Shirlee Abbott

With Gratitude for All

Posted on November 28, 2014 by Shirlee Abbott

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Corporate Gratitude (Thursday)

Posted on November 27, 2014 by Shirlee Abbott

I thank God for my blessings – EASY

I thank God for blessings bestowed on my loved ones – EASY

I thank God for blessings bestowed on people I don’t especially like (i.e, the whiners, the tricksters, people on the other end of the political spectrum, the guy who just cut me off in traffic) – HARDER

I thank God for my troubles – HARDEST

1 Thessalonians 5:18 (CEV)
Whatever happens, keep thanking God because of Jesus Christ. This is what God wants you to do.

Not just some of it–we’re supposed to be grateful for ALL of it!

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Corporate Gratitude (Wednesday)

Posted on November 26, 2014 by Shirlee Abbott

It isn’t a competition, you know–God’s blessing is an unlimited resource.

“An infinite God can give all of Himself to each of His children. He does not distribute Himself that each may have a part, but to each one He gives all of Himself as fully as if there were no others.”
A. W. Tozer (1897-1963)

Go ahead. Be thankful for the other guy’s blessings. It will be a blessing to you too.

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Corporate Gratitude (Tuesday)

Posted on November 25, 2014 by Shirlee Abbott

Matthew 5:44-45 (CEV)
Love your enemies and pray for anyone who mistreats you. Then you will be acting like your Father in heaven. He makes the sun rise on both good and bad people.

This week, make a conscious effort to be corporately grateful—to thank God for the blessings bestowed on others, especially on someone you are inclined to resent. “Then you will be acting like your Father in heaven.”

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Corporate Gratitude

Posted on November 23, 2014 by Shirlee Abbott

We hear the phrase “corporate greed.” What about corporate gratitude?

It’s all about business, and business is all about money. I’m thankful for money
I’m thankful for the corporation that funds my paycheck
I am thankful for the corporations behind the services I need—grocery stores, gas stations

I make gratitude all about me (we all do). An attitude of gratitude is good. People who count their blessings are happier.

What happens when we count other’s blessings? Envy can push gratitude into the back seat. We notice the good things others have that we lack (funny, we are less likely to count their troubles that we lack).

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Forever Prayer (Friday)

Posted on November 21, 2014 by Shirlee Abbott

Take heart! There’s a golden bowl in heaven with your name on it, full of prayers for you. What more could you desire?

Matthew 6:21
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

No greater treasure.

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Forever Prayer (Thursday)

Posted on November 20, 2014 by Shirlee Abbott

In 1860, Andrew Murray was pastoring a South African church when revival broke through and people suddenly dropped to their knees in passionate prayer. Pastor Murray tried–unsuccessfully–to restore order. As the story goes, he kept thinking the prayers should be under his control. In the end, he got it right–as we see here:

“The great thing in prayer is to feel that we are putting our supplications into the bosom of omnipotent love.“

Put God in control. Send your requests straight into the bosom of love.

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Forever Prayer (Wednesday)

Posted on November 19, 2014 by Shirlee Abbott

Continuing with yesterday’s theme of golden bowls:

Fill those bowls! Add a mercy-drop for the impatient guy who cuts you off in traffic. Add your blessings to the bowl of a troubled co-worker. Pour gallons of heartfelt agony over a wayward child. Sprinkle sweet aroma in the bowls of the new baby, the high school graduate, the new bride. Fill bowls for which you have no names—future offspring and their spouses, next year’s teacher, the boss of the job you don’t yet have. God knows who they are, your prayer will make it to the right bowl.

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Forever Prayer (Tuesday)

Posted on November 18, 2014 by Shirlee Abbott

Revelation 5:8
The four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

Our prayers don’t fly up to God’s ear and dissipate. He values our prayers and collects them in golden bowls.

Perhaps there is a bowl for each of us, a bowl engraved with our name, that holds all the prayers ever offered on our behalf. When you pray for someone, your prayer is held in that bowl as a sweet fragrance before the Lord.

(you can read more about this flight of fancy in the latest Titus 2 lesson, here)

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Forever Prayer

Posted on November 17, 2014 by Shirlee Abbott

What happens to your prayers?

From my mouth to God’s ear
God answers: yes, no or wait
Truth be told, sometimes I think my prayers stop at the ceiling

We see our prayers from our side of the conversation. I think chronologically. God transcends time. I forget. God is all knowing and remembers my every prayer. I think that once the crisis or opportunity is past, it’s over and done with. For God, the end is as the beginning.

Consider this, God holds your prayers closer and longer than you do.

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