Part of God’s Peace is Counting Your Blessings
When we operate in the peace of God which surpasses all understanding we cannot help but be thankful and “count our blessings.” Let’s thankfully praise God.
Thank God for What He Has Done
When we think about the peace of God we often turn to Philippians 4:6-7.
6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
These verses deal with the peace of God that comes with total surrender to Him in all things. And the key to having this kind of peace lies in possessing a thankful heart.
Since thankfulness is mentioned over 140 times in the Bible it must be important to God and should be important to us. The peace that Christ gives us should help us to be the most thankful people and lead us to “counting our blessings.”
What about our circumstances? As we learned last week – God’s peace does not depend on our circumstances it depends on us having a close, personal relationship that is fully dependent upon Him. Jesus purchased the ability for us to have this relationship with God by His life, death and resurrection.
God has taken the time to write for us words, that will teach us about Himself, and how to live our best life. (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.
Let’s be blessed by God’s word today. Let’s ponder Psalm 103 and see how quickly these words create in us a desire to thankfully praise our Lord.
A Spiritual Inventory
Psalm 103 contains the words of David as he reminds himself to always think about what God has done so he can thankfully praise the Lord.
Personal (Verses 1-5)
David reviews the mercy of God to him.
1 Let all that I am praise the Lord; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.
2 Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me.
3 He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases.
4 He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies.
5 He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!
National (Verses 6-18)
David reviews the mercy of God to Israel.
6 The Lord gives righteousness and justice to all who are treated unfairly.
7 He revealed his character to Moses and his deeds to the people of Israel.
8 The Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
9 He will not constantly accuse us, nor remain angry forever.
10 He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
11 For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
12 He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.
13 The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
14 For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust.
15 Our days on earth are like grass; like wildflowers, we bloom and die.
16 The wind blows, and we are gone— as though we had never been here.
17 But the love of the Lord remains forever with those who fear him.
His salvation extends to the children’s children
18 of those who are faithful to his covenant, of those who obey his commandments!
Universal (Verses 19-22)
David calls all created beings to praise the Lord.
19 The Lord has made the heavens his throne; from there he rules over everything.
20 Praise the Lord, you angels, you mighty ones who carry out his plans, listening for each of his commands.
21 Yes, praise the Lord, you armies of angels who serve him and do his will!
22 Praise the Lord, everything he has created, everything in all his kingdom. Let all that I am praise the Lord.
Count Your Blessings
Forgiveness – v. 3, 8-12
Spiritual health – v. 3
Redemption – v. 4
Blessings – v. 4
Satisfaction – v. 5
Strength – v. 5
The Word of God – v. 7
God’s infinite mercy – v. 8, 17
Our family relationship with God – v. 13
His patience – v. 14
Conclusion
WOW!
We have His love, His mercy, His grace; His salvation and forgiveness. Plus, we have His Word; The Church; The privilege of prayer.
On top of that we can be thankful. And this thankfulness helps us to have God’s peace and His patience while we wait for our answers from Him.
.
Are we mindful of how the Lord has brought blessings into our own personal lives.
Can we as the song says “Count your blessings name them one by one, count your many blessings see what God has done.”
Let’s sit in God’s presence. Let’s make our own list of His many blessings.
What are you thankful for today?
Hi Evelyn,…………I remember a very enthusiastic elderly interim pastor our church had when I was about 13/14, who one Sunday, led the singing of this song and ask the congregation to sing, “count your blessings name them two by two”, because we all had so much to be thankful for.
I remember him almost leaping up and raising his arms with true personal thankfulness and joy as he sang this song.
As a young teen more interested in chatting with my girlfriends in church, I was really impacted by that one pastor’s exuberance on that Sunday.
What a great idea – to count our blessings two by two. It is amazing how quickly being thankful can turn our entire attitude around. I can almost picture him wanting to leap with great joy.