It is proper to give God thanks not complaints. I emphasize this because many people have failed to see what the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, had done for them and instead walk on complaining in life.

The children of God are different. We thank God in every situation, whether good or bad.  But giving thanks in every situation is not that easy. When misfortune happens or when cherished relationships end, we groan in pain and we don’t feel grateful. Our tendency is to complain bitterly.  When we go through experiences like this, we are actually experiencing the ultimate test in our trust in God.   If we firmly believe that He is the Sovereign God who is in control of every circumstance, we may feel terrible but we will thank and praise Him because we know that He knows what is best for us.

Our Heavenly Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, is not only the God of the past.  He is not only the God of the present, but He is the God of the future. He knows what will happen tomorrow.  He knows what will happen next week. He knows what will happen next month or next year. So, why worry and why complain when He knows what is going to happen in the future. All we need to do is to trust the Lord.

Complaining as a habit does not only wear people down.  It  also saddens and insults the Lord.  It is like taking His promises in vain. Did you know that the Father has more that 30, 000 promises in His Word and these are more than enough for all of our needs? So, when we complain, we are saying that we do not believe in what He says He can do for us. 

Take the case of the Israelites.  They began to complain the moment Moses led them out of Egypt! As a result of their grumbling and complaining God allowed them to wander in the wilderness for forty years when the journey should have taken only a few days.  Over one million men over twenty years old, except for Joshua and Caleb, died in the dessert because they failed to thank the Lord. None of them  reached the Promised Land flowing with milk and honey. 

Numbers 11:1 gives this account: “And when the people complained, it displeased the LORD: and the LORD heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the LORD burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp.

Now, these words jump out of the Bible right at us: “…When the people complained, it displeased the Lord for the Lord heard it.”  These are very powerful words! If you turn those words around on a positive note, you would wonder, what if they prayed instead of complained?  What if they were thankful and grateful instead of bitter and ungrateful?  As God had heard their complaints, God would surely hear their prayers too! 

Grumbling takes away the blessings of milk and honey, which our Father has in store for us.  Complaining drives us into the dessert of wilderness experience where we lose the sense of God’s presence. 

Lots of people look at life through dark glasses. They murmur when they should be praising the Father for the many things He had done for them.  There are those who may be realistic about the gloomy things of life but they focus their eyes more on the bright side,  like the famous scholar, Matthew Henry, who was once accosted by thieves but instead of getting angry,  this is what he wrote in his diary: “Let me be thankful first, because I was never robbed before. Second, because they took my wallet, not my life.   Third, because although they took my all, it was not much and fourth, because it was I who was robbed not I who robbed.” What a bright face to put on a terrible experience!

So in whatever state of affairs you may find yourself to be, it is proper to thank the Lord.  Instead of letting life turn sour over missed acquisitions and lost opportunities, ask the Lord to teach you thankfulness. You can overcome this negative tendency to complain. Most of the time it is just a matter of changing the attitude and not the situation.

An Arab proverb says, “I complained for having no shoes until I met a man who had no feet.”  Thank God for your two healthy feet!  Thank God your two healthy eyes!  Thank God for your healthy body!  Before you complain about anything, thank God for what you have.

There are always things to be grateful for.  When you start praising our Heavenly Father and thanking Him even in the dark experiences of life, you will see His mighty demonstration of miracles more than you ever expected.  So when you find yourself in a situation you do not like, thank God, thank God! 

When we give thanks, our diseases are healed!  Thanksgiving has curative powers. But when we complain, we add more ill to our ailments.  Gripe about your gout and it will worsen!  But when you thank the Heavenly Father, you will be healed!

Five years before the Father led us out of the denomination, we had a very small congregation in Villamor, Agdao, in Davao City.  There were only fifteen members in the congregation at that time, their spirits as dilapidated as the building where we were staying.  We had only so much to live on in those days because the tithe we collected was only fifty pesos every Sunday.  That became our budget for the whole week, and there were three workers with me.  We were so poor in those days that we could not even afford to go to the market in the morning when the fresh produce arrived because it was too expensive.  We had to wait and go in the afternoon when all the rejects were left and sold very cheaply. 

Despite the hardship of those days, I could truly say that we never complained.  I can return to those days and thank the Lord for giving us those meager years. Our spirit of thankfulness is the same today as it was before, now that God has abundantly blessed the Kingdom Ministry.

I thank the Father for our spiritual health most of all.  The spiritual health He has given to the Kingdom Ministry is more than anything else in this world.  We have been bourn out of the bondage of the devil.  He has given us spiritual light. The Kingdom message has not been adulterated or corrupted. It has remained pure in our minds and in our hearts.

