In Everything Give Thanks

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Hey, welcome to Self Talk. I'm your host, me, Dr. Ray Self. Very glad you're with us today. I hope this show will be a blessing to you. This show is brought to you by the ministry I founded about 28 years ago, the International College of Ministry. Now enrolling at icmcollege.org. Get your associate's, bachelor's, master's, or even a doctorate degree. Check us out. A lot of free stuff on the website, too. Today, I want to talk about Thanksgiving because the show comes out on Thanksgiving, but I want to give you a little different perspective on how can we thank God no matter what. So, thank you again for being part of my show. God bless you.

Okay, here we go. The scripture I want to share with you today is one that can be controversial, although it shouldn't be. And in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, Paul is giving final instructions to the church. And the two verses before that, he says, "Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing." But then he says something interesting. “In everything, give thanks. For this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.” In everything, give thanks. “But I just lost my job. I went through a divorce. I lost a loved one.” In everything, give thanks. Are you, you serious? I mean, everything. I mean, no matter what goes on, I'm supposed to thank God. Period. No matter what's happening to me? T33hat's a tough one. That's a tough one.

But actually, the scripture is telling us, in everything, give thanks. So, how can we do this logically? How is this possible? Or is, is this even reasonable? And I want to tell you something. I believe it is reasonable. And I believe it is possible. And I think it also, it is powerful. You see, no matter what we're going through, we can give thanks to God. We can praise God for who He is. We can thank God. We can just– there's blessings. There's blessings all around us. Every breath we take is a blessing. You look out at the sky, the birds, the trees, the flowers. Blessings all around us. And I know sometimes you may be in a dark place. I know the holidays can be a dark place. The holidays can contribute to depression and loneliness. And then we've been talking about the dysfunctional family. How do you handle that? The dysfunctional family. And how do you react and not respond, or excuse me, respond and not react? 

But you see, there's a scripture that says, in Romans, that, “...all things work for good for those who love the Lord and are called according to His purposes.” I want to tell you something. I want you to listen to me very carefully. I've been through a lot in my 74 years. I've been through times that were extremely difficult, scary, anxiety, depression, losses. I've been through joyful times, peaceful times. But what I have found out is that God has an incredible way of not wasting any part of our life and finding something valuable that will teach us; something that we can use, something that will give Him glory in the midst of whatever we're going through. All things work for good for those who love the Lord. Somehow, someway, God will get some good out of it, and you'll be– some benefit will come from you. Well, how could, how could anything beneficial come from a divorce, or how could anything beneficial come through, uh, I lost my job? 

I want to tell you something. God does not waste your life. And no matter what Satan throws at you, no matter what tragedy hits you, God has an amazing way of finding a treasure. I call it treasure and tragedy. God has an incredible way of finding a treasure, something good in the midst of darkness, in the midst of despair, in the midst of, of loneliness, in the midst of it all, God will ultimately - it doesn't seem like it's going to happen right now, and it may not happen right now, but ultimately something good will come of it. You say, "I don't see how anything good could come of, of, you know, what I've been through." Well, I want to tell you something. I've been through a lot. I'm not going to compare notes with you. Like, let's see who's been through the worst stuff. I've been through a lot of stuff. But God, looking back at my life, the losses I've had, the tragedies I experienced, even just some of the trauma that I went through, God still got glory from it. Nothing was wasted. Nothing was ever in vain. Nothing was ever just for no reason at all. 

Now, let me make something really– I do not prescribe to the theory God's in control of everything. There's a lot of things that God does not control. See, God created this world, and He created us, and He and He gave us a free will, and He put this world in motion, and things happen that He does not control. Does He know what's going to happen? Yeah. Is He controlling everything? No. I know this may throw some of my Calvinist friends for a loop. God in His sovereignty knows the future, He knows the past, He knows the present, obviously. But there's free will. There's free choice. But what God does is despite the thing– and there's sin in the world which causes bad things to happen. But what He does is time and time again, when bad things happen in our life, ultimately there's some type of a treasure, some type of wisdom, some type of blessing that comes out of it. I went through some difficult times in my life, some very difficult things, but in the midst of all that I've been through, and I look at my life, and I look at the stories of God's glory that He wrote with me and the things He let me experience, the things that I've seen, the miracles, the fantastic healings, dead people raised, blind eyes restored, cancer healed. Just being able to, to travel and to minister and to, to preach in churches around the country and, and overseas and, and to, to be able to build a college that is impossible. It's an online school with like 500 students, a fully accredited school. I mean, these things can't happen, especially with some of the stuff I've been through. It cannot happen. But it did because despite all the tragedy and all the heartache and all that I went through, all things worked for good for those who love the Lord. 

And nothing in my life was wasted. Maybe it was a hard, dark experience, but I learned something and, and it led me to something, and it led me to where I am today. Even this podcast, where I am today, talking to you, is a culmination of my life. And my life led me to this point, the good times and the bad times. And you know what I can do? Because I'm still here. I'm alive, and  I'm ticking and, and we're doing this podcast, and we're ministering, and we're, we're continuing to build our school and, and add campuses and all this great stuff. I can give thanks to God in everything.

