SPIRITUAL EXERCISE 2 GIVING THANKS

May 19. Psalms ch 69-71

SPIRITUAL EXERCISE (2)

SACRIFICE OF PRAISE

Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.

Hebrews 13:15 NASB1995

GOOD DAY: Physical exercise uses up some energy and gives the muscles some pain. The same thing happens in spiritual exercise. It requires and takes up spiritual energy too. Sometimes, you feel the pain in the resistance that results as you try to do the exercise which later disappears as you persist.

The exercise for today is giving God a sacrifice of praise and Thanksgiving in adverse situations. Take one adverse situation in your life. The easy thing is to complain, be sad and probably pity yourself and expect pity from others. The exercise is to give thanks to God for the situation with a grateful heart. This was a difficult thing for me to do at the start of this exercise. It became easy when I understood seeing as God sees.

If you practice the exercise of yesterday, and see your situation as God sees it, then giving thanks becomes easy. The foundation of giving thanks always is to see all things as God sees them. He sees the end result which is very good and not the process leading there. We see and focus on what we are passing through so we complàin and feel sad. See as God sees and Thanksgiving becomes easy leading to joy and peace of mind.