Thankfulness from Luke

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,

Because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.

I was the poor.

I was a slave to sin,

with no family ties, with no inheritance and no future.

He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,

I was the captive.

I was in chains to my sin.

There was no release in sight since I could not repay my debt.

And recovery of sight to the blind,

I was the blind.

Blind to my desperate need.

Completely blind to my lostness.

I thought I could figure out a way to heal myself.

I was wrong.

To set free those who are oppressed,

I was oppressed.

I was weighed down with my sin.

I carried it with me wherever I went.

It was mine to bear and I had no way to get out from under it.

To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord."

Luke 9:18,19

I was the Pharisee, lost in his own legalistic works.

I was the leper, diseased, outcast and hopeless.

I was the tax collector, a thief and beyond despair.

I was the cripple, disfigured by my own sin.

But that was then, and this is now.

I am no longer poor, captive, blind and oppressed.

I am no longer a Pharisee, a leper, a tax collector and a cripple.

Thanks be to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,

I am free.

Free from sin, free from the chains that bound me.

I am an heir to the Kingdom of God as His adopted child.

I am no longer lost, but found in His love.

I am washed clean in His blood.

I am His forever and forever He is mine.

We have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving, don't we? On the eve of Thanksgiving, I want to wish my friends and family a blessed Thanksgiving Day and to encourage you all to start your thankfulness with the One who has given us all good things.