The Publican and the Pharisee

In Luke 18:9-14, we read about a Pharisee and a Publican who went to the temple to pray.  The Pharisee prayed, “I thank you, God, that I am not as other men, who are extortionists, unjust, adulterers.  I thank you that I am not as this Publican, for I fast twice a week, I give my tithes…” But the Publican, standing afar off, not lifting so much as his eyes unto heaven, smote his breasts and said,  “God be merciful unto me a sinner.” 

Thanksgiving must come deep from within us. It must come from a welling up of love and gratitude to the Father in our hearts and in our spirit. But thanksgiving is only a superficial thing for some people.  This Pharisee was not thanking God for what grace had done for him. He was thanking God for what he himself had done!  This is a wrong attitude to take.

The Pharisee was rehearsing his good works before the Lord.  But his good works did not pass in the Father’s examination board. He went away from the temple without the grace and favor of God. But this Publican, repented from his heart and said, “Lord forgive me, I am a sinner. I acknowledge that without You I cannot save myself. I acknowledge that the path towards you is repentance. I repent, Lord! I surrender!”  The Lord said that He went away with the favor and the grace of God.

When people see what God is doing in our midst, they ascribe the credit to me, the Pastor. But I quickly tell them that it is the Father doing His work through us.  We are merely instruments for His glory.  It is the other way around in the world.  The standard in the world is always to base one’s accomplishments and successes upon one’s talent and ability. But in the Kingdom, we ascribe everything to God. 

I thank the Father for calling me, who am nothing. I, who am a worm; I, who has no abilities of my own;   I, who come from a very poor background; but He has chosen me and put me in the midst of His will and now He is doing His work through me!

But look at this Pharisee.  He said a prayer but he offered nothing to God at all. He focused on his human efforts, on the do’s and dont’s of his ritualistic religion. “I did this, I did that.  I am not like this. I am not like that.”  Religion is very, very self-righteous today.  They hide under the cloak of their rituals and religiosity but do not see the need to repent. They will see that need when judgment comes and then it will be too late.  Like everyone else, they will stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ. 

When you face God in judgment, you will not be called by any title.  You will not be called President, Senator, Congressman, Governor, Mayor, Captain, General, or Bishop. You will be called by your name, and you will be judged according to how you received His message.  And His message is very simple:  “Repent!”

Repentance is for all people whatever your situation or level in life. Repentance is for everybody.   That is the only question you will hear from God when you face Him in judgment.  Have you repented? But, Lord I am a general. Have you repented? But, Lord I am a debater! I memorize the Bible! Have you repented? If you cannot answer that question, you’d better not face Him in Judgment.  Do not face Him without addressing this issue in your life!

We thank God that in the Kingdom, we faced this issue long ago. We acquiesced to it. We accepted it. And we said, “Lord, we are under your complete will. We repent of our sins and we surrender our lives to you. From now on not our will, but thy will be done in our lives.”

The Lord took the destructive unhealthy spirit that came from the devil from inside of us and infused us with the new spirit that gave us the power to become children of God.  (Ezekiel 36:26; John 1:12) Now, we have the right and privilege to call Him Father. And He can call us His sons and daughters.   If we have to thank God for anything, it is for this!  When we face Him in Judgment and He asks, “Have you repented?” Our answer will be a big “Yes, Lord!”

I met a man in the United States who memorizes the Bible. He literally memorized the Bible from cover to cover. He would go up to the pulpit and preach without a Bible. He did not need to read from the written word because it was all inside his brain.  He would quote whole chapters and verses, verbatim, without a mistake.  He was called the Walking Bible of the United States!

I was very amazed. I wish I had his photographic memory. I wish I could amaze people by standing without a Bible and quoting it verse-by-verse, chapter-by-chapter.  I wish I had his talent.  But, then, the bottom-line is, has he repented?  If he has not, he will simply have memorized the Bible without obeying it. Memorizing the Bible without obedience to it will damn you to hell, because that is the greatest deception.  Do you think you can amaze God with your memory?  Even the devil quoted the Bible. 

What is important here is the message of salvation.  It is so simple but so neglected. The message is:  “Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is here! Come and become a child of God.”  In the Day of Judgment, the Father is going to ask you, “Are you my child, or not?” If you have not repented, then you are still a child of the devil.  But I am  religious! You are a religious devil! But I memorize the Bible! You are a memorizing devil! But I can debate the Bible from cover to cover! You are a debating devil! It’s very simple!  You do not need to memorize the Bible because there is only one message that you need to know to be saved, and this is the message of repentance. 

