Thanksgiving is coming! Yes, that’s correct, we are walking through the days of November, headed toward what has become my favorite holiday.

THANKS—Giving is coming!

Have we ever really considered this particular word and what it can mean to our lives?

Kings keep records! Their scribes record the king’s ‘chronicles’ of what occurs during the king’s reign over the kingdom. These ‘chronicles’ are written, saved, and stored for future generations to read, to understand, and maybe to apply to their current kingdom situation.

1. Have you ever experienced a disagreement with someone you love?
2. Have you felt the deep heart-pain that comes in knowing a chasm divides you from the other?
3. Have you ever decided together (you & the other one) how your love for one another is so much greater and how the continuance of the relationship is far more important than the reason for your disagreement?

In short, you both decided to—Forgive & Forget.

4. Have you ever walked through the period of time AFTER the ‘talking & forgiving & forgetting’ discussion?

• After the burnt & peace offerings to God—
• After the loaves of bread, the meat, & the raisin cakes were distributed—
• After the Levites were appointed as ministers over the Ark of the Covenant—
• After all that—the children of Israel began “to celebrate and to thank and praise the LORD God of Israel.” (1 Chronicles 16: 4b NASB)

Then the music began.

Then THANKS—Giving began!

King David assigned it that day, when the ark of the Lord, was first placed inside the pitched tent.

Disagreements between two people happen.  It is a fact of life, and these situational occurrences even come to those who love one another.  Although that was not the case between Michal and David because she truly hated King David and what he had done to her father.

Still the fact remains—Disagreements occur as we walk through life.

Thus what we do when they (the disagreements) come makes all the difference!

Jesus tells us within His Word, just as He told his disciples, to forgive & forgive & forgive & keep on forgiving that person.  Forgiving someone who has hurt us is difficult; nevertheless, the fact remains:  Forgiveness is NOT an emotion!  Forgiveness is a DECISION!

That’s Right!

• We decide to forgive today.
• We decide tomorrow to forgive that day too.
• Then, when the next day arrives, you guessed it, we forgive then as well.

Over and over, day-after-day, we raise up that person’s name before God, and we pray, asking Him to help us forgive that person.  It’s a heart decision.  If we truly love the person, then we will—FORGIVE.

Here’s what else we do NOT do.

We must NOT let the devil twist our thoughts, invade our minds, telling us:  ‘Hey, if you still remember the argument, the hurt, the reason for the disagreement, then it’s a fact that you have truly not forgiven the person, for how can you forgive if you have not forgotten.’

THAT IS THE DEVIL’S LIE!

THAT’S RIGHT!

Do not listen to the devil’s vile words, for the devil is the father of lies.

Listen instead to the LORD’S words, for HE IS THE FATHER OF TRUTH!

We may always remember the disagreement, and maybe that is a blessing because in remembering, we recall the way the Lord Jesus walked us through the situation.  Quite possibly, as we remember the disagreement we shared with someone we love, then we will always recall the way our Savior carried our burdens when our hearts hurt. We must recall the depth of GOD’S LOVE, and the way HE HAS FORGIVEN OUR SINS—FOR AS FAR AS THE EAST IS TO THE WEST.

The shed blood of Jesus covers the multitude of our sins!

We may always remember how we serve the KING of all kings who keeps His own record of all the many ways we keep His commandments, the way we walk through life—Loving Him Most & also Loving others as much as we love ourselves.

MAY WE ALWAYS REMEMBER HOW—

• We can totally trust God with those we love!
• We can live in such a way that we point those we love to Jesus!
• We can lay down our burdens, our hurts, our disagreements, our heart-pains at Jesus’ feet!
• We can allow Jesus to carry our burdens today!
• We can allow Jesus to carry our burdens tomorrow!

Day-after-day, we can make the daily decision to FORGIVE!

As we do, we lift our hands up high, and proclaim—“Thank You, LORD.”

As we do, THANKS—Giving comes to us!

• Let us ‘Thank the LORD’ for the way He leads our hearts to FORGIVE!
• Let the music begin to he played.
• Let the dancing begin to occur.
• Let the celebration begin to unfold.
• Let the WORSHIP of our LORD happen for others to see JESUS, our KING of kings!