Thanksgiving

So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise.  Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:15-20 (NLV)

Having success in relationships is not easy, and we all have to do our part to ensure our relationships are thriving. In addition to being wise with our time and being thoughtful, the scripture tells us that we should be filled with the Holy Spirit rather being drunk with wine. Being drunk with wine does not help our relationship with the Lord or with others. As a matter of fact, it opens the door to the enemy to tempt us in variety of ways. However, being filled with the spirit makes us more aware of God’s purpose and will in our lives, and it helps us to remain in tune with Him!

The truth is that man in his carnal nature continues to crave for things that feed his/her flesh.  Our flesh is satisfied primarily with worldly things such as food, alcohol, sex, and entertainment. People out of boredom or curiosity crave various experimentations that lead them to alcohol, smoking, drugs, and pornography, and many find themselves bound to it. The things that feed our carnal nature do not feed our spirit man, and as a result we don’t have anything spiritually valuable to give our loved ones!

A lifestyle that feeds the flesh does not produce any good fruit, and it certainly does not provide the opportunity to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Instead, an atmosphere of worship fills us with His spirit, peace, and joy.  This gives us a greater desire to remain in His presence and continue to worship Him and sing songs to Him. Our flesh continues to be weakened the more we feed our spirit man and allow Him to rule and reign in our lives!

In an environment that people are under the influence of worldly vices, the relationships are not only weakened, but they can also be fractured because people speak and act in foolish and hurtful ways. On the other hand, when we are singing psalms and worshipping the Lord together, it allows us to keep our focus on Jesus and takes our eyes off of each other. This brings greater clarity to the issues at hand, and we no longer are bound by the dictates of our soul because we have been in the Lord’s presence! This is the environment that helps us to renew and reconcile our relationships with one another!

In the above passage, Paul ends by telling us to give thanks in everything! Giving thanks allows us to change our negative perspective and see God’s blessings and provision in our lives! One of the main areas of giving thanks should be for our loved ones. Imagine if you gave thanks to the Lord for your spouse everyday and actually mentioned the specific things that they bless your life with!  How about if you reached out to those that you have a difficult time with and told them that you love them and thank God for them!? How often do we give thanks for our loved ones especially when we are frustrated with them?

When we put the above passage to work in our lives, we will see change and transformation in our attitude as well as our relationships! Subsequently, when we focus on the passage in (Ephesians 5:21-33) about husbands and wives and how they should relate to one another, it’s a lot easier to live it out. We are not resenting the fact that we have to submit ourselves to our husbands or that husbands need to lay down their lives for their wives. Our marriages have a good foundation by using time wisely, being thoughtful about our choice of words and actions, being filled with the Holy Spirit, and continually giving thanks to God for everything including one another.  

Mediate on the above scripture and use it daily for a week or a month and be amazed at the results in your spiritual life as well as in your relationships!