The Bible tells us in so many places to give thanks to God. “Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms” (Ps 95:2). The word for thanksgiving there in the Hebrew is "todah", it means adoration, praise, and giving thanks. This word occurs over 30 times in the Old Testament. 

In the New Testament, the apostle Paul taught us to voice our thankfulness to God (Eph. 5:4). In 1 Thessalonians 5:18 Paul exhorted us to thank God in everything no matter what the circumstances are. It is also interesting to note that in teaching about prayer he very much emphasized the importance of accompanying all of those prayer requests with thanksgiving (Phil 4:6).  

We don't need to thank God for the challenges we face in life but for the way out of those challenges. "We are more than conquerors through him that loved us” (Rom.8:37). If you have a thankful heart you won’t have a complaining heart; so, let's have thankful hearts for all of God's love and blessings, and look forward expectantly to what he will accomplish through us. 

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I love the story of the Samaritan woman in her encounter with Jesus at the well of Sychar (John 4:1-42). Jesus cut across racial prejudices (v9), in love, to reach this woman. Jesus operated in the spiritual gift of the word of knowledge to get her attention (v17-18; 1 Cor 12:8) and showed her the route to salvation (John 4:26; Rom 10:9).

There is also a great contrast in these verses as well. The contrast of the carnal mind of the non-Christian versus Jesus and the born-again Christian (v10-18). Jesus talked of “living water” (v10 and 13-14). He was referring to the water of the word; the word of God (Eph 5:26). The woman only saw natural water but Jesus spoke of the spiritual power of the word of God (Heb 4:12) to satisfy our spiritual thirst and transform us as children of God to eternal life (v10 and 13-14). “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him:  neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (KJV; 1 Cor 2:14). The Holy Spirit reveals God’s word to us, to our spirit (our spiritual heart or conscience; John 14:26). The bible tells us we are: “spirit, soul and body” (1Thess 5:23).

We are told that God’s word “is truth” and that “the truth shall make you free” (John 17:17; 8:32). Free from what? Well, anything that holds you back from having and being all that God wants you to have and be. It’s not just head knowledge but spiritual discernment, understanding, revelation, which sets us free and brings the God kind of life (John 10:10).

We must get into the word and build up our faith (Rom 10:17). We need to get the word into our spirit so it can become powerful in our lives to transform us, change us and release all of God’s promises in our lives. There are no short cuts, it takes time in the word to get that spiritual discernment or revelation and faith that we so need.

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"That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter.1:7 KJV).

We obviously don't have the same kind of trials as the early apostles did, however you may be facing "trials" in your health, finances, relationships or work etc.  What the apostle Peter meant here is that our faith is more precious than gold and that trials prove our faith and only cause our faith to bring us praise and approval from Christ.

Keep standing on the promises of God for whatever you are believing God for because in 1 Kings 8:56 we are told that not one of God's good promises has failed and the apostle Paul wrote that the promises of God are yes and amen in Christ Jesus (2 Cor 1:20).

All things are possible for God (Matt 19:26) and with God dwelling in us, nothing is impossible for us (Phil 4:13). In fact, God said that when we are in a trial, perplexed, at our wits end and at our weakest, then that’s when he can work in our lives at his strongest (2 Cor 12:9).  

“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth al understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:6-7). When trials come, role them over on God, pray and enjoy his peace.

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David was hungry for God: Psalms. 27:4 (KJV) “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. In Psalm. 42:1-2 we note: “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul for thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: When shall I come and appear before God?”

There are many similar verses in the Bible. So, how do we get hungry for God? Well, if you compare it to eating food, if you eat a little of something good, you want more. As you eat it more and more you get so you can’t do without it. It's the same with the presence of God. The more time you spend with him, in his word, prayer and fellowship the more that you want.

We can also pray and ask God to make us hungry. I have heard it said that if you discipline yourself to do something every day for 3 weeks it becomes a habit. Cultivating a hunger for God would be a good habit to have. There’s one good thing about spiritual hunger; you can’t get physically fat by spending too much time with God.

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Patience is a fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22) and I believe it is very much a part of love. In the description of love found in 1 Corinthians 13:4 the first thing it says about love is that love is patient.

There are 2 primary words for patience in the NT; the meaning of one is patience with people and the other is more patience with circumstances. Col 3:12 is an example of patience with people. Here the word can also be translated as long suffering; with the sense of restraint in terms of revenge when people try our patience. Hebrews 10:36 is an example of patience in circumstances where it says we need to have patience or endurance, so we can see the manifestation of what we are believing God for; despite contradictory circumstances.

So, we see that when it comes to patience in the face of circumstances, it is very much tied together with faith as it says in Hebrews 6:12 (KJV): "faith and patience inherit the promises". In Mark 11:24 we read “Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them”. We believe that our prayers are answered when we pray but the physical manifestation of the answer to our prayers may take some time to arrive; this calls for patience.

As we meditate on God’s word concerning patience, the Holy Spirit can develop that fruit within us.

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Check out our web site ( www.onthewayinlove.com ) for information on our book: “On the Way: Basic Christian Training”, including how to purchase it and also to see more encouraging Bible based blogs. Please recommend our book to others.