Charlie Lewis

It is a privilege to live in a county where there is a day set aside each year to give thanks. Early in our country and even recently, as a nation we have been called to fast and to pray and to engage Heaven in our life experiences on planet Earth. What does that mean? Why is that important?

Fasting, praying, being thankful and calling Heaven to the Earth are chosen Dynamics of our Conduct and our Behavior that have huge impact on the outcomes of our lives on Earth and forever. A Dynamic is defined as an interactive system involving completing or conflicting forces. This simply means that for our being thankful there is a corresponding reaction. We choose our outcomes by the actions that we freely and completely select to follow. These actions impact the Earth and our life experiences on this planet. Our present life experiences are entirely the result of the actions that we have chosen previously.

I have often asked myself how important is being thankful to our Creator and our God, and what does the Manufacturer’s Handbook say about thankfulness?

The words “thank,” “thanks,” and their variations are used 139 times in the King James Version of the Scriptures. In the New Living Translation they are used 168 times.  That amount of usage makes the word, its variations and their meanings and usages, important to the Author of the writings. If it is mentioned that many times by our Creator and our God, then we must determine why it is used, how that pertains to us as Humanity, and how this understanding impacts us as Humanity. I believe this is important, particularly in the understanding of our likeness to our Creator.

In a very large majority of the usages of the words thanks and/or thanksgiving, there is the pairing of the admonition or directive to combine thanksgiving with the presentation of our praise to our God and our King. I have often been intrigued by the record in the letter to the Romans identified as Chapter 1 verse 21. There is described here a very clear picture of how our God looks at thanksgiving and praise from Humanity.

The King James says –

“Because that when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful…”

The New Living Translations says –

“Yes, they knew God, but they would not worship Him as God or even give Him thanks…”

There appears to be several things that are identified here as important.

• Recognition – our Creator wants to be recognized as God. Knowing does not appear to be enough.  There is an element of recognition.  Recognition is defined as the act of identifying someone or something because of previous knowledge, or to formally acknowledge someone. Our Creator God wants Humanity to formally acknowledge Him as our Creator and our God.

• Acknowledgement – to acknowledge means to accept or to admit the existence, the reality or the truth of someone or something, and to recognize as being valid and as having force or power.

• Worship – a feeling or expression of reverence and honor and adoration for Deity. To reverence is to show deep feelings of respect/regard and devotion. Devotion is a large expression of dedication and of loyalty.

• Glory – exaltation. The fame, admiration and honor that is given to someone who does something important. Praise of Deity. Praise and thanksgiving offered as an act of worship to Deity.

• Thankfulness – gratefulness. Warm, friendly feelings of gratitude.

These terms are key indicators of the personality of our God.  To many it may be difficult to believe that our God has a personality.  In different places He refers to His mind.  As like-produced beings we understand that we have a mind, and that is where our emotions, our feelings, and our personality are developed and where they are housed. Being created in His likeness and His image, for us to have a mind and a personality, He would have to have a personality first.  Often Humanity can only see God as some austere, non-concerned Being that has no interest in individuals, much less any interest at all in all of Humanity. I’m not sure where that perception comes from, but a casual observance of our God will dispel any such nonsense.  He is the God of great compassion and provision. Even before the foundations of the Earth, He had greatly detailed plans for each member of Humanity.

A summation of this passage would indicate that our God wants each of us to formally recognize Him as our Creator, to accept and to admit His existence, and to accept and to declare His power in our lives. We are to do this by our expression of reverence, honor and adoration. This expression is to be an exhibition of dedication and loyalty wrapped up in praises that are warm, friendly feelings of gratitude or thankfulness. This is what Jesus was telling the woman at the well in Samaria. This kind of relationship and this kind of praise and worship only comes from a thankful spirit and is received by a thankful God.

Why is a thankful spirit important?  In our World today, especially in the United States, we are a people who often find it easier to recognize what we do not have more than to recognize and to be thankful for what we do have. We are constantly being bombarded by all of the different media forms with things that appear very enticing, and they are presented as things we cannot live without. The reality is that when we get them, they do not look at all as they did in the marketing.  Passing through the Atlanta Airport recently, Fran and I stopped to get a quick sandwich.  As we sat at the table a gentleman came and sat at the table next to us. As he opened his sandwich, he looked at us and said, “Boy, I wish it looked like they show it in that photo on the wall.” It did not. Not only sandwiches, but most everything that is being marketed is shown as something that will change your life. Your life will be enormously enhanced by the experience of owning and enjoying this product.  We purchase them only to learn that the glitter is gone very quickly. My Brother once said to me, “do not buy any of those exercise products you see on television.  I have them all in my closet.  They are unused and I will let you have them at half price.” I am sure that was not totally correct, but much too much of it really is.

