From Rabbi Jack...
How grateful are you? Most of us say our prayers before a meal, giving thanks for the food God has provided, some, like Ellen and I also say a prayer of thanksgiving after we have eaten. We base this practice on the Bible verse:
Deuteronomy {8:10} "When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land He has given you."
But is food the only thing we are to be grateful for? When we consider that everything we are, everything we have, our lives themselves are all a gift from God, food is only one of the many things we should be grateful for. I know this may sound silly and maybe in my effort to explain I am stretching the point, but have you ever been constipated and in distress? Are you grateful for the times you are not in distress? We have so much to be grateful for and we should not only be grateful for food without acknowledging our gratitude for all the other things in our lives. I believe in doing so we are speaking blessings into our lives because when we acknowledge God as our source for everything, even the silliest things, we are acknowledging His supremacy over our lives and our total surrender to Him. He promised:
James {4:10} "Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up."
Many of our deficiencies in life are due to us focusing too much on complaining about what we do not have and not enough time on being grateful for what we do have.
From Ellen...
Hi Ellen here…I was meditating on humility the other day and did some research on it. C.S. Lewis said: "True humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less." This quote opened my eyes to many things and even opened my eyes to things in my life! We can heal by humility, by acknowledging that we do not have it all together. Know the difference between self-confidence and pride; seek to value others more than ourselves; spend time listening…to others not ourselves; be grateful; ask for help!
Did you know that there is false humility? False humility is pride in disguise…you know, attempting to appear humble, we all know what the Bible says about pride. I saw a sign that said "Humble yourself or life will do it for you." For many of us humility is one of the hardest traits to develop because it has to begin with recognizing that we are not always right and we do not have all the answers…this can be very challenging and humbling. When my mother-in-law was in an assisted living facility I stayed with her many times. It was a great place and they offered many lectures, entertainment and so much more. One of my favorites was a geriatric psychologist who would come with uplifting lectures. He said some incredible things and one stuck in my head, he said "If you always need to be right then something must be wrong." I have so much more to say but this is a blurb and not a sermon so I will end with this…Pride comes before the fall, and nobody wants to fall.
Yours in Messiah Yeshua; our Lord, our God, our soon coming King.
Rabbi Jack & Ellen
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