You must be born again in the spirit.  Becoming born again in the spirit is impossible without surrender.  It is impossible to say, ‘I have surrendered my life to you’ without repentance.   Your will is always subject to His will.  Lord, the thanksgiving and worship service is so far, I don’t want to travel that far each Sunday.  It’s my will!  Ok, Lord, I will go, not my will but your will be done! 

I thank the Lord that that we have found what is necessary to enter the Kingdom of God. I thank the Lord that we, as the children of God, have been given the most important gift that we will ever receive in our lives. And that is the forgiveness of our sins.   This is the power to become His child. 

God Our Provider

I remember sixteen years ago, I used to drive a really rickety old car, but I was grateful even for that old car because before we had that car, we had to walk from Villamor to wherever we wanted to go in the city.  When we had to mail even one letter, we had to walk an hour and a half to the Post Office because we did not have the money to take a jeep or any public transportation. 

While we walked, nice cars would pass by and throw dust all over us.  The dust and the grime would stick to our sweating bodies, and by the time we got home, we were really dirty. 

So, I asked God for a car, and when He finally gave me one, it was a really old Cedan Datsun 1972, but I thanked God for it.   I used that car for about ten years.   However, it kept breaking down on me.  If it was not the nozzle giving me trouble, it was the tube in the hydrovac of the break, or something else...

Once, the workers and I had to go to the next city to hold a  worship service there, but along the way, the tube to the hydrovac broke down.  Now, there was a tricycle in front of us, but when I pumped the break, there was no break!  The long and short of it was that I bumped into the tricycle and it turned turtle.  That was how badly that car treated me.

At another time, I was called to a hospital because somebody was dying and he was calling for me.  It was deep in the night and I expected to just whiz by to the hospital in my car.  But it broke down again in the middle of the road.  I tried to start it, but it just made this whooping sound, and refused to start.  I had to get out my little flashlight and try to fix it.  When that failed, I kicked it and then rebuked it in Jesus name!  Finally, I got it started and right away, I sped up to the hospital.  The wife met me, and I asked, “How is he doing?”  And she said sadly, “He was waiting for you for one hour, but you took so long, so He has passed away!”  Again, it was the old car that was to blame! I really had to ask God for a new car.

When we were just staring in Manila, we had three worship services on Sunday, and the last one was in another province, which was about an hour and thirty-minute drive away.  We had to stuff the car with the people, the instruments, and the sound system.  We put the sound system in the trunk at the back and stuffed fourteen full-time workers inside the car with the guitars and all.  While we coursed down the main expressway, some mobile patrol would pass us by and look at us with suspicious eyes like we were some kidnappers! But instead of complaining about all the problems that old car was giving me, I thanked the Lord!   I thanked God for every bit of hardship I went through, until finally He gave me a new car, one that didn’t breakdown in the middle of the highway.

 After Villamor, the Father gave us a new place in Dela Pena in Davao City.  I remember it was always flooded when it rained because all the other lots around us were 3 feet higher than the land we stood on.  So the water from around would flow down to us, and overflow even the septic tank.  We had to take out the water and everything else floating in it, pail by pail.  That is how we lived but we never complained.  I taught the workers with me never to complain. This is God’s will, thank Him for it! But look where we are now!  Eighteen years later we have a beautiful Cathedral in Davao City, a Prayer Mountain, and Kingdom properties all over the world! 

So whatever the position, level or circumstance that God puts you in life, it is His complete and perfect will.  King David knew this by heart.  When he was overthrown from His throne by his son Absalom, a man from Bahurim loudly cursed him on the street.  When his men were about to cut the man down, David stayed their hand, saying, “Do not harm him.  Leave him alone.   It may be that the Lord will see my distress and repay me with good for the cursing I am receiving today." (2 Samuel 16:5-12)

Our Father expects our thanksgiving.  He expected it from the ten lepers he healed one day while walking to Jerusalem. (Luke 17:11-19)  But out of ten, only one came back to thank Him.  The Lord looked at the lone man and asked, “Where are the other nine? But because you came back to thank me, I will bless you.” So thank the Lord for all things, great or small!  Thanksgiving produces thankful living. 

Thanksgiving is mentioned 140 times in the Bible. We read that David was thankful, Daniel was thankful, Paul was thankful!  All the prophets and disciples teach us how to be thankful. 

We must especially thank God for His everyday provision in our lives.  The Father puts food on our table. He protects our families from danger. He supplies our clothing.  He provides for our every need.  So when we eat our food each day, sleep peacefully at night, pay our bills, and snuggle in the safety of our homes, we cannot be but grateful.

Look for those things to be grateful to God for in your life, and you will receive the abundant blessings of thankfulness.