, they're always restless. And they're saying, is this all there is? And they end up stumbling into many errors, legalism, mysticism, all because they are not satisfied with what God's will is for them. Why should any living mortal or any man offer complaint in view of his sins? Lamentations 3.39. And that's a good question, isn't it? We all deserve to go to hell, don't we? That's what we deserve. We're going to heaven by grace. We don't want to cry out to God for justice and fairness, but rather we humble ourselves and we don't complain, we praise and thank. John Fletcher of Madeley, a city in England, lived in the 1700s During the time of the Wesley Crusades, he was a Methodist lay preacher. J.C. Ryle was a minister of the Church of England who wrote a short history of Methodism, and he writes here of an experience he had when he came to interview John Fletcher of Medley. One time meeting him, when he was very ill with a hectic fever, I said, I am sorry to find you so ill. Mr. Fletcher answered with great sweetness and energy, Sorry sir, why are you sorry? It is the chastisement of my Heavenly Father and I rejoice in it. I love the rod of my God and rejoice therein as an expression of his love and affection towards me." Do we have that kind of thankful heart? Do we really believe that God disciplines us for our good? Hebrews 12 10. Do we really believe that the refining fires of illness and difficulties and persecutions 1st Peter 1, 6 and 7. Do we really believe that those are for our good and that we can thank God for them? It's one thing to read from Joseph, man meant it for evil but God meant it for good and rejoicing Joseph's faith. It's another thing for us to go through the same thing and be thankful Joseph did not experience the refining fires of God apart from man. The context of the refining fires of God for Joseph was the treacherousness of his family, the treacherousness of his employers, the treacherousness of his soulmates, everybody. It seems like in Joseph's immediate environment were unfaithful to him, yet he remained faithful to God and thankful to God. The great hymnologist Fanny Crosby, Frances Jane Crosby, wrote over 8,000 hymns. During her lifetime, there was a great sweeping through America of mysticism within the church. Many healing services, holy spirit conferences, mysticism, spiritism. And I read this in her biography, which she wrote about herself. And because she was blind, From her youth up, about her blindness, she said, it seemed intended by the blessed providence of God that I should be blind all my life. And I thank Him for the dispensation. If perfect earthly sight were offered me tomorrow, I would not accept it. I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been distracted by the beautiful and interesting things about me. If you were blinded, could you be thankful in that situation or would you become bitter? It's good for us to reflect on these things. Now, we know in the psalms there are many types of psalms, adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication, not so much intercession. The intercessory prayers from my experience are few and far between. So what I always have in my prayer notebook are some psalms and thanksgiving psalms, there are not a lot of them, But these nine Psalms, I felt, really emphasize Thanksgiving. Other Psalms have Thanksgiving in them, but it's not their primary emphasis. Also in the Holy Scripture, I found these eight passages in Samuel, Chronicles, Isaiah, Daniel, John, Revelation, which I felt were Thanksgiving prayers. So, many times I will place a tick, a hashtag mark, you know, I'll put, I'll pray over this one, I'll put a slash, next week I'll pray over this one, I'll put a slash, and I'll just work my way down until slowly I've put a slash by every one. Then I will come back and the next time I'll put two slashes. And then the next time I'll put three slashes. And I just keep doing that until my prayer notebook is too messy. Then I'll print it out again on my printer. Now you don't have to do that but I have found praying over a psalm when I enter into my Thanksgiving time to be very helpful. Notice Psalm 50, 23 here. He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors me. And it's honoring to God to offer them thanksgiving. Psalm 103, 1 and 2. Bless thou, O Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of his benefits. So again, that's why in the Prayer Notebook I make lists of things. Because it's so easy for us to forget a benefit of God and to take it for granted. This passage is very important to me. Psalm 116, 7. Return to your rest, O my soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. A missionary from New Zealand, John Crawford, personal friend of Dawson Troutman. He knew I was going through some difficult times financially and in the ministry. And he sent me this verse card to memorize and keep with me. That I shouldn't panic, I shouldn't become restless, I shouldn't lose sight of the disciple-making vision. For God has dwelt, even though my immediate circumstances are difficult, God has always been faithful and has dealt bountifully with me. That's very important for me to remember. Notice surely, Psalm 140, 13, the righteous will give thanks to thy name. So, we remember that prayers of thanksgiving, those are prayers which honor God and which the righteous engage in. So, if we want to bring honor to God, and we want to walk in righteousness before Him, then we, by all means, should be a thankful Christian. Luke 17, 15-18, even from the