What are we looking for?  What is it we want, and why do we want it?  Is it possible that we are unhappy with whom we are and what we have, and all of this feeds our discontentment? “If I could only lose ten pounds;” “If I could only get a new car, a new house, a new spouse, a new job, make more money, move to a new town;” and a whole array of “other things that I do not now have.” The displeasure appears to be with ourselves, but we are led to believe that obtaining something outside of ourselves will provide the answer.  Is that a reasonable conclusion?  Is that reality?

All of the marketing we see presents us with unreasonable expectations.  Everything we are shown is perfect, without fault, without blemish.  Our skin, our bodies, our relationships, our cars, our homes, our children, our teeth, our food, and on and on and on, and we are presented with examples that are supposed to be natural, but they are all without blemish.  That does not exist.  If we can understand that we are eternal spirits that live in a body, and that we are managed by our minds, we then can set priorities and reasonable objectives with acceptable time projections for accomplishment.  All of the marketing is very one-sided.  Very little information is offered about products that are available to enhance our spirit’s relationship with our Creator.  Very little is offered to develop correct thinking that is in agreement with our Creator’s plans and the way to look at things His way. Most marketing addresses the body and satisfying the senses. This is the most temporal of all of our being.

Just as the previous terms that describe the personality of our God, they are also a part our make-up and our personality and they are not wrong.  We want to be recognized, our influence for good to be honored, our contribution and participation to be revered by the expression of loyalty and appreciation.  This is important.  It is important to our Creator, and it is important to us as Humanity.  I believe it is false humility to act like this does not matter.  He has said that we are made like Him, and what matters to Him matters to us, and what matters to us matters or is important to Him.

A spirit of thankfulness is very important to our God.  He follows this presentation in Romans with very specific outcomes and actions that are the results for those who do not honor Him as God, who choose to not worship Him, and who are not thankful.

We are told to enter His gates with thanksgiving and to come into His courts with praise.  We cannot be unthankful and constantly complaining. Our God is good and His mercy endures forever.  Be thankful unto Him and bless His Holy name forever and continually.

As the old hymn says, “Count your many blessings, count them one by one.” Make a list of the good in your life and it will overwhelm the bad or challenging.

“Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.”

Philippians 4:8-9, The Message

Have a Happy and Thankful Thanksgiving, today and forever!

The difficulty humanity — you and I — have with thinking, acting, and living our lives based on our eternity and on our eternalness (instead of founding our actions completely on our here and our now, the present component of our eternity in which we live) is because of our lack of understanding of what our eternity is, how it is designed, and how it works. If we believe in God, and we do, then we believe, and we understand that there is a “here-after” component to our eternity. Our “here” is not all there is to us. When our spirit leaves our body and our body ceases to live, we do not die. The real us, the eternal us, our spirit continues to live in a place where times does not exist. The real us, the forever us is not a “time” creature/creation. We are from our eternity, and we return to our eternity without time when our spirit leaves our body. The reason we have difficulty living our present lives based our eternity, who we are forever is founded in our lack of understanding and our lack of recognition of the reality that there is a component of our eternity that we do not talk about because we do not know about it.  That component is the “before-here” portion of who we are, who we really are. Our Constitution, the scriptures, the values, the principles and the “precedents” that we choose to govern our lives in time by, is very clear about the “before-here” component of our eternity:

5 Before I formed you in the womb I knew [and] approved of you [as My chosen instrument], and before you were born I separated and set you apart, consecrating you; [and] I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.

Jeremiah 1:5-7 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC)

Before our body was, we were. Our spirit existed and lived in our eternity before we entered time. We did not begin here, and we will not end here. How important is this knowledge, you ask? This knowledge, this fact provides us with the wisdom and the power to know how to live successful and meaningful lives while we are in time. Our life in time must be based on our awareness and our understanding that in our before-here, before we entered time, we were separated and prepared for a divine purpose. We were “consecrated”, set aside for a divine purpose that we are to live in and we are to experience in the in-time portion of our eternity.

