The Nine, III

Ps.103:^2-5 “Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies. He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!”

In our search, so far, we have found four out of nine. The one who listened to the voice of doubt. The one who said his miracle was a coincidence. The one who said it was too little too late and the one who said Jesus was just doing His job. Appreciation is big. When last did appreciate your spouse for all he or she does? Statements like ‘he is just doing his job’, must never come out of your mouth. And sometimes, it is the husbands who do not appreciate their wives because they feel she is just doing her job. You have your food on time, your house is in order and all you can say is she is just doing her job? No, go out and buy her flowers. However, I have discovered that some women, African women to be precise, actually prefer a credit alert to flowers. So, men buy the flowers and let there be a credit alert too. The point is, if you cannot appreciate who you can see, the people you do life with, how will you appreciate the God you cannot see? So, the heart must begin with the people that you do life with.

Fifth, the man who perhaps said, ‘am I really better off?’ Sometimes, we have had a particular problem for so long that we derive our identity from the problem. And when God takes away the problem, we are out of sync as it were, and we do not appreciate what God has done. So, a single person who has been single for a long time gets married and because he or she is so used to being single, he or she sees doing life and sharing life with someone else as a bother. Thus, the question, am I really better off? And when we feel this way, we cannot really be grateful. Psalm 89:¹ “I will sing of the Lord’s unfailing love forever! Young and old will hear of your faithfulness.” When we are grateful, we do not ask am I really better off?

We open our mouths and speak of God’s faithfulness. C. S. Lewis says, “If I remain unmoved by grace, it reveals a deficiency in me.” If there is a work of grace that has happened in my life or in people’s lives, and I remain unmoved, not propelled into a place of gratitude, it shows something is wrong with me. If there is a work of grace in your home, or in your children and you think it is not a big deal. Then you need to be delivered and that deliverance will happen even now, in Jesus Name.

Sixth, the man who perhaps said, I forgot. He ran back to his family, there was so much to catch up on and he forgot. It is easy to forget God or the things He has done for us. But you will not forget God or what He has done for you, in Jesus Name. Psalm 137:^5-6 “If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget how to play the harp. May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I fail to remember you, if I don’t make Jerusalem my greatest joy.” God does not want us to forget.

Prayer: Father, all that I am will bless Your Name forever for the endless benefits of being called by Your Name, may I never forget the things You do for me, in Jesus Name. Amen!