Pray Out Loud

Alright, thank you very much, and hello again radio friends. How in the world are you? Are you doing alright? Well, I’m fine, thank you. Full of bounce to the ounce and happy in the Lord, glad to be alive and able to speak with you, share with you from the Word of God. We’re still in Colossians 3:15 and we want to look at the phrase that closes that verse. Paul says, “Let the peace of God be the referee in your hearts, to which also you’re called in one body, and be ye thankful.” Ingratitude of course is the crowning sin of the unsaved. Paul says in Romans 1, because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful. But became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened. Ingratitude toward God results in unbelief and error about God, that’s what Romans 1:21 says. Crowning sin of the unsaved is not that they are heathen, not that they do bad things, this is bad, of course, but the crowning sin is that they refuse to give God any place in their life nor indeed to thank Him for His blessings. That’s what Romans 1:21 tells us.

However, when you come to the matter of a Christian’s attitude toward thanksgiving, you find that God is looking for the thankfulness and the praise of His people. “Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me”, he says. And the writer to the Hebrew says, “By Him,” that is by the Lord Jesus, “therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name.” And then he goes on to say, as I recall “but to do good and to communicate, forget not, for with such sacrifices, God is well pleased.” There are three things that please God, one, praising Him and thanking Him. Two, doing good for other people. And three, giving to His work. These three things please Him, according to the writer to the Hebrews. So here you have it, sacrifice of praise, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name. And it says, “continually”. Can you be continually thankful? Yes, you can. Should you be? Yes, you should. “In everything,” says Paul to the Thessalonians, “give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

Someone has said, you don’t need to be thankful for everything, but you certainly can be thankful in everything. In other words, you can say, “Lord I don’t like this, but I wanna thank you for what you’re doing in my life as a result.” Well, that may be a good idea, but to be thankful, to look up and say, “Thank you, Lord.” I recall one occasion years ago, back in the 1940s, I suppose it is, when I came home from a series of meetings to find that the world had sort of fallen in and there had been some mishaps and one of the little girls had suffered a broken collarbone and everything was just upset, as you can understand how homes can be upset when everything happens at once. And I came home from a short series of meetings to find the problems that were there, and I must admit, I was resentful about all of it, and I remember saying, God, I’m trying to serve you, why does this have to happen? [chuckle] Have you ever felt that way? Look up and say, “God what are you trying to do to me?”

[chuckle]

Well, read your Bible, and you’ll find that many of the old-timers felt the same way. “Has the Lord forgotten to be gracious, and will He cast off forever?” God, are you on a vacation, did you go off and leave me? Have you forgotten about me? That’s how they prayed in the old days, because all of us themselves and ourselves are human, and we have human frailties. And we forget that God is in His heaven and He’s ruling and reigning all the time.

And so, when I came home to that experience about which I spoke a moment ago I was resentful and then I just had to get it straightened out with the Lord, and I took a moment to get alone with Him. And this passage about “in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you”. Oh, I said Lord. I don’t know if I can do it, but I’m going by faith. I’m gonna thank you for what you’re doing. And as I prayed, and thanked Him for what He was doing in His mercy and in His matchless wisdom, as I prayed and thanked Him the resentment went out of my heart.

And I was able to accept things as they were, and better still I was able to lend a hand instead of grumbling and help in the situations that faced us. Yes, you and I are human and we tend to grumble and complain, but the answer to it is continual thankfulness, “Let the peace of God rule in your hearts and be ye thankful,” that’s the word that you and I have to obey, and it’s a continual business.

He says, “continually the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name.” One of the passages that gives us a powerful reason for our gratitude is 1 Peter 2:9, “ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation a peculiar people: in order that you should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” Why should I be thankful? God chose me. Why should I be thankful? God has inducted me into his royal priesthood. Why should I be thankful? I’m a member of a holy nation, the children of God. Why should I be thankful? God wants me to be His own special possession.