10 For we are God’s [own] handiwork (His workmanship), [a]recreated in Christ Jesus, (born anew) that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live].

Ephesians 2:10 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC)

Our lives in time are to be guided and to be directed by the amazing plans that our Creator and our Designer made for us, before we were born. There is a “good life” prepared for us in our before-here. To experience and to enjoy who we really are, and who we are designed to be for our enjoyment and for our pleasure, we must live our lives based on the plan prepared for us before we entered time.

11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He also has planted eternity in men’s hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun, but God alone can satisfy],

Ecclesiastes 3:11-13 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC)

Eternity is who we are and what our lives are to be based upon, now in our here. This is how we are to live successful and meaningful lives in the in-time component of our eternity. Our before-here is the most impactful and the most influential part of what we are to consider for our direction and for our understanding of who we are designed to be in our here and now, and that impacts our here-after more than anything else about us. We must engage our now life from the understanding and from the perspective of eternity, because we are more than just the in-time portion of our eternity. We are forever.

Foundational Scripture: Psalm 1

Oh, the joys of those Who do not follow the advice of the wicked or stand around with sinners, or join in with scoffers, but they delight in doing everything the Lord wants, day and night they think about His law, they are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season without fail, their leaves never wither and in all they do they prosper.

Association, definition:

• To associate
• To link or connect in the mind or imagination
• To keep company, mix socially
• A companion, comrade
• Following or accompanying, concomitant (naturally together}
• To bring into friendship
• A friend who is frequently in the company of another, drinking companion, comrade in arms, soul mate

With whom do you associate ?

• Those to whom you listen
• Those with whom you spend your time
• Those with whom you share your thoughts and ideas
• Those with whom you value the time spent together

It is said that time and words can never be recalled. It is said that time is our most valuable asset. There is a saying that says, “What I do today is important because I am paying a day of my life for it. What I accomplish must be worthwhile because the price is so valuable.”

Jim Rohn, one of my favorite life teachers, has much to say about the time we are given and how we choose to spend it. His observations are so simple and so fundamental, and yet so profound. I find myself saying, “Yeah, I have thought of that or I know that.” The next question that naturally follows and begs to be answered is “Why haven’t I done something about it?” or more importantly, “What is wrong with now? What am I waiting for?” And I am sure I am the only person who says, “I am, just not now.” The timing is not right, or I have to do this first, and THEN, I will… and before I know it, a great amount of time has passed and I have yet to respond to the obvious awareness that I have and know that is waiting and begs to be addressed.

One of the greatest challenges we ever face is the choice of those with whom we choose to associate. Probably some of the most traumatic circumstances I have ever faced in my life are dealing with the impact of those with whom I have chosen to associate. Here are a few:

1. My Church – The Church I grew up attending
2. My Friends- Many I had known most of my life
3. My Work- It did not take me where I believed God wanted me to go
4. My romantic attachments – lovely and beautiful, but not who God had chosen for me
5. My Pastor- a man I loved, believed in and cared much for, but his heart was unclean and his motives impure
6. Family members – Sometimes may have difficulty seeing who we have become because they remember who we were

And there are many more. How many traumatic experiences have you had because it was necessary to change an association?

With whom we associate is very, very IMPORTANT. It influences and directs and determines our DESTINY, and the destiny of posterity. Examples – Good and Bad:

• Adam/Eve – ultimately everyone born after them
• Moses/Joshua
• Elijah/Elisha
• Paul/Timothy
• Jonathan/David – Mephibosheth
• Samson/Delilah

What is our belief? Where did we get our belief? What is an Idea? Where do our beliefs and ideas come from? What makes us who we are?

Dr. Myles Munroe, the late master teacher of the Kingdom, provided his thoughts about our ideas and the source of our beliefs. These observations are worthy of consideration and evaluation. They are as follows:

Our beliefs are developed by the ideas to which we are exposed. The process can be outlined like this.