And looking back, even in the tragedy I went through and the trauma that I went through and the dark times that I went through, God didn't waste it. He didn't waste my experience. He didn't waste the, the wisdom that I gained through it or the strength that I got through it. He didn't waste it. So, I could actually thank Him in the middle of everything because I know God is not finished with me, and God has a plan for me…that's exceedingly abundantly more than I can ever think or ask for, and God has a plan for you. And no matter what you're going through, God is still your God. And He still has a way of keeping His hand on you and not forsaking you and pulling you out of it, pulling you out of the fire and restoring your life and reconciling your life. Maybe you don't see it right now, but thank Him, “Lord, I thank you. I'm in the midst of a hard situation, but I thank you, Lord. I, I don't, I'm, I'm, I'm depressed, but Lord, I still praise you. Lord, I'm sad, but I still praise you. Lord, I'm nervous, but I still praise you.” 

David, in the midst of all he went through, never stopped praising God. And God called King David a man after His own heart. So, what I'm trying to say is, yeah, life can get extremely hard and painful and frustrating and sad and anxious, but in the middle of it, no matter what you're going through, God is a redeemer that never changes. Thank you, Jesus. God is a restorer that never changes. Thank you, Jesus. God is a healer that never changes. Thank you, Jesus. God loves you and will never take His hand off of you. And He will never forsake you. And I can thank Him for that. I can thank Him for who He is. Even though I don't see anything good right now. I know that it– I'm going to come through this. This too shall pass. This too shall pass. I will come through this. You will come through this. You can thank God no matter how difficult it is because God is going to make something good come out of this.

And you know, that's a hard– and I got to be really careful with that because when you say that to somebody, you know, “All things work for good,” who just lost a loved one, that's just a terrible thing to say. It's, it's not appropriate to say. But even in the loss of a loved one, even in tragedy, in the long run, God can turn things for His glory. And I know this is, is not an easy word, but the Bible says in everything give thanks and rejoice always. 

I heard something just, just last Sunday. It really struck me, that you cannot be thankful and anxious at the same time. You cannot be grateful and afraid in the same time. They, they, they, thankfulness erases anxiety. Thought that's really good. And you know, I would tell you, what…I uh, you know, I've been through some stuff even recently. Been through some hard stuff even recently. But I can look around me right now. I have a nice home in a really nice area. I have beautiful grandchildren. I have a beautiful wife. I drive an old pickup truck. I wouldn't call my pickup truck beautiful, but hey, it runs really good. Sounds like a Harley-Davidson, but it's a truck. But, but I have so many blessings, and, uh, I do get discouraged, and I get frustrated, and I get nervous, and I have some anxiety, but there's so much around me that's beautiful and wonderful and worthy of praise. 

And I don't want to be super religious, but God, I thank you. God, I thank you. I thank you. And Lord, I thank you. I thank you. And I praise you. I know you're going to– no matter what I'm going through, that you're, ultimately you're going to get some glory out of this. Some, some good thing is going to come out of this. Some, some benefit is going to happen. Maybe I won't see it now. Maybe I won't see it next year, but I will see it eventually. And folks, it's true. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of the Lord. It's not easy, but try it. Try it. 

I want to tell you something too. A little thing I've seen. Thankfulness seems to move the hand of God. Thankfulness makes you feel better, and I think it gets God's attention. Let's be grateful. Let's be grateful not just for Thanksgiving, but let's just have this attitude of gratitude. You know, it's been said that it takes, uh, takes what is it, six positives to undo one negative. There's so much positive in your life. And I know there's negative. I get it. But you know what? Negative brings attention to itself. You don't have to focus on the negative. And negative focuses on itself. Negative brings its own amount of focus with it. But if you make a choice to focus on what you're grateful for and to thank God in the midst of no matter what it is, and thank God for who He is, thank God for all His blessings He's given you, and the life He's given you, and just to thank Him. And maybe you don't even feel like thanking Him. Maybe you can't think of anything to thank Him for. Just say, "Lord, I just thank you." Period. It's, It's just an incredible thing. It helps you. It moves the hand of God. It's a scriptural commandment. 

Guys. I don't want to say that life is rosy. Life is tough. Life can be hard. But no matter how hard your life is, no matter how tough your life is, life is full of things to be thankful for. Not– and, and to thank God. God is full. God is worthy. He, He created you. He brought you this far. He's not going to let you down. He's still with you. His hand is still on you. His love is still here. His power is still here. His deliverance is still here. His magnificence is still here. His gift of eternal life is still yours. His anointing is still yours. His Holy Spirit is living within you. Thank you, God. Thank you, God. Thank you, God. Thank you, God. He sent Jesus to die for you on the cross to pay the price for your sins so you are forgiven. Thank you, God. Thank you, God. And now He, He lives in you. Thank you, God. Thank you, God. Yeah, there's a lot to be thankful for. Even in the midst of tough times, you can make a mental choice to be thankful and to thank God…in all that you– “In everything, give thanks, for this is the will of God.” In everything give thanks. 

I hope this has made sense to you, and I hope this has blessed you. This is Dr. Ray. Thank you for listening to my show. Don't forget to subscribe. You know, you know the drill. Share it, download it, tell people about it. Let's get some more listeners here. We're doing really good recently. We've had a great surge, and I appreciate you. If you'd like to donate to help me, that would really be good. Uh, easiest way is go to icmcollege.org, icmcollege.org/donate. We have three different campaigns you can donate to. All of it helps us a lot. We give away thousands of dollars in scholarships to people called of God who want to enroll in International College of Ministry, but honestly, because of a situation, they cannot afford the tuition. What do we do? We help them. We help them a lot, but it's very, very, very costly for us. We help a lot of ministers with financial crisises going on in their life so they can get the degree they've always dreamed of. Help us with that if you don't mind, if the Lord leads you. Only if the Lord leads you. Thank you for being a part of Self Talk. This is Dr. Ray Self, and God bless you.