first time I read this, this historical event, back in the early days of my Christian life. It resounds as clearly then and challenges me as then as it does now. Now one of them, when he saw he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice. And he fell on his face at his feet, giving thanks to him. And he was a Samaritan. And Jesus said, we're not ten cleansed, but the nine, where are they? Was no one found to turn back to give glory to God except this foreigner. I don't want Jesus to notice my unthankfulness. I want him to notice I am thankful. now there's a couple of things to remember when we read this passage one thing is jesus didn't change when he went to heaven if it bothered jesus if he was aware of the fact that he had healed people and they were unthankful if that bothered him during his earthly ministry it bothers him during his heavenly ministry if on the other hand Jesus recognizes and appreciates those who turn around, forget about themselves, and center their blessing upon being thankful to Jesus and recognizing that Jesus is its origin. He's aware of that too. Now when we read this, we rightfully center our thoughts on the Samaritan and that Jesus was very aware that this Samaritan turned back. But sometimes we forget that Jesus also said, we're not ten cleansed. Jesus knows what he has done for everybody. and he knows those who are thankful and those who are unthankful. James 1 17 says every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above coming down from the father of lights. James 1 17 everything we have is from God and we should be thankful for it. Also in my prayer notebook, I have some hymns. You don't have to use these hymns. You could come up with your own. But these, to me, express the great things God has done for me. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine. Heir of salvation, purchase of God. Born of his spirit, washed in his blood. this is an instructional hymn but it can also be an expression of thanksgiving jesus i am resting is a great hymn of thanksgiving come thou fount of every blessing come ye faithful people come we gather together Thanks be to my Redeemer. All of these hymns are great hymns of thanksgiving and what I will do is if I have occasionally I will sing one of them. Just stop and sing. Colossians 3.16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as you teach and admonish one another in all wisdoms, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making medley in your heart to God. So I will sing these now. If you are sitting in the library or in the office, you're not going to just start singing out loud. but in the quietness of your home you can sing. Eleanor and I sing a hymn together when we have a meal together. We pray and we sing a hymn together. We take turns choosing. We have a hymn book and we sing it. I would encourage you to do the same thing. When we had children in our home, We sang hymns with our children. I got this from my brother, Rob, who's a pastor, Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Navigator staff also. And when he would pray with his children at night, he would sing a hymn to them and teach them hymns. And so we would sing hymns with our children. When we drove around in the car, we didn't have the radio on, we would sing hymns with them. Get our children to sing hymns. When you ask your children to sing a hymn, if they don't sing a hymn, then that's two spankings with a wooden spoon. They're disobeying you. You instruct them on the importance of obeying Daddy in spiritual leadership. You discipline them, you instruct them, and then you restore them, and then they sing. When you ask your children to pray, they should pray. So, I know your wife is a wonderful, godly woman, and she would be happy to sing with you at the evening meal. So, then I come to the meat and potatoes of my prayer notebook. Psalm 103, 2. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of his benefits. Psalm 103, verse 2. Now these first eight pages, I may linger over them or I may skim over them. Pray one verse, put a tick or a checkmark by it, and then race along. Because I simply don't have time to do everything. But on this meat and potato section, I linger a little further along. So the first thing I do when I'm not forgetting God's discipline, when I'm not forgetting God's benefits, I thank God for Eleanor. All that she is and all that you've made her, I tell God. I thank God for answers to my prayers for Eleanor, from my prayer sheet. So Proverbs 19.14 says, House and wealth are an inheritance from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the Lord. When I was a young Christian, the education and music minister, Wyman Mitchell, at Nassau Bay Baptist Church in South Houston, who led me to Christ, and helped me in my early stages of Christian growth, shared this verse with me. I told him I wanted to be a minister, And he said, well, John, I can tell you this, a pastor's wife either doubles his ministry or cuts it in half. There's no middle ground. My observation is that that is true. He did our premarital counseling. And after the first visit, he turned to me and said, John, this young lady is going to double your ministry. And that's true. It's hard to teach people in your ministry to do scripture memory if your wife doesn't do it. To have a daily quiet time if your wife doesn't do it. To lead Bible study if your wife doesn't do it. It's impossible to teach those things to your children if your wife doesn't do it. And there are many ministers