Today in America we celebrate Thanksgiving, which officially became an national holiday in 1863 by decree of Abraham Lincoln. However, a day of Thanksgiving was established in 1789, as a proclamation by George Washington, first President of the United States, our country, which was established by Christians.

Here is the introduction to Washington’s proclamation.

“Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and—Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me “to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:”

It is hard to even begin to list the things we have to be thankful for in America. God has truly blessed us, and as a nation of Christians, America has been an amazing blessing to the rest of the world as we share the love God gave us through Jesus Christ.

Psalm 100:4-5 says, “Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation.”

Let us remember, not just to be thankful, but to whom we are being thankful.

Dear Lord, You have showered blessings upon all of us. We live lives of comfort, convenience, and abundance. Help us remember to be thankful to you for these blessings, and use them to be a blessing to others. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

I was playing one of the Mario Brothers video games with my kids the other day, and if you haven’t played it, the basics, and that is the extent of my skill level, are; you move your character across the play area on the screen, or down the paths, and avoid obstacles and attacks along the way. There are a variety of controls and techniques to get a higher score, but as a novice, my kids showed me how to move around, and showed me the “bubble” button, for use if you are in a completely terrible situation. When you hit the “bubble” button, a bubble forms around your character, and you cannot be destroyed, you float to another part of the screen and you can exit from the bubble. I thought, “great remember that button”. The other thing I learned, early on, is that if you get too far off the path, you fall into oblivion, but as long as you have lives available, you return to the game in the bubble and can keep playing.

I started to think a little about how life as a Christian, has similarities to this game. We move around in our lives trying to follow the rules, or sometimes we don’t. When terrible things may happen, our “bubble” button is reaching out to God in prayer. If we do this in faith and trust in Him, he will never give us a temptation more than we can handle, as written in 1 Corinthians 10:13, “He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.”

When we get off the path God desires for us, we to can return to the game, restored. All we need to do is repent, and we will be returned to good standing with God. 1 John 1:9 says, “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”

Just like in the video game, it is much more fun when we stay on the right path, and use the defenses God has given us, faith, the bible, and fellowship with other Christians, rather than needing to be rescued from our own mistakes, or forgiveness from leaving the path, but God can save us from those things also.

Dear Lord, We know life is not quite as simple as the video games, but we know you are there for us always, to help us if we ask. Remind us of your presence, so that we may return to the right path, if necessary, and stay on the path you desire for us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

I believe that most of the challenges we face in life are temptations to do things we know we should not be doing. Resisting some of these temptations is often just a matter of commitment, self discipline, and habit, such as using foul language, lying, gossiping, etc. Some temptations, however, cannot be overcome with our own strength. Things like the many addictions that are often more than people can overcome on their own. I think in many of the cases of addiction, it is not possible to overcome without God’s help.

We stand in the checkout line at the store and see the tabloids telling about the continuous relapses of addictions many celebrities deal with, and many of us have our own friends and loved ones who battle with addictions, never seaming to be able to overcome. I believe in order to overcome these challenges; they must have faith in God and His power.

Ephesians 6:12 says, “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.”

These forces are stronger than us on our own, but as John writes in 1 John 4:4, “the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.”

With God’s spirit in us we can overcome the forces that pull us toward these evil temptations.

Dear Lord, Thank you for giving us your Spirit to teach us and give us strength. Help us rely on you and your spirit to overcome temptation and live lives that glorify you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

There is a popular business book called “One Thing” and the author’s main point is that in order to succeed we need to focus intently on one thing. If you are old enough to remember the Billy Crystal comedy movie, City Slickers, there was a tough old cowboy character “Curly” played by Jack Palance who had a famous scene where he said, holding up one finger, “the secret of life was one thing…., you have to find out what that one thing is for you.”

In the story of Mary and Martha recorded in Luke 10, Jesus came to visit sisters Mary and Martha, and while Jesus was there, Martha was busy with all the activities of hosting Jesus’ visit, but Mary sat and listened to Jesus teaching. This upset Martha who told Jesus it was not fair that Martha was working hard on all the arrangements while Mary sat listening to Jesus and not helping. Jesus’ answer was, Luke 10:42,43, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.”

There is only one thing we also need to be concerned with, and that is following Jesus. When we keep this in as our focus we stay on the right path.

Dear Lord, You have given us the incredible gift of Salvation through Jesus’ Christ. Help us remember that is the one thing that matters most. In His name we pray. Amen.

I have written in the past about how each of us has a calling, a mission, that God has put us on. We go about our daily lives pursuing our occupations, responsibilities and hobbies, and if we keep God the priority in our life, he is directing us.

Proverbs 16:3 is a great passage to memorize and ties in with this concept. it says, “Commit your actions to the Lord , and your plans will succeed.”

When we say, “this is what I am trying to accomplish Lord, but let me do your will not mine,” we are committing our actions to the Lord. He promises our plan’s will succeed, which will ultimately be the plans he is using us to accomplish.

Dear Lord, Thank you for directing our activities toward success in the calling you have given us. Help us always begin our days and tasks by asking for your direction and guidance. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.