1. An original thought is a precept
2. A conceived precept is an idea
3. A conceived idea is a concept
4. An accepted concept becomes a conviction
5. An accepted conviction becomes a belief
6. An accepted belief becomes our ideology
7. An accepted ideology becomes philosophy
8. An accepted philosophy becomes a lifestyle

Understanding the source of our beliefs is very, very important. It is so easy, so natural to absorb our beliefs almost as if by osmosis from our surrounding – our Family, our Friends, our Church, our Schooling, our Government, the Media. Many people do this and never consider if what is being said or portrayed is correct. Why? It was what my Parents believed, and they did alright.

All of these influences are better described as culture. Culture can be defined as the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group. It is defined by the shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterize that group. The challenge with that approach to our beliefs is that it is not stable. It constantly changes. Can anyone dispute that the attitudes, values, goals and practices of our nation and our world have changed constantly over your lifetime? Our beliefs must be established on a Culture that is based on Truth and does not change. Truth is not situational. It does not change with circumstances. As Citizens in the Kingdom of Jehovah God our Creator, we must not be swayed by the Kingdom of Darkness and what we see around us. Our Citizenship is of a nation whose government and its community and culture do not change. It is the only place a person on planet earth will ever find a stable government and a community and culture where the values, the laws, the moral standards, the ideals, the norms and the true spiritual authority that is constant and it does not change. Humanity longs for this place and we have been charged to deliver this (Heaven) to earth and to show this Kingdom to those who dwell here. How serious is this? How important for humanity?

Read Romans 8: 19-22 KJV/NLT:

Where are we Citizens? Are we in this world but not of this world? Are we showing forth His praises until He comes? Are we living a life of victory different than those around us? Do they see the Kingdom Government of our God demonstrated in our lives both in our community and our culture?

For the earnest expectation of the creature is waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God. The entire of creation (humanity) groaneth and travaileth in pain together.

What are we telling them? What are we showing them? Or, are we the ones being told and shown? All of humanity is looking and longing for the Kingdom. The Kingdom has been given to us. It has been placed inside of us; God has called us to be Kingdom Birthers. Everywhere we go we must share the Good News of the Kingdom of our God. As Dr. Munroe has said, the Kingdom was God’s big idea from the beginning. It is a powerful thought. It is the idea that will change our world into the Kingdom of our God. Share the Good News.

Ideas are powerful.

The Influence and Impact of Ideas:

1. The most powerful force on earth is an idea
2. Everything on earth is the result of an idea
3. Everything began and begins as an idea
4. Ideas produce everything
5. Ideas are more powerful than death
6. Death cannot kill an idea
7. Ideas cannot be destroyed
8. Ideas multiply when attacked
9. Ideas submerge and reemerge
10. Ideas are the source of belief
11. The world is ruled by dead men’s ideas
12. Ideas are stronger than death

Dr. Jerry Horner used an illustration appropriate here. Place a boat in the water and it floats. Place too much water in the boat and it sinks. Place the Citizens of the Kingdom in the world, and they will rise above it. Place too much of the world in the Citizens and they sink.

We — all of humanity — are eternal spirits. We live in a body and we are managed by our minds. The minds that we have programmed. Yet, eternity escapes us. We just do not go there. We do not get it. Eternity is not a factor in most of what we do. Solomon in Ecclesiastes 3:11 (AMPC) says:

11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He also has planted eternity in men’s hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy], yet so that men cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.”

As we analyze the knowledge (knowing the facts), wisdom (knowing how the facts apply to us personally) and understanding (knowing the facts and how they apply to us personally fits into our Creator God’s plan for all of humanity), this scripture presents a very real and strong relationship between humanity and eternity.

Knowledge/ Fact: Our Creator and God placed eternity in our spirits and in our minds

Wisdom: Knowing the facts about our relationship with and through eternity provides information and direction for understanding and operating in our unique purpose. We know that this is provided for all of humanity from our Creator God and that it is “divinely implanted” in each of us even before our birth. Without understanding and following their individual purpose, Humanity struggles through life for meaning and often is never aware of their Created Design. Knowing one’s Created Design provides direction and fulfillment that nothing else can or will provide.

Understanding: Most of humanity goes through their existence on Earth pursuing goals and ambitions that have little or nothing to do with their or anyone else’s outcome. Most often the motivating factor is income and a desired lifestyle on the earth. Even if they achieve wealth and position, they also experience great frustration and enormous discontent because they are unfulfilled and not happy. “Nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy humanity” and provide the fulfillment and contentment we so desperately long for. All of this appears to be based on eternity and upon our eternal purpose.