That word peculiar people means not odd, but it means people for His own possession. And all of that should cause thankfulness to well up in my heart as a result “be ye thankful.” Well, what else is there that we ought to think about? It’s easy to forget. “When thou hast eaten and are full, then thou shall bless the Lord thy God for the good land which He hath given thee”, Moses said in Deuteronomy 8, “Forget not all His benefits”, said the psalmist in Psalm 103. It’s easy to forget. And to take things for granted. The old joke about, “What have you done for me lately”, is very much in keeping when we come to dealing with God. We tend oftentimes to take His blessings for granted, and we show a heart of ingratitude, as a result. “Giving thanks to the Father who has made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.” And then “in everything give thanks, this is the will of God in Christ Jesus, concerning you”, First Thessalonians 5:18.

Now I’ve gotta ask myself the question. Cook, you’ve said that we should be thankful, but in your own heart, you know that it seems impossible to be thankful for some things, and I think some of you are saying the same thing to me. You’re saying, “brother Cook, you talk about being thankful you don’t know what I’m up against. How can I be thankful? For a prodigal son and a wayward daughter, and a straying husband, or a wandering wife, or being jobless and not having enough money to put food on the table? How can I be thankful for failing health? When I can’t get around, and do the things that I want to do, how can I be thankful for living in a miserable place that doesn’t have the comforts I wish I had? How can I be thankful for in-laws that hate me and that despise me and though don’t accept me as a member of the family. How can I be thankful for a boss that harasses me?” And if you’re a lady employee, you’re saying, “Yes, brother Cook, you don’t know what I have to put up with because I’m a woman, I have to put up with a lot of things that you fellas don’t have to. How can I be thankful for that?”

Alright, dear ones I know. I know. I’ve lived long enough to know that these things are part of living. Now, let’s look this matter straight in the face. There are a lot of things in life that you and I don’t like. But we live, the Bible tells us, “the saints of God live not by sight, but by faith, we walk by faith,” says Paul. Not by sight. In other words, it’s not what’s happening and how you feel about it, but why it’s happening, and who is in charge that really counts. Now, anything that’s going to change your feelings has to be done by faith isn’t that true? If you’re going to be any different in God’s sight, you have to have faith in Him, and apply that faith to the circumstance that you’re dealing with.

“Without faith it is impossible to please him, for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” How do you get rid for example, take your own personal experience, how do you get rid of a feeling of guilt? You feel so guilty about something in which you have failed. Now, how do you handle that as a Christian? Well you confess it, and you forsake it and you believe God to heal they and cleanse the whole thing, isn’t that true?

“He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh it shall have mercy”, says the wise man. And then you go over to first John, chapter one, where he says, “If we confess our sins, He our Lord Jesus is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us, from all unrighteousness.” You come to Him in faith, you got something what which you feel guilty. That’s the illustration we’re using now, isn’t it? You’ve got something about what you feel guilty, you come to your blessed Lord in faith, you confess what this is, honestly, you don’t mumble about it or walk around the proposition, you just really confess it, you say, “Lord this is what happened, this is what I did, or this is what I said, or this is what I thought”, you confess it to Him, right? Straight out loud in your praying.

You ask Him for forgiveness and cleansing, according to His Word, “He’s faithful and just to forgive us and cleanses from all unrighteousness”, the verse says, and then you exercise faith, what is that? You thank Him for the answer. You receive by faith what He said He would do. Faith is taking what God says, and acting upon it. Faith is risking the situation on what God has promised to do, see, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not yet seen. If you believe God about something even before it happens, you’re exercising faith, and so you ask, you confess your sin, you ask Him to cleanse you, and then you thank Him for that cleansing. And lo and behold, you have peace in your heart. You see how it works?

To be thankful, doesn’t mean that you’re thankful for what bothers you. Thankfulness is to be thankful for what God is and what He’s going to do according to His promises. You exercise faith, you bring the difficulty, whatever it is, or the heartache, or the circumstance, or the threat, or the illness, or whatever may be, you see. You bring that to God. You level with Him about it, you tell Him about it, you ask Him to take control and then you thank Him for His working on your behalf.

I can guarantee you that the resentment and the fear, the rage, the feeling of frustration, all these things are going to be taken care of when you exercise divinely given thankfulness for what God is and what He is going to do in your life.

Dear Father, today, make us thankful. And grant to us, Thy perfect peace as the referee in our hearts so that we’ll know which way to turn, step-by-step. Thank you Lord. Amen.

Until I meet you once again by way of radio, walk with the King today and be a blessing!