Living a Life of Thanksgiving to the Lord

It's Thanksgiving time here in America. We at the Cafe pray that God will bless you and your family with hearts of gratitude to the Lord. Today's post comes courtesy of Back to the Bible broadcast.

For God's people, Thanksgiving is far more than a special day on the calendar. The Bible urges us to live a life of thanksgiving each day. Being thankful to God for all of His blessings is truly a mark of the Christian. So let me give you four biblical ways to express your thanksgiving to the Lord at this wonderful season of the year. The base I want to build on is Psalm 100, a song of praise to God as our Creator, Sustainer and Redeemer.

I see at least four ways that Psalm 100 instructs us to praise and worship God. Some may be a little scary to those who are not used to joyously expressing praise, but I encourage you not to be afraid!

1. Don't Be Afraid to Shout Praise to the Lord. The Bible says, "Make a joyful shout to the LORD" (Ps. 100:1). In the Bible, shouting is associated with great achievement or joy. Joshua told Israel to march around Jericho for six days and on the seventh day to lift a great shout. When they did, the walls fell down (Josh. 6).

When you are thanking and praising God, don't be afraid to be a little loud. God loves to hear our praises, and it will also make you biblical!

2. Don't Be Afraid to Serve the Lord with Gladness. "Serve the LORD with gladness" (Ps. 100:2). Gladness means mirth, gaiety and happiness. No service to the Lord, whether great or small, should be done grudgingly.

Sincere and true delight in service to God should accompany our words and deeds of worship. When you are serving the Lord, don't be afraid to do it with a glad heart—and don't be afraid to smile!

3. Don't Be Afraid to Come into the Lord's Presence. "Come before His presence with singing" (Ps. 100:2). God calls us to come into His presence privately each day and together in corporate worship. "Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, and He shall hear my voice" (Ps. 55:17).

It was said of the fledgling New Testament church that they met daily in the temple for teaching from the Word, fellowship, worship and praise. Little wonder that Hebrews 10:25 begs us not to fail to regularly assemble with other believers in thanksgiving, hearing the Word and worship.

4. Don't Be Afraid to Get to Know the Lord. The rest of Ps. 100:3 says, "Know that the LORD, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture" (emphasis added). The psalmist calls the people to recognize and "know" God's words, works and ways.

He wants us to know that He is Jehovah God and we are not, that He is the Creator and we are His creatures and that we are His sheep and He is our Shepherd. The heart-longing of every godly person is to get to know God more intimately.

Let's make it our determination to praise and worship God this holiday season!

Copyright © 2009 The Good News Broadcasting Association, Inc. (Back to the Bible) Lincoln, Nebraska, USA Used by permission. All rights reserved http://www.backtothebible.org

Culture Point #4 - Evangelizing Children

Over the past few months, we have been examining our six CEF culture points – principles that guide all we do in our ministries around the world. So far, we have discussed godly leadership, the spiritual welfare of our workers and the importance of prayer. Today we take a closer look at the heart of our ministry—evangelizing children!

Here is culture point #4:

Importance of Evangelizing Children There is no limit to the number of organizations that do many good things that are important to boys and girls in need. We are thankful for them and believe that God uses them to help hurting children. CEF, however, has been called by God to exclusively present the Gospel so children may be saved and discipled in God’s Word. We must stay on point.

When we consider today's children around the world, we can identify many profound needs. There is poverty, hunger, AIDS, homelessness, illiteracy, abuse and children without parents or families just to name a few. Our hearts go out to the masses of hurting children. We all wish we could do something that would take away the pain so that every child could be adequately fed, clothed and cared for. And certainly most of us try to do what we can for children who are in our immediate sphere of influence.

This culture point, however, reminds us of our primary mission. As this point states, there are many good organizations seeking to meet the physical needs of children—and CEF has often partnered with them, but our God-given task is to meet the child's spiritual need. Our call from God as an organization is to present the message of salvation clearly and simply, to lead boys and girls to the Savior, to disciple them in the Word of God and direct them into the local body of believers. There is not another Christian organization to our knowledge with that specific aim.

Since our founding in 1937, CEF has been a beacon shining in a dark world. We have been used of God in many places to be a change-agent, helping the Church see that the Great Commission cannot be fulfilled without sharing the Gospel with the little ones, and that children must be evangelized before they can be taught to demonstrate Christian character traits. And our task is time-sensitive! George Barna reminds us from his studies that, “If people do not embrace Jesus Christ as their Savior before they reach their teenage years, the chance of their doing so at all is slim.” (Transforming Children into Spiritual Champions, p. 34)

Eternity is at stake! Scripture puts it this way, “For what shall it profit a man [or a child], if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36). In discussing the need for believers to return to the priority of evangelism, Christianity Today editor, Ajith Fernando writes, “The stark fact of lostness places before us the urgency of evangelism.”

When we have an opportunity and the means to meet a physical need, we are compelled by Scripture to do so. But, we must encourage our TCE students to stay true to the purpose for which our ministry exists—to, first and foremost, evangelize and disciple children. We all know that Christians, in general, do not focus ministry on evangelizing children. If we drift from our purpose, who will be there to clearly and consistently present the Gospel? Let’s be sure we are staying on point—let’s keep the main thing the main thing!