In a previous study on Eternal Life we addressed exactly what Eternal Life means. In many presentations on the subject, the idea seems to be that Eternal Life begins when Humanity’s life on earth ends — when our spirit departs our earth suit, and our spirits enters a new dimension or environment that very few of us know very little about. Eternal Life is defined as life without beginning and without ending. We live in that environment now. We experience the reality of eternity now. Where our bodies are mortal and temporary (ashes to ashes) our spirits already are eternal. We will never die. We will not “spend” eternity anywhere. Eternity does not “spend.” It is forever. We are eternal beings now.

To leave out the understanding and the perspective of eternity in our lives and in all that we do, and especially all of the decisions and the choices that we make now on this planet, is to miss our primary purpose for our being here. Life on this planet is about relationship. More importantly, our lives are about our “eternal relationships.” It is almost like we are in school. We are studying and we are learning how to prepare for and how to plan our eternity. This understanding and this preparation determines our experience of eternity, or how we enjoy our eternal life. The correctness and the accuracy of our eternal choices are very important.

Most of the results on eternity of our day to day choices are not readily visible to the human eye. They can only be seen through the eyes of our eternal spirit. That requires a reprogrammed mind that understands and that chooses to operate on the eternal level with an eternal viewpoint of our choices. However, because the present and temporal impact are so easily seen, it is difficult to allow our eternal impact to even play a part in our decision of our choices of conduct and behavior.

We have become an instant society, and we enjoy immediate and immediately visible results. I am not sure that is all good. The impact on eternity of our choices and decisions is immediate. However, it requires observation and understanding through a mind that is programmed to think like our God thinks. Eyes to see and ears to hear, both come from the Lord and from a relationship with Him.

The understanding of Kingdom is an understanding of eternity. Proverbs so accurately presents the Dynamics of eternity through Kingdom choices. The conflicting and competing forces are the Kingdom of Darkness, which is about everything temporary, and the Kingdom of Light, which is completely about eternity.

How does the Mountain of Economy and/or Business function today in consideration of what the Kingdom System of our God declares is right and what is just? As a business person and entrepreneur all of my life, I have firsthand knowledge and actual experience on this Mountain.

In our Constitution, the scriptures, there are many places where our God’s view on Business or commerce is presented. In the parable of the three servants, God Himself as Jesus Christ addresses how our God looks at business in the Kingdom.

Parable of the Three Servants

14 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. He called together his servants and entrusted his money to them while he was gone. 15 He gave five bags of silver[a] to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities. He then left on his trip. 16 “The servant who received the five bags of silver began to invest the money and earned five more. 17 The servant with two bags of silver also went to work and earned two more. 18 But the servant who received the one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and hid the master’s money. 19 “After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money. 20 The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of silver came forward with five more and said, ‘Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest, and I have earned five more.’ 21 “The master was full of praise. ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together! [b]’ 22 “The servant who had received the two bags of silver came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two bags of silver to invest, and I have earned two more.’23 “The master said, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’ 24 “Then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. 25 I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.’ 26 “But the master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! If you knew I harvested crops I didn’t plant and gathered crops I didn’t cultivate, 27 why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’ 28 “Then he ordered, ‘Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver. 29 To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. 30 Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Matthew 25:14-30 New Living Translation (NLT)

This is an account of how our God has designed business and commerce to function in His Kingdom on the earth, our governing authority. In the beginning of this story that Jesus Himself was sharing, He began with the declaration that “the Kingdom of Heaven is like this.” He said that the Kingdom of God experience was to be our first priority and what we pursued before anything else. The Kingdom experience in Business – as in everything Kingdom – is about profit and profit is described as success.

2 Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.

3 John 2 King James Version (KJV)

Interesting here is the description that each of us receive talents or gifts “in proportion to their abilities.” Success is not comparable. Success is measured by what we do with what we are personally given. Everyone is given unique abilities before we enter time on the earth that are specific to us. Our charge is to recognize and to identify the abilities that we have received from our Creator and our Designer, and to maximize their impact and their influence on the earth for ourselves, for our Family and for humanity. This is prospering: increasing and making a profit. This describes the Kingdom plan, His way of doing and being that is correct for us. Profiting is described as being good and not profiting as the result of laziness and having no personal worth.