Man is hardly thankful to God. If man had ever been thankful to God, he could have always followed and searched for truth. He could have been more thankful to Him than the birds that chirp everyday thanking God for a new day, a new meal and for the life it has. All of creation are thanking God for King David said, “Let all that has breath praise the Lord!” But we are hardly thankful to Him, even today that the pressures of living have become even greater and the economic systems of the world are in totters, we are hardly thankful! Err, most of us are cowering in fear instead of lifting up our hands and thanking God for our salvation. Because they are connected to the banking systems of the world, instead of the banking system of heaven, many are worried about their stocks and their retirement funds if the major economies will suddenly collapse. For some, it may not be as big as this, but their trust in man have been dashed to pieces, again the Bible tells us that “Cursed is the man that trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the Lord” (Jeremiah 17:5).

As we see the world continue to grow darker, with greater economic, political and cultural shakings, shall we respond to this falling world with a sad look, one that is depressed or shall we look above and welcome the Kingdom of Heaven as it battles the darkness surrounding us? How shall we respond to this? How should we take advantage of this event?

“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.” Isa 60:1-3 “

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jer 29:11

Although the reformation was surely a great light that drove the darkness away from the planet, removing man from trusting into lie, there has never been a darker period of time as our time. When you count the number of babies that die from legalized abortion, and men and women that die from wars and poverty, and the number of people bound in false religions, there is no age that could be considered darker than our age. But this great promise in the Scriptures is yet to be fulfilled and it is coming in our time. When God’s glory comes upon us, our focus will not be on sin, it will not be on us, it will not be on our titles, but we will be focused on Jesus! Our focus will be HIM because He loves us and our focus will be to bring others to Him because we want them to feel this great love we have been baptized with. In the Book of the Revelations, when the living creatures worship Him, the 24 Eders fall down before Him and they lay their crowns before Him (Rev 4:10). We will not be so focused on our problems, because Jesus will matter more to us than problems. We will then be transformed because as we behold Him, we will be like Him.

The question is, how do we rouse ourselves from our slumber so that we can see His Kingdom come and we will be useful in building this kingdom? You might ask, how could Edison ask such question when we are already born again? Yes my dear Brethren, we all need to have our mindsets of ministry transformed, we all need to be prepared for the Kingdom that is coming, that He is building in our midst. As Jesus said, this Kingdom is not coming with physical observations as many climate scientists are busy with doing. It is within us, it is growing inside all of us, this Kingdom grows and touches people as we grow to be more like Him everyday and touch the lives of those whom we work with. One measure of grace we need to grow into so that we abide in this Kingdom is actually to be thankful because the measure of your gratitude will also be the measure of how much God can fill you with His things. Second, there is no faster way to come before His presence than being thankful to God.

Again David said: “Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.” Ps 95:2

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.” Ps 100:4

Third, He promises us that in the midst of turmoil, in the midst of trouble and spiritual warfare, if we are thankful, we will be delivered from the hands of our enemies. “He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God” (Ps 50:23). Thus there is no better way to honor God, to honor His presence in our lives than to actually be thankful for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus. And Paul adds in Philippians 4:6-7, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  Paul instructs us that the moment we feel anxiety, worry, or sadness, let it be sign for us to pray and come before the Lord, always recounting with our petitions His blessings. 

When we pray today, let us remember to be thankful that God gave us a church, a community of fellow Filipinos who cares for us, leaders who give their time freely and cheerfully to continue God’s work on this part of our planet, let us be thankful that Germany remains a safe place when every parts of Europe is undergoing economic plagues, let us be thankful that we continue to be hired by our employees and that we are experiencing the greatest comfort of our lives from riding buses and trains, to using high-tech gadgets and equipment compared in the past, that God has given us the best president yet in the republic of the Philippines who stands with integrity and whose justice secretary is standing up against the giants of politics and a deluded Supreme Court. Is there a better reason not to be thankful?