whose children never follow them never follow them in their devotion to the Lord simply because their wife didn't follow them another aspect of this is that in first timothy chapter three it says that uh... a minister should be hospitable. An overseer then must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach. Many ministers are able to teach, but they cannot practice hospitality, which is a requirement. The reason they cannot practice hospitality is because their wives will have none of it, Their home is not clean. She is not a good homemaker. She does not support their ministry. She will resent having to cook for a lot of people. She is simply not hospitable. And so they can't have meetings in their home. They can't have Bible studies there because there will be that icy, resentful atmosphere of the wife. Now I praise God that because of Elinor's desire to be my helpmate, and to be a blessing and a supporter of my ministry that we have an open home in the area of hospitality. I think you have been in Peter's house many times and you have seen Noella's ministry of hospitality. Now, Noella had house help helping her, but she was always there, wasn't she? The Bible doesn't say that a minister should have other women, in addition to his wife, being hospitable. Now, it's nice to give your wife some help if it's going to be burdensome on her, but her hospitality will make all the difference in the world. So I thank the Lord that He gave me a prudent wife. who is responsive to me and my ministry. Try disciplining your children if your wife won't support you. Another reason why ministers do not have activities in their home is that he must be one who manages his household well, keeping his children under control with dignity, and his home isn't a place of dignity because his wife is undermining him. His wife is not supporting him. That's one reason, Dr. Arnold, it's very important that you be the spiritual leader of your wife, not just of other people. So I list these things I'm thankful for, for Eleanor. Then I list the name of my children and grandchildren. And I thank God that for the love we share for each other and for others and their other members of their extended family. I thank God for the extended family. I thank God for my home and the house where I live. I thank God for friends. I have many faithful friends. Jesus' friends were not faithful, were they? The Apostle Paul's friends were not faithful. That's a cross God has not asked me to carry at this point, so I thank Him for it. I do not want to be presumptuous about the fact that I have faithful friends who've stood by me over the years. I thank God for my health. Many men my age can no longer minister. Their minds are wearing out, their bodies are wearing out. Some of my friends who are my age have gone to be with the Lord. Anybody my age of 70 should be thanking God every day if he is healthy enough to minister the word. I thank God for my finances. that He blesses them. I thank God for my ministry, for the privilege of being able to teach the Bible. I thank God for these things every day. I thank God for the blessings and fruitful times that in His sovereignty He has taken me through. Psalm 107.43 who is wise, let him give heed of these things and consider the loving kindness of the Lord. Verse 31, let them give thanks to the Lord for his loving kindness and for his wonders to the son of men. Dr. Arnold, you have a son. You should give thanks to God for this wonderful son that he has provided you. that headset you have on your head. Your grandfather could not even imagine, he could not even conceive of that, could he? Your father could not conceive of looking in a screen and seeing a minister in America and talking back in real time, could he? He couldn't even conceive of that. is beyond even their thoughts and yet these wonders that God has granted us we should be thankful for them but you know we thank God every day not only for the good things but we also thank Him for the difficult things now I used to be very frustrated I would go through some difficult periods and I would be kind of resentful After they were over I could see why God took me through those things and then I would be thankful for them But what I desired was not to be thankful after the effect in retrospect But to the be thankful as I saw them coming towards me Be thankful in the midst of them and be thankful in retrospect But that's more difficult, isn't it? So what I did is I began adding to my prayer notebook, thankfulness for painful and harsh men's circumstances and times in the wilderness. You have brought into my life to help train rebuke and yes, redirect me to a new and greater way. and if i now when i'm praying through these areas of my prayer notebook if i am not going through these things i do not engage in morbid retrospective uh... contemplation of how hard my life has been no i thank god that things are good but when i am going through these things having them there in my prayer notebook and following the discipline of my prayer notebook when i get to them I am able to be grateful. I loved my ministry in the Navigators, but God had to take me through some very difficult times to get my attention and move me into the pastoral ministry of a local church. Once there, I loved my ministry in the local church. and God again had to take me through some difficult times to lead me to the directorship of Grace Community International and to travel and minister in international and in 29 countries. I love that. Now I can add to that back in the USA I loved the international ministry and God had to use some difficult times to bring me to the point of ministering once again in America. But every time I made this change I could see the goodness of God in it. And I thank God that before he called me out of the Navigators, I already had these things in my prayer notebook. So while I was going through them, I was thanking God, not having to apologize to God for my bad attitude. Early in my prayer notebook, I had this. Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and a glad heart for the abundance of all things, therefore you will serve your enemies. Deuteronomy 28, 47, 48. Numbers 14, 27. I have heard the complaints. Numbers 16, 9. Is it not enough for you, John? Lamentations 339, why should any living mortal or any man offer a complaint in view of his sins? And then I had added this difficulty section, so as I go through it, I look for anything I'm going through, and I will be thankful that day, not just in retrospect. Psalm 71 20 reminds me thou who has shown me many troubles and distresses will revive me again and will bring me up again from the depths of the earth. These things are temporary. Thank God for them. Because Hebrews 12.10, He disciplines us for our good. It is not the expiation of sin. It is not acts of contrition. It is not purgatory. I am not paying for sin. He is not punishing me. He's disciplining me for my good. and we know that 2nd Timothy 3.12 says all who desire to live devotedly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted that 1st Peter 1.6-7 says holiness comes by us going through the refinement of the fires of persecutions difficulties and distresses so I discipline my mind to thank God for that knowing that time of refreshing will come some one eighteen eighty the lord has disciplined me severely but there's not given me over to death and remember in the child raising seminar proverbs twenty three twenty three and twenty four do not hold that discipline from your child you show discipline him with the rod he will not die uh... remember that and god will discipline us and we will not die until it's time for us to go to heaven so it's good Because Hebrews 12, 6 says, for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines. So it's a privilege to suffer persecution. It's a privilege to go through the fires of trials and tribulations. Because it reflects the love of God and the confidence he has in us. So what types of things will happen? Well, one of the things I have here is when people are involved. Genesis 50 verse 20, And as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive. So if I am experiencing enemies, rebukes and corrections, humiliations, or a perceived lack of rebel of recognition, I should be greater than this. Well, this reminds me, you'd be thankful for this. I remember Joseph in Genesis 40, 14 and 23. Joseph said, only keep me in mind when it goes well with you. Please do me a kindness by mentioning me to Pharaoh and get me out of his house. But what does verse 23 say? Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him. And that's going to happen to us. Did Joseph become bitter? He was a stepping stone to the cupbearer's success. Never given any credit, he did not become better. He was used for other people's success. How about injustices? Those who hate me without cause. Boy, that's tough, isn't it? What I did not steal, I then have to restore. That's tough, isn't it? but we don't become bitter. We thank God for it, for God to be forgotten, to be abandoned. 2 Timothy 1.15, you are aware of the fact that all who are in Asia turned away from me. 2 Timothy 4.11, only Luke is with me. 2nd Timothy 4.16, at my first defense no one supported me. That would be tough, wouldn't it? John 6.66, then all but the twelve left him. Four thousand, nine hundred, and thirty-four people walked away. abandoned. And then those 12, they took off, didn't they? They all deserted him when he was arrested. Can you be thankful when you are privileged to following Jesus' footsteps? Say, everybody wants to know, what would Jesus do? Perform miracles, raise the dead, heal the sick? No. What would Jesus do? Not get bitter when foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. Not be bitter when everyone deserts you. Not be bitter when you are falsely accused. not be bitter when that which you did not steal, that which you did not sin, you pay for. He who knew no sin became sin for us that we might be the righteousness of God. Romans 5a, God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. How about circumstances? Psalm 119.71, it's good for me that I was afflicted that I might learn thy statutes. It reminds me that if I'm going through difficult times, that that should drive me to the word of God. Failures, hardships, pain, sorrow, sickness, poverty, refining, fire, self-perceived, unmet needs. that should drive me to the Word of God. Psalm 70, 15, If I said I will speak thus, behold, I should have betrayed the generation of thy children. And one of my prayers is, Lord, let me not embarrass those whom I invested myself spiritually in. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9.27, but I discipline my body and make it serve me, so that while preaching to others I myself will not be disqualified, which would be a good cross-reference to this. A verse I have in Proverbs. Grandchildren are the crown of old men, but the glory of sons is their fathers and that I would equip myself. I would behave in such a way. I would labor in the harvest fields till my dying breath in such a way to bring honor. to God, to Jesus, but also to my family name, to my son, that he would not be embarrassed by my behavior. And I know many ministers as they age, Paul, God the Holy Spirit exhorts us in 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 20 to that we flee from lustful youths. And you do not have to be a youth to engage in the foolish lust of youth. And so that's in my prayer notebook. That I would not compare my circumstances with that of the ease and prosperity of the wicked. I wouldn't become jealous. They have it so easy. They're making more money than me. They live in better houses than me. They have better cars than me. They're the persecutors, not the persecuted. And I need to remember, the prosperity, the wicked, is the judgment of God. If I am experiencing it, whether prosperity or want, ease or trial, it is the loving care of my Heavenly Father. It is administered for my good. My circumstances, even though painful, are always grace, while theirs, even though prosperous, are always judgment. Psalm 73, 16, and 17, when I pondered to understand this, it was troublesome in my sight until I came unto the sanctuary of God and perceived their end. And what is their end? The prosperity of the wicked? Romans 124, God gave them over. He allowed them to live out their prosperity, the blessings of the world system as a form of judgment. He did not intervene. Psalm 73, 2-19, some key verses. But as for me, my feet had almost slipped, I had nearly lost my foothold, for I envied the arrogant, and I saw the prosperity of the wicked. But surely you have placed them on slippery ground, you cast them down to ruin. How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors. And I have to remember that the prosperity of the wicked is God giving them over to worldly and sensual delights as they tumble into hell. Mark 4.19, the worries of the world, the deceitfulness of the riches and the desires for other things choke the word. So what do I want? To be free from riches or to have riches? from the Word of God to be choked out by prosperity or to not be prosperous? Do I want the Word of God or do I want what the wicked has? Do I want many worldly cares and possessions that I have to worry about so that I don't have time to think about the Word of God? So the prosperity of the wicked is their judgment, isn't it? What about me, the trials of the righteous? Hebrews 12.10, He disciplines us for our good. 1 Peter 1.6, if necessary you have been distressed by various trials. It's necessary for us. Revelation 3.19, those whom I love I reprove and discipline. That's what we want, isn't it? So it's important for me to return to that. Habakkuk 3, 17 and 18, Though the fig tree should not blossom, and there be no fruit on the vines, though the yield of the olives should fail, and the fields produce no food, though the flocks should be cut off from the fold, and there be no cattle in the stalls, yet I will exalt in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. It's important for me to reflect on that. Like I said, these areas, one through nine, the blessings and fruitful times God has taken me through. I thank Him for that. But also, painful and harsh men and circumstances and life in the wilderness, I thank God for that. Now, if I am not going through these things, I do not engage in morbid retrospective meditations, woe is me, how hard my life has been. No. This is for the immediate. These things are here, enemies, rebukes, corrections, humiliation, lack of recognition, use for other success, injustices, forgotten, abandoned, failures, hardships, pain, sorrow, sickness, poverty, refining fires, self-perceived, unmet needs. Those are things I want to look at. And if I'm going through them, I want to make sure I will exalt in the Lord and rejoice in the God of my salvation. If I'm not, it's fine, I just skim over and keep going. So we've come to our end now and next week we will look at these things, these first nine things, where more us specific weren't they? the blessings in fruitful times. And we have some lists here. These next things, next week, are universal things which all Christians can be thankful for all the time. For instance, number 11, God the Son Jesus. Consider Him, Hebrews 12.3, for consider Him who has endured such hostility about sinners against Himself. Used to, I would only spend time meditating and thanking God for his work on the cross on Easter. God wants me to do it all the time. Not the incarnation at Christmas, not the sacrifice at Easter, but all of the time. So again, as I go through these things, I put ticks by them. And when I get to the end, I start over again. I don't know if this helps you see that. Let's see here. Can you see I've got these prayer requests and then I have little check marks by them. And then when my prayer notebook gets too crowded, I reprint the page. Here, maybe this will help. See those little check marks there? Then I go, when I get to the bottom, I go back to this top and start over again. And when it gets too crowded, I just reprint it. I do one, sometimes I don't do any. Sometimes I do all of them. These are there as resources for me to guide me and help me in my prayers of thanksgiving. But I make sure that I am always thanking God. May God add His blessing to His Holy Word. In Christ's name we pray, Amen. Oh, and the red? The red I try to do If I don't have time to do the whole section, I will just linger over the rest. Thank you and God bless you.